Brooks, Arc, & Child Molesters: We Aren't Doing Our Job!

We plan to have more on the termination of Muscle Shoals baseball coach Jonathan Knight in the next few days. For now, let's look at Brooks school in Killen. A teacher, who has been named in many online sites, has been accused of mental, emotional, and physical abuse. The current charge against this teacher involves some chemical damage to a child.

No, it should not have happened. Yet, we understand this woman has been reported over the years and nothing done. Now the parent of the injured child has reported the matter to DHR. We have absolutely no idea if this state department will help or not. Has anyone ever reported the woman to the Killen Police? Assault is assault. Police have to follow through on all reports. Let's hope now that the "Facebook Police" are on the case, this woman, if guilty, is barred from teaching in Alabama.

*****

Our parks, at least some of them, have been threatened. Now much of the mental health system is in peril of reducing or even eliminating services. Arc in Lauderdale and Colbert Counties has been extremely verbal about their shortfalls. Make no mistake, Arc has numerous programs, but just to the south in Franklin County, we have the Sarah Dinsmore Center. There may be, and probably are, other programs run by the Franklin Arc, but the Dinsmore Center in Red Bay is certainly the most well known.

We asked the parents of one Dinsmore client how the center was faring financially. The reply was no problems had been reported to them. Does Franklin Arc have better financial management or simply fewer clients? There are currently 29 chapters of Arc covering 67 counties. Why do some fare so much better than others financially? We usually support less centralization, but at least some overall auditing of finances might reduce some local Arc problems.

*****

Our friends at The Quad-Cities Daily dropped quite a bombshell in their article on Florence businessman Kneeland Hibbett Jr. yesterday. In case you missed it:

Kneeland Hibbett Arrest

This article (be sure to read to the end) leaves many questions unanswered, but it certainly is thought provoking. Apparently this was not a one time incident. Someone in Baldwin County was prepared to make this arrest, but more importantly, Hibbett was monitored in some very sophisticated manner after his first release. We're sure there will be more to follow.

*****

What do these three separate news items have in common? We're not doing enough to protect our children. There's no simple answer. We live in an age where child molesters expect us to support them. Black is white and vice versa. Don't rely on others to protect your child. We hope they do, but in the end, it's your responsibility.



Shoalanda