Posted on 02/06/2018 11:44:53 AM PST by nickcarraway
Boy found wandering outside Bunnell sports bar
Robert and Kristal Valenti spent several hours inside a Bunnell sports bar Sunday night drinking and watching the Super Bowl while their 6-year-old son wandered around outside unattended and unsupervised, police reports state.
Flagler County sheriff’s deputies arrested Robert, 42, and Kristal Valenti, 38, and charged both of them with child neglect. They remained jailed Monday afternoon on $2,500 bail apiece.
According to a Sheriff’s Office report, some patrons at Beer House, 616 N. State Street, grew concerned for the couple’s elementary-aged boy when they noticed him running around near the front entrance outside the bar. One of those patrons called 9-1-1 about 10:20 p.m. Sunday after learning the child had been left outside alone for about two hours, the report stated.
Bunnell police arrived and found the boy wandering in front of the bar. Kristal Valenti came out moments later and escorted the boy back to a Ford truck parked on the north side of the bar.
When officers questioned her she was initially uncooperative, but later said she and a friend met her husband, Robert, at the bar to watch the Super Bowl, which she described in the report as a “very big event.” She told officers she really wanted the Philadelphia Eagles to win and at one point tried to cheerfully “fist bump” one of the deputies as she talked about the team.
Kristal Valenti claimed the Beer House does not allow underage patrons inside after 6 p.m., so she and her husband decided to leave their son in their truck with a cell phone so he could access the bar’s WiFi network and watch YouTube videos.
One bartender told officers a friend of the couple’s stayed outside with the child initially, but he left after arguing with Robert Valenti. That’s when the couple left their son in Robert Valenti’s truck.
Kristal said she came out periodically to check on the boy throughout the game. But officers determined there were still large gaps of time when he was not being supervised. Deputies arrested the couple and notified the Department of Children and Families.
If children were allowed in bars, this would have never happened. I blame the government.
If this were in Germany, it could have been a baby in a baby buggy left outside and no one would have batted an eye.
For the modern NFL fan, you can now scratch family as well as country from the list of things they believe in.
These days, that will get you shot.
Here are some other game day options for the Valentis:
1. If you must go out to watch a game, hire a reliable babysitter.
2. Stay home and watch the game.
Does that practice still happen? I heard this from my first-year German professor and was floored. That was almost 30 years ago, though.
A close relative is an alcoholic, and the event that made her quit drinking in her early 20’s, join AA and return to Church happened when she was at a dive bar during the day. The bathroom toilets had overflowed, making the entire floor wet and sticky. An alcoholic couple had brought their toddler to the bar. The child was crawling around on the floor, while the parents got drunk.
It was, as they call it, her moment of clarity. She’s been dry 30+ years now.
Wisconsin allows kids in bars any time of day or night; how else can they drive their parents home? ;)
Having grown up in Milwaukee, WI it really IS true. I spent a LOT of time in bars with Grandparents, Parents and Uncles.
I admit it - I was a cute blond curly-haired little girl and I’d dance on the bar for a Pepsi or a Hershey Bar, LOL! I grew up to be a contributing member of Society, and I’m not a lush, either.
I do draw the line at eating pickled eggs, though. ;)
What’s wrong with this, it is the government’s fault (Trump probably) cause you can’t bring a kid into a bar. Not the parents fault ... bad law. (/s)
Apparently they had a babysitter. YouTube.
Sixty, seventy years ago in NYC - not a problem.
Some people have no common sense though.
IIRC, I read it in an article posted on FR not long ago.
I meant a regular babysitter back at home, not some friend who leaves after an argument at the bar.
I had a Royal Crown Cola... straight. The old duffers used to yak with us and then laugh like hell when we'd say something they got a kick out of; they sort of policed the place after a fashion.
Years later, mom and dad were talking about how safe that little burg was in those days, and then I found out that there was an occasion where one of the locals attempted something out of line in that bar. The other patrons carried him out to the curb and bent both of his legs backwards at the knee joint in a most atrocious mmanner and left him to figure out how to make it home.
If children were allowed to drink, the kid would have passed out hours earlier and thus would not have been wandering around outside. I blame the government.
My mom and stepdad owned a bar so I grew up in one too. I’ve always been a contributing member of society and turned out just fine.
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