parents of the year

[Seattle93]

http://www.news4jax.com/news/10793298/detail.html

terrible story, but dude's name is priceless


Glynn County detectives investigating the death of a 1-year-old child on New Year's Day arrested the child's parents on Thursday.
Rhonikki Williams, 24, and Epluribus Deshawn Bennett, 22, are charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct and cruelty to children in the first degree.
Police responded to a call of a child not breathing at the family's Leeswood Circle home at 1:21 a.m. on Jan. 1. Officers found Zykira Bennett dead in a bedroom.

An autopsy conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation revealed that Zykira died as a result of blunt-force trauma.
Glynn County's criminal division is continuing to investigate and asked anyone with information about the incident to call Investigator Rickey Evans at 912-554-7811 or Silent Witness at 912-264-1333.

Copyright 2007 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[DaHood]

"Epluribus"???


Yikes.

[Homsar]

Don't forget Rhonikki.

[REMgirl]

We see this type of story all of the time. Girl leaves baby with boyfriend/husband, baby cries, boyfriend/husband slams it into a wall or shakes it until its neck snaps. Or boyfriend/husband comes home drunk or high and baby cries, same results. Or boyfriend is jealous of baby's real father. The possibilities are varied but the results are the same.

The question is how to prevent it. I don't see how you can. On the surface, it seems that the parents are emotionally immature and rage is how they express themselves. I would also assume they came from the same type of household growing up, in the midst volatile family situations. So it's the only way they know to react to stressful situations.

Young babies and little children are lovable and cute, but they can try your patience when they cry or need attention. Even the most loving and caring parents get stressed, but most know how to circumvent frustration without harming anyone.

Should there be some sort of life management classes taught in high school or junior high? Combine sex education with relationship management and how to react to anger or fear? It wouldn't reach everyone, but it might help a percentage of kids who have never experienced a non-violent home or who don't know what to do when they get angry. I don't know, I'm just throwing out ideas. Until something is done, though, there are going to be more of the same cases and little kids are going to be killed.

[justa bill]

Son admits he killed father with ax

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS - A man told investigators he bludgeoned his father to death with an ax in the living room of their home with help from a friend who said he distracted the older man, sheriff's deputies said.

Jeremy Littler, 20, of Franklin Township was charged with aggravated murder in the death of Kenneth Littler Jr., 53. Aaron DeBord, 20, was charged with complicity to aggravated murder. Both men appeared Friday before Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Anne Taylor, who set bond for each at $500,000.

The two were arrested Wednesday, hours after the body of the elder Littler was found on the floor of the home. He had been struck multiple times in the head by a sharp end of a two-bladed ax, said Chief Deputy Steve Martin of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.

Jeremy Littler and DeBord "both confessed to it - to their individual roles," Martin said.

The Littlers had been arguing, he said, and DeBord agreed to keep his friend's father occupied with small talk so the younger Littler could make a surprise attack from behind.

Earlier, DeBord had given Jeremy Littler the ax, saying, "This ought to do the job," deputies said in court documents.

Detectives were awaiting a coroner's report to learn when Kenneth Littler had died, Martin said. Police had gone to the home Wednesday on a call from Ohio State University, where Littler hadn't shown up for his job as a maintenance worker for a few days.

[frizgolf]

"Epluribus"???


Yikes.
I can envision the naming process. Torn between two names, the parents flipped a coin. Voila! Epluribus!
Don't forget Rhonikki.
Or even Zykira.
Sheesh. Do these people have attention whore tendencies?

[dragonflier]

"Epluribus"???


Yikes.
I'm just surprised that his middle name wasn't "Unum."

[silentpaul]

Young babies and little children are lovable and cute, but they can try your patience when they cry or need attention. Even the most loving and caring parents get stressed, but most know how to circumvent frustration without harming anyone.

"Most"? After watching parents dealing with their children in public at, say, the mall, I often wonder how they, and many others, treat their kids in the privacy of their own homes. If you mean physical harm, then I agree with you. But the yelling and screaming you hear from parents' mouths now and again can be just as traumatic, though not so directly life-threatening...

[REMgirl]

Oh, yes, verbal abuse is just as damaging. I was thinking in terms of extreme physical abuse as described in the cases where a parent actually kills the child. But any type of abuse can change how a child thinks about himself, changing and damaging his or her sense of well-being. :(

[skidminix]

"Most"? After watching parents dealing with their children in public at, say, the mall, I often wonder how they, and many others, treat their kids in the privacy of their own homes. If you mean physical harm, then I agree with you. But the yelling and screaming you hear from parents' mouths now and again can be just as traumatic, though not so directly life-threatening...
I'm not going to try to quantify (or even excuse) it, but I would say that in "some" cases, the yelling that you see in a public place is worse than what happens at home. When kids get out of their comfort zones/routines, that's when difficult behavior often starts - that tends to happen someplace like the mall (or in our case, the Paris Metro), not when everybody's content at home.

[silentpaul]

...not when everybody's content at home.

Interesting choice of words. You got me wondering: How much explosive public behavior arises from discontent at home?


But, to chime in on the lighter side of this thread: In college, while at a seminar on the ancient near east, I met a man named Tiglath-Pileser III.

I kid you not.

[Duemellon]

abuse is abuse. neglect is neglect.

Whether it's emotional, physical, sexual, or just attention, it still does damage. To think that one is more harmful than the other is to ignore how often one happens while another is going on.

[Nellie Bly]

Should there be some sort of life management classes taught in high school or junior high? Combine sex education with relationship management and how to react to anger or fear? It wouldn't reach everyone, but it might help a percentage of kids who have never experienced a non-violent home or who don't know what to do when they get angry. I don't know, I'm just throwing out ideas. Until something is done, though, there are going to be more of the same cases and little kids are going to be killed.

Ever since I worked for the arm of the United way that did the court mandated parenting classes, I've been an advocate of parenting classes for everyone. Kinda set it up so it goes hand in hand with prenatal care and childbirth classes--most classes help you prepare for childbirth, but not many are there (aside from first aide of big bro/sis classes) to help you with everything after the baby's born. And if you're not already in a program (WiC, social services, etc.) you're sorta left to your own devices and let's face it, some of the answers/suggestions you get from your parents/family aren't always the best.

[justa bill]

wow... :rolleyes:

Son shoots dad, police say
ENQUIRER STAFF REPORT

An argument late Friday led to a son shooting his father in Florence, police report.

At about 11:37 p.m., Florence Police responded to 8428 Pleasant Valley Road for a call of a shooting. Officers learned that 46-year-old Mike McCann had been shot with what appears to be a 9 mm handgun by his son, 21-year-old, Eric Mayo, who also lives at the home.

The men apparently were involved in an escalating domestic argument. At some point Mayo was heard to say, “Is this going to end in a gun fight?" police said.



At that point, both men went to their bedrooms and retrieved handguns. Mr. McCann came back to the top of the stairs with gun in hand asking where Mayo was.

Mayo called out to McCann, “Dad, do you have a gun?"

McCann replied he did and at that point Mayo stepped around a wall and fired four or five shots in the direction of McCann striking him twice, once in the abdomen and once in the right thigh.

McCann then retreated back to his bedroom where he was found by police.

Mayo placed his gun down on a pool table and waited for police to arrive and was arrested without incident.

McCann, who was conscious, was transported to St. Luke West Hospital and subsequently airlifted to University Hospital. His condition is unknown.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070120/NEWS01/301200001/1056/COL02

[REMgirl]

Ever since I worked for the arm of the United way that did the court mandated parenting classes, I've been an advocate of parenting classes for everyone. Kinda set it up so it goes hand in hand with prenatal care and childbirth classes--most classes help you prepare for childbirth, but not many are there (aside from first aide of big bro/sis classes) to help you with everything after the baby's born. And if you're not already in a program (WiC, social services, etc.) you're sorta left to your own devices and let's face it, some of the answers/suggestions you get from your parents/family aren't always the best.

It's good to know there are sources out there for teaching parenting skills. I think that by 10th grade there should be a segment of general health classes that addresses this. And good sex ed information with clear choices for birth control should be there, too.

And if anyone ever finds a cure for "It won't ever happen to ME", well, let me know! ;)

[Slar]

The reason you don't see this more is that most babies are easy or relatively easy. As the parent of two highly difficult infants I can totally see how this type of thing could happen. At times it's all I can do to stay in control. My wife and I have said before that our children would not survive in many households and also joked about how the human population would plummet if all babies were like ours.

When you are a new parent you are dealing with extremely difficult circumstances under the best conditions. The sleep deprivation alone is enough to send the best people out of their heads. I didn't post this in Homsar's sleep thread, but my wife was up for 3 days straight with the birth of our first child and got a total of 12 hourse sleep of 5 days with the birth of the second.

Add on to that all the other stresses of being a new parent and it's a wonder this type of thing doesn't happen more often.

[Duemellon]

Ask yourself:
Why is there a greater call for better parenting? We are descendants of harsh times from the medieval to the paleolithic! How could they have managed caring for babies back then so well but we aren't able to now?

Well, I would like to introduce you to:
The 1½ foot wooden plank & a few yards of cloth.

Yep, that's what I think we should bring back. Binding our kids to the wooden plank by wrapping them several times around with yards of cloth. This solves several problems:

1) They don't run around or dig into dangerous things like bleach & knives

2) They learn their place quickly. It's out of sight & out of mind.

3) They won't grow as quickly nor as much as other kids so your bills for getting newer clothes is reduced dramatically!

4) Seeing as you'll only be changing the bindings every few weeks (or months in some cultures) you'll conserve on that cost too!

I think we should really look into returning to the "good old days" when rugged people made it through rugged times!

[Shlep]

Well, I would like to introduce you to:
The 1½ foot wooden plank & a few yards of cloth.

Yep, that's what I think we should bring back. Binding our kids to the wooden plank by wrapping them several times around with yards of cloth.

Well, I've been left in charge of Sarrahs' kids, and they are *REALLY* gettin' on my last mother-swingin' nerve right about now...thanks a million, Due. This is *RIGHT* on time!! :D

[akip]

i think there've always been shitty parents. just less attention given.