She reminds me of the lady that wanted to BAN all trucks off the Interstates and out of Chicago one time. She was then told who would haul your trash out of the city and bring in your fuel food and anything else you need her answer was get this THE AIR LINES could drop them in and pick the trash up on the flights over.
Oooh, Forest Lawn. 'Nuff said. It’s the most ‘ghetto’ neighbourhood in Calgary, if you don’t mind that term. This was indeed a case of the trains being there before the town, in fact it was a railway town that got swallowed up by Calgary during the first half of the last century. I’m not surprised at all that there are plenty of holes in the fences letting people onto railway property, considering what I’ve seen in the few times I’ve been there…it’s not as bad as a lot of American city’s slums, but it isn’t ‘classy’ either.
Enough rambling about how much I dislike Forest Lawn. I went to school there for half a year and hated it…
In general and on average, Calgary is a nice place. It’s not shocking that parents would let a pair of 9 year olds play outside on a nice summer day. And yet, if her son was mentally challanged, there is no doubt that the mother should have been paying closer attention!
God, people depress me…
I see that our tendency here is to drift every so slightly, to which I will happily contribute…[:D]
I don’t have it all 100% after about 30 years, but I recall something about a story in Malcolm Muggeridge’s (Edit - oops, I mean Bertand Russell) book “The History of Western Philosophy”. He tells the story that, I believe it was he who was delivering a lecture attended by the public, and he was relating the effects of gravity and the openness of space. He was describing orbital motion and so on.
After the lecture, as is usually the case, listeners gathered around him and wanted a word. Near the end of this onslaught, an elderly woman tugged at his sleeve and told him she was put out by his description of how planets are able to maintain their relative distances from each other and the Sun. “Everyone knows that the Earth rests on a giant turtle,” she stated, with finality. Russell considered what he would say in reply, and decided to gently ease her away from her misundestanding, to enlighten her if he could. He asked her, “But, upon what does the turtle rest?” She thought a moment, and replied triumphantly, “On a boojum.” Russell patiently asked her, “But upon what does the boojum rest?” Waving her arm, she retorted, “It’s boojums, I tell you. Boojums all the way down.”
He didn’t have the courage, I think, to ask her, “Down to what?”
Ed, you mean Wal*Mart doesn’t do air-drops in your neighborhood? [(-D]
Hell no they do not do air drops if they did I would ask for one months worth of company profits in my lawn. LOL
Now THAT is scary!!! (Whiny voice):What about trains…
And how does the stuff get from the airport to your house?
What was even scarier was she was on the CITY COUNCIL and wrote the laws for Chicago. Remember when it comes to Chicago they act first then worry about what it costs later. This is the same city that hired trucks for 200 bucks an hour to haul whatever and yet the companies that billed them had not one truck at all. This same city had a county commisoner named Strogger have a stroke could not read or write at all yet somehow after his stroke managed to write a statement giving his support to his son to take his place as head of the Cook county Board as the Chairman.
By another airplane I guess!!! Wait, is there a never-ending chain of airplanes taking Wal mart product to other airplanes??? I guess a helicopter would break the chain…
Bet my next paycheck, she would complain about the noise with all those jets making air-drops over HER neighbohood.[}:)]
City Council?! Yikes!
Then she would complain about someone getting squished by the helicopter![xx(]
I can’t beleive all this. i don’t know about Canada, but here in the US, we have playstation, TV, and, of course, the Federal Government responsible for watching our kids, not the parents. Stop picking on the woman, where was playstation during all of this?
And we all know the railroads part in this. They deliberatly built their lines over 100 years ago thru deserted areas knowing perfectly well that the poor would be moving right next to them someday. It was the railroad lobby that single-handed convinced the Gov. to build the projects right next to their busy mainlines. And, yes, it was the railroad themselves that cut holes in the fence and convinved the kids to play on their tracks.
The evil, the evil!
(in case someone doesn’t realize, this is sarcasm)
[quote user=“Pathfinder”]
So, to fan the flames a bit more, here is the response from the mother: “…I would like to see the railroads removed and I don’t care how much it would cost the government…”
Yup, blame the railway, not poor parenting. [banghead]
Life of boy who tried to hop train ‘changed forever:’ mother
Boy, 9, has foot amputated
Last Updated: Friday, August 17, 2007 | 2:45 PM MT
CBC News
A child hurt while trying to jump a train had his foot amputated Thursday night, the same day Calgary workers repaired the fence he used to access the tracks.
“This has caused a little boy’s life to be changed forever,” Sabina Piche, mother of nine-year-old Josh, said from the Alberta Children’s Hospital.
Her son, who is mentally challenged, tried to hop onto a moving freight train Wednesday in Dover, near Hubalta Road SE.
People in the neighbourhood said children are constantly trying to hop trains, and both adults and children use a hole in a fence to cross the CN Rail tracks.
While the fence was repaired Thursday, city worker Ted Gillman said he expected that by Friday morning, someone will have cut the wires.
One child told CBC News she crosses the tracks every day to go visit her cousin. She said it’s a shortcut children use to get to school to shave time off their walk.
Continue Article
CN Rail says there is a proper crossing 500 metres away and anyone caught trespassing could be fined.
Piche said access to the tracks should be permanently blocked or, better yet, the tracks should be moved out of the residential neighbourhood.
"It’s not fair for those who are minorities and have no say. So as a mother, I speak up. I would like to see the railroads removed and I don’t care how much it would cost the government to do that. Whe
All she has to do is read these posts [:D]
thats to easy just take a belt to that little brats butt and he will learn
[quote user=“Poppa_Zit”]
Oh, brother. Here we go.
First, this sound bite proves the mother doesn’t think her “mentally challenged” child’s whereabouts and supervision are her responsibility.
Second, she doesn’t hesitate to play the “us poor, neglected, ignored minorities” sympathy card right away.
Then, as frosting, she blames the government for “allowing” a railroad in a residential neighborhood.
So…
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The railroad was there long before she decided to move into that neighborhood.
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She failed miserably in her responsibility as a mother for not monitoring a “special” child’s activities, but refuses to consider any of the blame is hers.
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If she thinks minorities have no say, she oughta come to Chicago and see the almost -daily protest marches from every race, creed, color and sexual orientation. If the didn’t produce occasional results in implementing change, they wouldn’t march.
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Based on her comments and lack of pre-emptive action, her son may not be the only “mentally challenged” person in that household.
Because that is quite humane of course. Who DOESNT punish mentally challenged kids by beating them?
Coborn, obviously we didn’t know that he was “mentally challenged” (pc for retarded or slow) which makes this incident all the more scary.
A parent has a mentally challenged 9 year old…the 9 year old is out of her sight long enough that he has time to walk over to a rail line. Then wait for, run alongside, and try to jump onto a moving train??? Though we don’t know more details, it appears that there’s a very serious problem with the parent. Add to that, her comment about “minorities” really stokes my coal! It was a low level “cop out” on her part.
BTW: We don’t know to what extent this kid is “challenged”. Was his condition diagnosed as light, moderate, or extreme? Obviously he had the intelligence and physicaly ability to attempt this stunt and more then likely comprehended exactly what he was doing.
Furthermore if he was with other kids, he also shows the ability to socialize. Now, was he easily encouraged by the other kids? If he’s a “Follower” then it is the more imperative that “mommy” keep him within her voice range.
BTW: I’ve known mentally challenged people that were disciplined in their childhood. Turned out to be wonderful, productive adults.
Hopefully more details will be forth coming.
I, too, would be asking his companions a lot of questions about just how they “told him not to do it.” Knowing how kids of any socio-economic group like to pick on the weak, “just because”, makes me question the story as it is now alleged to have happened. Methinks they encouraged this action more than they discouraged it.
This is one crazy discussion.
But what I would like to point out is that Tresspassing on Railroad property is ILLEGAL.
Are people really THAT stupid?
this is probably one of those times where my mom being really protective came out good. she never let me walk on tracks when i was little. i could go close to them, but never walk on them. and only if i was at a crossing.
this kid’s mom is to blame for this. PZ hit the nail on the head several times here. the mother is at fault in so many ways. yes. ask for the removal of the railroad because you’re a bad parent. nevermind an alternative of WATCHING YOUR CHILD MORE CLOSELY! especially considering the lad is mentally challenged. wouldnt you want adult supervision for him constantly then? i know i would!
this reminds me of an incident in Altoona. 2 morons were biking across the yard probably because it’s a shortcut. a UP truck went after them and i saw firsthand the crews getting out and chewing these kids out.
at least i can watch for trains on an overpass nearby. and not have to worry about getting hit. they go right under me!