Articles labeled: Louisiana

A Louisiana teenager is being investigated for allegedly pouring a bottle of Visine into his teacher’s drink. Obviously he had heard of the urban legend that Visine causes diarrhea. Unfortunately it doesn’t, and it’s actually poisonous. Stick with the Ex-lax brownies, kids!

The teacher was treated at Riverland Medical Center and released, according to sheriff’s spokeswoman Kathleen Stevens.

Threats had been made before May 5 that such an incident would occur, parish schools Superintendent Loretta Blankenstein said.

The teenager was seeking revenge for another student the teacher had suspended, said Lee Ford, a school resource officer for the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office did not return calls seeking details, including who knew of the plot.

The Supreme Court is reviewing the case of Patrick Kennedy, a Louisiana man sentenced to death for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter. Kennedy’s lawyer argues that executing him violates the 8th Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Do you agree? While people like Kennedy are indeed the scum of the earth, should we as a society really dole out capital punishment for cases other than murder? Of course, we’re a bit hypocritical because if he did this to our kid we wouldn’t need the death penalty as we would kill him with our own bare hands…

While the law that will guide the court’s decision is modern, the justices’ inspiration reaches back beyond the Bible. The concept of “an eye for an eye” was written in Exodus and, before that, by the ancient Babylonian ruler Hammurabi. Accordingly, the justices will have to decide whether Kennedy’s sentence is “proportionate” to his crime.

For four decades, absent such high crimes against the nation as treason, American law has mostly drawn a line when it comes to the death penalty: Only death warranted death. Any lesser crime, even rape, invited a lesser punishment.

Now the justices may be poised to rewrite that rule, potentially opening a series of questions about what other offenses merit the ultimate, irrevocable penalty, and perhaps inviting states to broaden the class of residents on Death Row.

On a side note, besides the abhorrent notion that judges would use the Bible as “inspiration” for their rulings, we thought Jesus denounced that whole “eye for an eye” thing in the New Testament. You know, the whole “turn the other cheek” stuff?

You know, when we were 14 we took our dad’s car out for a little joy ride while he and our mom were working late hours. Little did we know that the gas gauge was broken, and we ran out of gas on the side of the highway. Boy, was *that* ever an awkward phone call. Moral of the story, kids, nothing good comes from messing around with a car before you get your license.

An 11-year-old girl is in some hot water [Ed. note: was the pool heated?] after she sent her grandmother’s car plunging into a swimming pool at Kingston Village apartments in southwest Shreveport.

Margaret Gober said she was in her apartment when she heard a commotion outside. Her grandson screamed, Gober went to the door and saw her car in the pool, with her granddaughter Dineshia inside.

The girl can’t swim so her grandmother and an apartment complex employee helped her to safety. No injuries were reported.

Of course any abuse of an infant this young is horrific and shocking, but this story is made all the more unthinkable by the accusation that it was not only the baby’s mother that was part of the abuse, but other members of her family as well:

A 6-week-old girl was beaten, burned and apparently drugged and the child’s 19-year-old mother and several other relatives are among the suspects, police said Tuesday.

A baby sitter noticed the child was not breathing about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, saw several marks on the baby’s body and called 911, Bogalusa police Sgt. Darrell Darden said Tuesday.

“The baby had a lot of head trauma, hemorrhaging, burns on her arms, several marks and drugs in her system.”

Sheesh, none of us are perfect parents, but if you can’t even bother to feed or clothe your children do the right thing and hand them over to child services. While children’s homes or foster care are sometimes far from ideal situations, it sure beats starving to death…

Shreveport police have arrested two people after finding five children malnourished, dehydrated and naked at a home in the 3000 block of Woodford Street, in Werner Park.

Kristina London, 22, and Stacy Dotie, 29, who both lived at the home, were arrested on five counts of cruelty to a juvenile, police said.

The incident began around 4:30 p.m. Friday when police were called about a welfare concern at the home. Upon arrival, officers found four chldren under the age of 5 home alone. They were naked, and the home had no food, water or heat.

While police were on the scene, the mother came to the residence with a 7-month-old child, who also was naked.

An 11 year old, apparently given the blessing to drive for several months, lead police on a high speed chase…

BOUTTE, La. (AP) — An 11-year-old boy led police on a chase that reached speeds of more than 100 mph, leading to charges for him and his parents, who are accused of letting him drive for months, state police said.

Leona M. Calloway, 32, and Rodney Brown, 46, were charged with improper supervision of a minor and allowing an unlicensed minor to drive. Officials booked the boy, who was not identified because of his age, with felony flight from an officer, reckless driving, speeding, passing on the shoulder, improper lane usage and having no driver’s license.

Why in the world is a meth-head in charge of the well-being of a 2-year old??

Crazy meth head…

MONROE, La. (AP) - A Monroe man is accused of leaving methamphetamine in the reach of his 2-year-old, who ingested it.

Ouachita Parish sheriff’s deputies say 32-year-old Jeffrey Michael Dozier was arrested yesterday on charges of cruelty to a juvenile and illegal use of a controlled dangerous substance in the presence of a juvenile.