Reply #32: So were they filthy or did they bathe? You can't have it both ways. [View All]

[Cleita]

There was a similar story in Idaho six years back. A mother with six children was arrested and thrown in jail. Her crime was poverty and squatting in what used to be her home. Her husband, the bread winner had died from Multiple Sclerosis with no medical care. They couldn't afford it. Her home was sold out from under her for back taxes. She and her children had no place to move.

There were stories of trash and a dirty home. The utilities were cut off. The children foraged in the forest for food and cooked it on a campfire outdoors. They bathed and brought water from a nearby lake. She couldn't afford gas for their car so they couldn't take the trash to the dumpsters like rural people do in that part of Idaho. She got arrested when she flagged down a sheriff and asked him for a ride to the local food bank.

Since they had become really reclusive none of the neighbors were aware of what was going on until the children armed themselves and barricaded themselves in the home against the sheriffs when their mother was arrested. There was the makings of another Ruby Ridge here. Fortunately, the tabloid press unwittingly did a good duty by putting the situation on TV and many of us were able to instigate a telephone and writing campaign to the local sheriffs demanding a peaceful solution to the problem and the release of the mother.

The children were finally persuaded to move into foster care with a neighbor. The mother was released and charges dropped. I have lost her whereabouts and for all I know she's been living under a bridge somewhere.

These situations are why we need national health care and we need to bring back a meaningful welfare system for these people who need a helping hand, especially the children.