Originally posted by WyrdeOne
Yeah, well it turns out the cops knew the gun wasn't real. The kid's mother told the cops BEFORE the shootout that he had a bb gun, not a real handgun. It appears they shot him to avoid having to possibly take a BB.
Link
The boy's parents, Ralph and Donna Penley, were in contact with authorities during the incident and told them they believed Penley did not have a real gun, said family attorney Mark Nation. Ralph Penley went to the school to attempt to talk his son out of the situation.
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New Thinking on Neurodevelopment
The notion that some substances in the environment can damage the nervous system has an ancient history. The neurotoxicity of lead was recognized more than 2,000 years ago by the Greek physician Dioscerides, who wrote, “Lead makes the mind give way.” In the intervening millennia many other substances have been added to the list of known or suspected neurotoxicants. Despite this accumulation of knowledge, there is still much that isn’t understood about how neurotoxicants affect the developing brain, especially the effects of low-dose exposures. Today researchers are taking a hard look at low-dose exposures in utero and during childhood to unravel some of the mysteries of impaired neurodevelopment.
About 17% of school-age children in the United States suffer from a disability that affects their behavior, memory, or ability to learn, according to a study published in the March 1994 issue of Pediatrics by a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The list of maladies includes attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autistic spectrum disorders, epilepsy, Tourette syndrome, and less specific conditions such as mental retardation and cerebral palsy. All are believed to be the outcome of some abnormal process that unfolded as the brain was developing in utero or in the young child.
These disorders have an enormous impact on families and society. According to the 1996 book Learning Disabilities: Lifelong Issues, children with these disorders have higher rates of mental illness and suicide, and are more likely to engage in substance abuse and to commit crimes as adults. The overall economic cost of neurodevelopmental disorders in the United States is estimated to be $81.5-167 billion per year, according to a report published in the December 2001 issue of EHP Supplements...
Funding for Wide-Ranging Kids' Health Study Axed
The Bush administration has canceled funding for the most ambitious study of children's health ever designed -- prompting outrage among scientists and public health officials. The study was to investigate the causes of widespread obesity and asthma, among other childrens' health problems.
Adio Story
Fla. Video Said to Show Boot Camp Beating
A videotape shows guards brutally beating a boy at a military-style boot camp for juvenile delinquents not long before the teenager died, two lawmakers said Thursday.
Martin Lee Anderson, 14, died Jan. 6 at a Pensacola hospital, a day after he entered the camp because of an arrest for theft.
Anderson complained of breathing difficulties and collapsed during exercises that were part of the entry process at the camp, which was run by the Bay County Sheriff's Office.
Authorities have said he had to be restrained when he became uncooperative during the workout.
Originally posted by loam
More on the "discipline" front...
Fla. Video Said to Show Boot Camp Beating
A videotape shows guards brutally beating a boy at a military-style boot camp for juvenile delinquents not long before the teenager died, two lawmakers said Thursday.
Martin Lee Anderson, 14, died Jan. 6 at a Pensacola hospital, a day after he entered the camp because of an arrest for theft.
Anderson complained of breathing difficulties and collapsed during exercises that were part of the entry process at the camp, which was run by the Bay County Sheriff's Office.
Authorities have said he had to be restrained when he became uncooperative during the workout.
Please! parents!! Keep Your children out of these camps.
[edit on 10-2-2006 by loam]
Long-term care 'harms children'
Placing children in long-term care is in itself "an act of abuse", according to a leading professor of paediatrics.
Speaking at a science conference in St Louis, US, Professor Dana Johnson said that even a week in an institution could be detrimental...
"Children in institutional care have deteriorations in many things that we want to see children improve in during the earliest years of their life," he said.
"Their cognitive abilities are lower, their growth is terrible and their brain development is abnormal as well."
Thousands of child 'witches' turned on to the streets to starve
Naomi is 15 but looks 10. A horrible burn scar shrivels the skin across her chest and shoulder. She had a broken leg, now reset. But her face is calm; she speaks clearly. The physical scars are nothing compared with the trauma she has been through. She is one of the so-called child witches of Kinshasa, rejected by her family and community at six years old and left to survive on the streets.
Once she had four siblings and lived with her parents across the river in Brazzaville. Her father died and then her mother. She had to live with her grandfather and aunt, who did not want her. 'Grandfather become sick and my aunt accused me of being a witch. She said, "Why is everyone around sick? They are suffering because of you." Grandfather gave me special water to drink, but it made no difference.
'My aunt said I must leave. The neighbours beat me and burnt me. They said either you must admit to being a witch or we will kill you. There is no place for you here. I went to the church, but they gave me water to drink that made me sick. I said to neighbours, let me sleep somewhere, even in your toilet, but they refused. I was caught by some soldiers and they said, you are a witch - we saw you flying with birds. They said they were going to kill me, but I escaped.'
Florida boot camp death
TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - A 14-year-old boy who was beaten by guards at a Florida boot camp did not die of an undiagnosed blood disorder as a medical examiner had reported, a doctor hired by his family said on Tuesday.
Martin Lee Anderson died on January 6 at a Panama City boot camp run by the Bay County Sheriff's Office. A surveillance videotape taken that day showed Anderson being beaten by several guards.
"In my opinion, I think he (Anderson) died from what you saw on the videotape," Dr. Michael Baden, a former chief medical examiner for New York City, told a news conference with Anderson's parents in Tampa.
An autopsy performed by Bay County Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Siebert found that Anderson, an African American, died of internal bleeding from sickle cell trait. One in 12 African Americans has sickle cell trait, which is different from sickle cell disease and does not routinely cause health problems.
The finding outraged Anderson's family and civil rights groups and prompted Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to name Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober to investigate the case.
Teacher Fired After Allegedly Biting Boy
A middle school teacher was fired Tuesday after being accused of biting one of her students. Caroline Kolb also is facing an aggravated assault charge in Jefferson District Court, The Courier-Journal of Louisville reported Tuesday.
Kolb has pleaded not guilty to biting 14-year-old Garrick Hudson on the back during a classroom altercation at Stuart Middle School in January.
Jefferson County Public Schools fired Kolb for insubordination and conduct unbecoming a teacher, following a district investigation, according to a copy of her termination letter.
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