Free Republic

NEWARK -- Shaheed Wright feared police were closing in on him, authorities say, so he hid his bags of cocaine in his son’s jacket pockets, telling the child that it was candy. And when the boy arrived at his daycare center in Newark on Friday morning, he did what any other 4 year old might: The boy handed the white powder out to his friends. One girl ate it. She was rushed to Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark along with Wright’s son and two other boys from the day care suspected of eating cocaine. They all turned out to...

'Helicopter parents' still hover even as grads pound pavement By Eleanor Yang Su STAFF WRITER July 5, 2007 Rowena Paz's parents did everything they could to help her land a good job after college. They edited her résumé, suggesting experience she should play up or cut out. Her mother called regularly to remind Paz, 21, to get enough sleep before interviews. Her father coached her with interview questions and drove her to three job interviews in Los Angeles, because “driving in Los Angeles is tension-filled.” It came naturally for Paz's parents, who for years shuttled her to music and karate...

MOMMY DUMBEST ROLLS TOT THRU WAL-MART SNORTING HEROIN: COPS By TIM PERONE Caught on camera: cops.May 28, 2007 -- A Long Island mom was busted for snorting heroin as she pushed her 3-year-old son through a Wal-Mart in a shopping cart, cops said yesterday. Stacy Roe, 35, of Farmingville, was caught on video surveillance Saturday evening taking a straw out of her purse and shoving it up her nose, authorities said. Security at the Centereach store called 911. Cops responded, viewed the video and approached the woman while she was still in the store. Roe admitted that she was using...

A Shoals mother is accused of doing the unthinkable to get free food. The woman turned herself in Thursday to Russellville police in Franklin County. Investigators say a woman was trying to get a man to buy her a free pizza in exchange for sex with her teenage daughter.

LANTANA, Fla. Sep 13, 2006 (AP)— It seems a father's plan to cure his daughter's fear of heights fell short. Troy Stewart and his 10-year-old daughter were on their daily bike ride about 7:45 p.m. Monday when Stewart, 31, suggested they jump off a 15 foot bridge. Stewart held his daughter Meagan Stewart's hand as they jumped off the bridge into the Intracoastal Waterway, authorities said. "At first he said, `Do you want to do it or not?'" Meagan said. "I thought, `It's kind of high,' and then he's like, `Trust me.'" Meagan made the jump safely, but her father...

Thursday, March 30, 2006 No rave crackdown coming Teen rules wouldn't have stopped tragedy, officials say By ANGELA GALLOWAY AND D. PARVAZ P-I REPORTERS Faced with the senselessness of last week's slaughter of six young people hours after an all-night, all-ages dance party, many parents want not only answers -- but also accountability. That has some in Seattle's "rave" scene worried about a government crackdown reminiscent of the controversial and now defunct "Teen Dance Ordinance." But it's more likely that the only new restrictions on raves here will be self-imposed -- with at least two events scheduled for this weekend...

Boy suspended from school for wearing makeup and lipstick By Irma Lemus, Staff Writer SAN BERNARDINO - In what is shaping as a battle between conformity and self-expression, Pacific High School has suspended a ninth-grade boy for wearing lipstick and eye makeup. Officials are calling it a violation of school policy, which they seemed unable to find in writing... James Herndon, 16, repeating his second year at the school, and his mother, Valerie Wallace, say James has been wearing black lipstick and red eye makeup the entire time he has been enrolled at Pacific. He also wears his hair in...

SEATTLE - Should the people who make and sell "violent video" games be held accountable if someone commits a crime because of playing them? That's something our state lawmakers are considering, to open game makers up to more liability. House Bill 2178 proposes to hold the makers and sellers of violent video games liable if someone under 17 years old commits a crime, due in any part, to playing the game. Supporters of the bill, like Bill Hanson with the Washington Police and Sheriff's Association, say "kids" are getting the games, and they're becoming desensitized. "If you sit up and...

LOS OLIVOS, Calif., Dec. 17 — Christmas came early for some 200 children who got to play at Michael Jackson's amusement park and meet Santa Claus. ''I hope you have a wonderful day. Merry Christmas. I love you,'' the pop singer called out to the children Friday from the driveway of his estate. Jackson, who faces trial next year on child molestation charges, appeared happy during the few minutes he spoke to the arriving throng.

<p>NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (AP) -- Living in a college dorm can mean little privacy and exposure to a lot of booze. That can make it a tough place for young adults who are in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction.</p>

Childhood is its own country, and for some it's a brutal place to live. At 18, Matthew Lovett of Oaklyn, N.J., is described in news accounts as a peculiar loner, a tall, stooped kid who stood out because he didn't dress or act like his peers and hung out solely with younger kids. Obsessed with certain movies and computer games, Matthew reportedly tried to protect his younger brother, James - born with a disfiguring cleft palate and retaining a speech impediment after multiple corrective surgeries - from the teasing and humiliation his physical condition invited. He's described by former high...

BURLINGTON, Vt. - Presidential candidate Howard Dean is berating himself for saying he wanted to break into the country club of Democratic Party insiders. The remark to Vermont reporters Monday came several days after Dean's 17-year-old son, Paul, was charged with aiding in a burglary at the Burlington Country Club. Vermont's former governor cut short a campaign swing on Friday to return home after his son was picked up by police along with a group of his friends. Dean made the country club comment Monday just before formally kicking off his campaign for the presidency. Dean was asked how he...

Lee Bockhorn, associate editor LAST SUNDAY, the New York Times Magazine published a remarkably chilling essay entitled "Family Planning." Penned by an anonymous father--let's call him Mr. X--it described his family's efforts to convince his pregnant 15-year-old daughter, against her own better instincts, to have an abortion. Doubtless, the Times published it as a shining example of how families should persuade pregnant teens that abortion is preferable to bringing an "unwanted" child into the world. But in many respects, the essay actually serves as a damning rebuttal of arguments commonly made by true believers in abortion-on-demand. According to Mr....