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Yeah, stay away from Lance Rigby...

Thanks for the bump

My thanks to both of you, and everyone else on this thread. There were three of these opinions in the Denver Whatever, I posted them all. Should have linked them all together, I guess.

Thanks for the bang, or bump...

Wow, got a lot of the big names on this one.

Thanks, everyone, for an entertaining and informative thread!

Okay, what about HomeLAND Defence???

Can't, 'cause of work... Couldn't get back up north in time.

I've always wondered what would happen if you yelled 'Movie!' in a crowded fire station...

Well, reading your posts on these threads, here's 'common sense'! Thanks.

Outstanding response. Thank you.

www.gunowners.org

www.rmgo.org

'Common sense' is a term just about beaten to death on this issue.

...Gun Owners of America (a group that does the impossible, by making the NRA look moderate)...

The Denver Whatever has made this the focus of the editorial section today; I'll be posting the other stories soon.

Mom goes to Italy, leaves six kids home alone

Vacation mom has history of child abuse

Story by Staff Reports

A Greeley woman who made headlines this week for taking a vacation to Italy and leaving her six children home alone has a history of child abuse in the Denver area.

Jennifer Aillese Farrell, 33, also has been an Aims Community College student since the fall, studying marketing and management, Aims officials said Thursday.

On Feb. 3, she left on a vacation with her boyfriend and is due back Monday, according to Greeley police. She left her six children at their home in the 2400 block of 17th Avenue, with the oldest, a 14-year-old girl, in charge.

Police, responding to an anonymous call Feb. 4, took custody of the children and turned them over to the Department of Social Services. That agency placed the children in foster homes. Some of the children reportedly were placed with the husband's aunt in the Denver area, but neither the police nor Social Services would confirm that.

Calls to the father and the aunt Thursday were not returned.

The father of the children lives in Thornton. A restraining order allows him to visit the children only if a social services worker is present.

In divorce papers filed in Weld County Court, the couple fired accusations back and forth; they both claim the other is abusing the children.

However, a child abuse investigation against the father in 1999 was unfounded, according to the Weld County Sheriff's office, and no charges were filed.

The mother pleaded guilty to child abuse in 1995 and 1991 in the Denver area, but court records are sealed.

In 2000, the couple was divorced in Weld County Court. Judge Roger Klein gave custody to the mother and issued a restraining order against the father. Through his lawyer, the father has continuously fought the order.

In one document, the father stated: It is unfounded "that the abuse was a daily occurrence and that she and the children were in imminent danger for their life or health."

He stated he has cared for the children several times while the mother left the state to visit her mother for several days. He also said he stayed with the children alone one night every week while the mother attended her "Moms Club."

In that letter, he also cites the mother's history of abuse arrests.

Farrell reportedly left the children with milk, bread, $7 and a credit card for buying more food, said Greeley police Sgt. John Gates. She also reportedly left a document authorizing medical care if the children needed it, Gates said.

Gates said police haven't heard from the mother, and they don't know if she even has knowledge of what has happened with her children since she left.

http://www.greeleytrib.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=GR&Date=20030214&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=302140005&Ref=AR

Police: 6 kids left alone for 2 weeks

Greeley mom reportedly touring Italy

By Coleman Cornelius

Denver Post Northern Colorado Bureau

Thursday, February 13, 2003 - GREELEY - A Greeley woman who has twice pleaded guilty to child abuse left her six children - ages 6 to 14 - home alone while she traveled to Italy for a two-week trip with her boyfriend, authorities said Wednesday.

Jennifer Aillese Farrell, 33, left her 14-year-old daughter with five younger siblings on Feb. 3. She has not been charged with a crime but is under investigation for child neglect.

The mother, who has not returned, left the children with three gallons of milk, three loaves of bread, $7 and a credit card for buying more food, said Greeley police Sgt. John Gates. She also left a document authorizing medical care if the children needed it during her vacation abroad, Gates said.

"We think it's unreasonable for six children ages 6 to 14 to be left home alone for two weeks without adult supervision," Gates said, calling it the biggest case of apparent abandonment that Greeley police have investigated. "In today's society, this is a pretty intolerable scenario."

The day after the mother left, police got an anonymous tip from someone worried about the welfare of the five girls and one boy, Gates said. As officers checked on the children, the 14-year-old girl's boyfriend and another male friend arrived, the sergeant said.

Weld County Social Services quickly took custody of the children, placing the four youngest with an aunt in Thornton and the two oldest in a foster home.

"It was very upsetting," Rosalee Brackeen, the custodial aunt, said of her reaction when she learned the youngsters were home alone. "There would have been plenty of family to take care of them. To leave that responsibility on a 14-year-old is appalling."

Brackeen said the children now are living with her and attending a new school and are "doing quite well."

Farrell pleaded guilty to child abuse in Aurora in 1995, according to court records. She also pleaded guilty to child abuse in Adams County in 1991, records show. Authorities, citing confidentiality laws, would not provide details about those cases.

When she went to Italy, Farrell did not leave her children with an itinerary. Police do not know exactly where she is or when she is expected back in Greeley, Gates said. She told the children she would be gone two weeks, he said.

The mother told her children that she would be in touch by e-mail during her vacation, but police do not know whether she has tried to contact the youngsters that way, Gates said.

Police have not tried to locate her.

"We want to interview her to conclude our investigation," he said. Police then will turn over the case to the Weld County district attorney for possible criminal charges, Gates said.

The social services agency will conduct an investigation, which will become part of court and custody proceedings, officials said.

Officers found the family's home, a modest gray house on 17th Avenue in south Greeley, to be in livable condition, Gates said. The children showed no outward signs of poor health, he said.

Weld County District Attorney Al Dominguez said a charge of child abuse must be supported by evidence of injury or evidence that a suspect put a child in a situation that posed the threat of injury.

"We don't know until we see all the facts," he said of whether such a charge would be appropriate. "It's a fairly high bar for child abuse."

Colorado law favors reuniting parents and children involved in abuse and neglect cases, said Bruce Barker, a Weld County attorney.

Barker said he could not predict whether the six children would be returned to Farrell.

"It depends on what the investigation reveals," he said. "The goal is to reunite the family in all of these cases. Sometimes that's possible, and sometimes it's not."

In 2000, Farrell and her former husband, Steven Farrell of Thornton, divorced after nine years of marriage, according to court records. Steven Farrell did not return a call seeking comment.

District Court Judge Roger Klein gave Jennifer Farrell custody of the couple's children and ordered that Steven Farrell see the children only when supervised because his former wife accused the father of verbally, emotionally and physically abusing the children.

Steven Farrell said in court papers that those claims were unfounded and tried to persuade the judge to overturn a restraining order against him and reconsider custody plans.

The former husband claimed in court documents that Jennifer Farrell's lack of supervision led to a half-brother sexually molesting the couple's son and two daughters. "The half brother ... has been in a treatment center and has been out of the home immediately after the situation was disclosed," Jennifer Farrell said in a responding court document.

Cops to mom: 'We'll be waiting'

Greeley woman left 6 children alone while she vacations in Italy

By Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News

February 13, 2003

Police will be waiting when a Greeley woman who left her six young children alone while vacationing in Italy returns next week.

The woman, whose name hasn't been released, left home Feb. 3 for a two-week trip with her boyfriend, said Sgt. John Gates of the Greeley Police Department.

The children - ages 6, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 14 - were left in the home alone.

An anonymous caller notified police on Feb. 4, and Weld County Social Services took the youngsters to two foster homes, Gates said Wednesday.

"She had no reason to lie to her children when she left. She said she'd be back in two weeks, so we'll be waiting," Gates said. "Our immediate concern was for the safety of the children."

The woman, believed to be a student at the University of Northern Colorado, put the 14-year-old girl in charge of the other youngsters, left a list of people to contact in an emergency, a refrigerator full of food, a credit card and $7 in cash, Gates said.

"The kids were in good shape and went to school," Gates said. The list of people to contact was unreadable, he said, and the children didn't know anyone who knew their mother. The woman apparently didn't have a job, he said.

Gates said none of the neighbors knew the woman, who has no criminal record.

The children didn't have any information about how to locate their mother, although she'd told them she would e-mail them every day.

"There's a computer in the home, but we don't know if there's an Internet connection," Gates said. "We know virtually nothing about her except what we gleaned from the children. They said she hadn't left like this before."

The children's father lives in Thornton and sees them only rarely, he said. The mother obtained a restraining order against the husband that allows only supervised visits.

Police have recommended that the district attorney file child neglect charges. Gates said that when the woman returns, her name will be released if she's arrested or charged.

The name is being withheld to protect the children, he said.

"We believe she will return, but we don't know if it will be two weeks to the day or that was an estimate she gave the children," said Gates. The family dog also was placed in a shelter temporarily, he said.

When police first went to the home, the oldest daughter's boyfriend and a friend of his came over to help her baby-sit for the evening, Gates said.

Neither boy knew anything about the mother, either.

Officials waiting for mom to return

Vacationing mother might be charged with child abuse

Story by Mike Peters

No state law specifies a minimum age that children may be left alone, but the Weld district attorney wants to talk to a mother who took a two-week vacation to Italy.

The mother left her six children alone while she took a vacation with her boyfriend. She is due back Monday, when she will have to explain her actions to police.

The name of the woman hasn't been released to protect her children's identity and because she hasn't yet been charged with a crime.

Police said the woman, who lives in the 2400 block of 17th Avenue — about a block south of the University of Northern Colorado practice fields — left the children at home last week.

The oldest child, a 14-year-old girl, was left in charge of the other children, whose ages are 6, 8, 10, 11 and 12. However, when police went to the house last week to check on the children, the 14-year-old wasn't home.

She returned later and her boyfriend and one of his friends also came to the house. Police originally identified the oldest child as 15, but, on Wednesday, corrected her age to 14.

Police went to the home after receiving a call from a concerned neighbor.

No charges have been filed, but police said the mother might be charged with child abuse in the neglect category of the law.

Under the Colorado State Children's Code, abuse and neglect are in part defined as "any case in which a child is in need of services because the child's parents, legal guardian or custodian fails to take the same actions to provide ... supervision that a prudent parent would take."

In this case, investigators will have to look at the circumstances of the children to determine whether their mother abused or neglected them by leaving for two weeks, Weld District Attorney Al Dominguez said Wednesday.

Police reports stated the mother left the children $7 in cash and her credit card to buy food, plus a list of names of people to call if they needed help.

Most of the names on the list were illegible, police said.

The father of the children lives in Denver. A court order requires that his visits with the children be supervised.

In addition, Dominguez said, the parents are involved in divorce proceedings in which accusations of child abuse are being made back and forth.

source

Thought it was self-evident in the title...