Saturday, June 24, 2006
Baby left 4 hours in car dies
Here is one from the Democrat-Gazette that will knock you on your butt. This kind of thing happens every year, but this story is especially shocking because of the local prosecutor's depraved indifference to human life.
So, gentle readers, we know the mother is smart enough to know better. Stressed? Probably. Did she intend to do it? Nobody would suggest that. Do other similarly situated parents face serious criminal charges for the same thing? You know the answer. Absolutely.
So why is do-nothing prosecutor Tom Cooper of Ashdown doing nothing? Sit down for this.
In other words, we were doing Zachary one big huge favor by letting him live at all, and if there should be some terrible moment when somebody stops caring, that just tough. Sorry, Zachary, you don't count.
For whatever reason, Ashdown's resident municipal weasel Tom Cooper is scared of messing with an official of the local college. If the mother had been poor or black, would Cooper have even questioned the circumstances of what he calls a "tragedy" Kristin Bowden needs to be brought to court, and, if the evidence is as the prosecutor says, she should wear an bracelet for a while and do some community service. People should know that society will not put up with this kind of behavior, even from somebody we like.
And folks in Ashdown should not put up with Mr. Tom Cooper.
A 14-month-old boy died Friday morning, less than 24 hours after his mother left him in her vehicle at Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas in De Queen.
Zachary Bowden was pronounced dead at 4:16 a.m. at Arkansas Children's Hospital, according to information from the Pulaski County coroner's office.
The boy's mother, Kristin Bowden, the vice chancellor and dean of academic services at the community college, reportedly left the baby in her car for about four hours - from 8 a.m.
So, gentle readers, we know the mother is smart enough to know better. Stressed? Probably. Did she intend to do it? Nobody would suggest that. Do other similarly situated parents face serious criminal charges for the same thing? You know the answer. Absolutely.
So why is do-nothing prosecutor Tom Cooper of Ashdown doing nothing? Sit down for this.
He cited several mitigating factors, including the mother's recent brain surgery; the child's disability, which limited his ability to cry, and the fact that the boy's grandmother usually dropped the boy off at preschool.
The mother's medical condition is a matter for a jury to consider in passing sentence, but the real kicker is that the infant's disability is cited as a mitigating circumstance.
In other words, we were doing Zachary one big huge favor by letting him live at all, and if there should be some terrible moment when somebody stops caring, that just tough. Sorry, Zachary, you don't count.
For whatever reason, Ashdown's resident municipal weasel Tom Cooper is scared of messing with an official of the local college. If the mother had been poor or black, would Cooper have even questioned the circumstances of what he calls a "tragedy" Kristin Bowden needs to be brought to court, and, if the evidence is as the prosecutor says, she should wear an bracelet for a while and do some community service. People should know that society will not put up with this kind of behavior, even from somebody we like.
And folks in Ashdown should not put up with Mr. Tom Cooper.
