New candidates for parents of the year
It’s been a while since I nominated anyone for this award, but the headline on the Enquirer's Web site this afternoon just spoke to me: “Police: Couple brought child to drug deal”.
it was a news brief about Tyrone Burke, 24 and Melanie Lykins, 20, of Forest Park, charged with trafficking in drugs and child endangering. Police say they took their 1-year-old daughter with them when they went out to sell marijuana.
Maybe they couldn’t find a sitter.
The story struck a chord because I had just finished reading a story on the front page of the New York Times about Kenneth Foster, a man awaiting execution Thursday in Texas. He was an accomplice in a 1996 robbery/homicide.
That story quotes his father, Kenneth Foster Sr., described as a former heroin addict, talking with regret about how he used to take his baby son along on drug runs.
In the local case Hamilton county Municipal Court Judge Ted Berry Jr. set Burke’s bond at $7,500 and released Lykins, who is expecting another baby, free on her own recognizance.
Do these kids have any chance at all?
posted by David Wells at 3:24 PM
2 Comments:
at 12:13 PM, September 02, 2007 
Anonymous said...
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at 8:21 AM, September 05, 2007 
Anonymous said...
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Post a Comment*Drug dealing is wrong because it is against the law; this very neatly lets me avoid the discussion of people who drink alcohol and the consequences often associated with that behavior. When something is outside the law, the rules are always unclear and the dangers more pronounced. Also the people attracted to the activity are generally "operating off the grid" and can be unpredictable. Children could very easily be harmed by a deal gone wrong.
But perhaps they couldn't afford the babysitter you suggest although obviously, in the Slaby situation, daycare wasn't very useful if you have your mind on other things. I wonder if alcohol or big pharma drugs are used "responsibly" in that household? Time will tell.
If anything, I would suggest to these two young people: no more children until you stop, get another skill to support you, and to the young lady involved at least, be more "traditional": be a stay at home mom. You wouldn't take your kid into a mineshaft, or onto a construction site, so why take it to a place where certainly people will be carrying weapons and the mood could become ugly. Do yOu need to get out of the house? Too bad, you've got kids - deal with it.
In terms of making it to adulthood, yes, I think they have a decent chance. To have a good life, not so sure, since the parents have no regard for their safety and what they see and hear now.
next time, the drug dealers should leave the child in a parked car in Clermont County, then "forget" about the child.
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