Other Points of View/Site Problems?

It's often easy to think the Shoals area is better...or worse...than other areas of our country. Better? We do have beautiful waterways and vistas not found everywhere in the U.S. We also have wonderful residents who give meaning to the term "Southern Hospitality." Other than that, are we that different from others in our everyday lives?

How about the worse part? Are our problems worse because of the economy and living conditions in some areas of the Shoals? Let's look at a recent comment by Deb Willbefree on child abuse:

I don't know what it is like down in Alabama, but I suspect it is similar to PA. In my observation, it is not the village that falls short--it is the child protective system and the laws.

There are very few child abuse cases up here that, along with the report of the abuse, the news does not also include mention that neighbors had called the police, called child protective services...called and called.

One recent and extreme case here is the poster child for why child abuse happens. A 6 year old child--who weighed 24 pounds--was found lying in the street, in a diaper, in February. A passing motorist found him and called police.

Upon investigation, the little boy had a twin sister. Both had been locked in a bedroom for a long time....with a potty chair. They were the size of 2 year olds.

Get this: Child Protective Service were on the case! For YEARS. Had people in and out. A pediatrician had called the authorities due to their small size when they were THREE MONTHS old.

They're doing well in foster care. The parents were put in jail last month I forget how many decades long their sentence was. The children had served six years.

The village is only as good as the authorities. Unfortunately. And we have to keep calling...

It seems cruelty to those who cannot fight back is universal. We urge everyone to be dilligent; you just might save a life.

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Our friend Mark Davis remains in jail. We are sorry there are no real updates, but urge everyone to write to encourage Mark at this time. You may also contact Judge Mike Jones and let him know how you feel about his handling of this case...lawsuit against him and all.

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Several friends/readers have recently commented that our site has been either hard or impossible to load. We have added nothing to the site, but Blogger did change its software for importing photos and for making comments. We have contacted Blogger about the problem, but have not received any feedback as yet. If you have a problem, please make us aware of it.



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