Collateral Damage...

[mcscajun]

:(

Mother of wandering toddler is recent widow

Posted: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 11:18 a.m.

BELLEVILLE, ILL. (AP) -- A Belleville woman charged with letting her 2-year-old son wander alone in 40-degree weather wearing only a diaper is the widow of a man killed while serving in Iraq.

Thelma Straughter's husband, Missouri National Guard Specialist Matthew Straughter, died Jan. 31 when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his vehicle in Iraq, a day before his 28th birthday.

St. Clair County prosecutors charged 28-year-old Thelma Straughter with misdemeanor child endangerment on Monday after a motorist found her toddler walking down a street.

The child had scratches on his feet but was otherwise uninjured.

The boy and his two siblings are staying with grandparents.

http://www.khqa.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=113064

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

1. God help her. When is this madness going to end.

BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW.

[mopinko]

2. and nobody will even be able to count it all up.

stories like this one, and guys who are coming home with subtle brains injuries that turn them into someone else.....
i was out canvassing with a guy who was a guardsmen who had done 2 tours of afganistan. he was the nicest, most upbeat, hardworking guy. i was shocked when he told me that he had come back home to his wife and 3 kids, one of which was a toddler that he had not even met, and that he was a different person, and the marriage fell apart. he was there with his new girlfriend, who was a beautiful, educated, energetic lady. not the kind of woman that you see with an asshole.
now, if this guy's family fell apart, just how big is this shockwave gonna be?

[ProfessorGAC]

3. The Problem Is, Mo. . .

. . .that it won't be a shock wave. It will be dribs and drabs and will more like the tide coming in. Can't stop it and won't notice it until we're up to our hips in the water. If it were a shockwave, people would notice and care. Nobody cares about the tide coming in slowly.
The Professor

[mopinko]

4. sadly, you are probably perfectly correct.

maybe president obama will be smarter than that.

[richardsonfan]

5. And just to think--

this is MY county... and town. At least my town seems to be safe enough to worry about things like this.