Friday, March 24, 2006

Toddler wanders into strip club

A reader sends this Boston Globe news story:
TULSA, Okla. --A Kansas man was arrested at a Tulsa strip club after police say his toddler son wandered from an unlocked car into the club over the weekend.

Christopher Greg Killion, 31, was arrested Saturday on a complaint of "encouraging a minor child to be in need of supervision." He posted $500 bond and was released from the Tulsa Jail.

The toddler told police that his father told him to stay in the car, and that if he left it, "monsters would eat him," reports indicate.

A manager at the club had called police to report that about 30 minutes after Killion entered the club, a 3- to 4-year-old boy came inside looking for his father.
I didn't know that there was a law against "encouraging a minor child to be in need of supervision."

My ex-wife filed various complaints against me in the family court where her objection seemed to be that I was encouraging a minor child to NOT need of supervision. That is, she complained that I was raising the child to be independent and self-sufficient and not need close supervision for routine daily activities.

I also wonder why a Boston newspaper needs to report on a completely harmless incident about a Tulsa child being left unsupervised for 30 minutes.

8 comments:

FLC said...

My ex is currently seeking supervised visitation for me. This nonsense has to end. Remove all government interaction from family affairs.

Anonymous said...

I think you are focusing on the idea that the toddler wandered into a strip club. Theoutrage here is that a three to four year ould was left in a car by himself. If you can't see the,problem in that,in this day and age.you should surrender any parental rights you have. Teaching children independance is far different than abandoning them in a car so you can visit a strip club. If you want to visit a strip clubfine, it's legal, but get a babysitter!

George said...

It is the strip club that makes this story a story, and which engenders disapproval. A lot of people disapprove of strip clubs.

I don't just mean that they disapprove of kids in strip clubs. I am sure that the strip club doesn't let anyone under the age of 18 or 21 go in anyway. They disapprove of the father going to a strip club.

Anonymous said...

That guy should have been arrested. Under no circumstances should you leave a child that age in the car alone. The strip club just made it worse for him...

George said...

If you don't approve of leaving a kid in a car at a strip club parking lot, then get a law passed against it. I object to picking on this guy when it appears that his activities were legal and harmless.

Anonymous said...

In California leaving a chld of that age in a car,unattende, is against the law. It is called child endangerment and can be a felony. Let go of your knee jerk reaction to defend every father envolved with family court. Some of them actually are bad fathers and more than a few aredangerous. The same can be said for mothers.
Visiting a strip clib is legal, recklessly abandoning your toddler in a strip club parking lot is, and should be, a punishable offense. This "father" should rearrange his priorities. Get a sitter and then go to the club. I would have the same advice for a mother who left her kid in her car to go to the haridresser or even to market.

George said...

If the Kansas man had clearly violated some Oklahoma law, then they would not have charged him something as silly as "encouraging a minor child to be in need of supervision." I would also defend a mother who faced such vague charges, when the real problem seems to be disapproval of strip clubs.

Laurel Farrar said...

I wanted to respond: I practice law in Alabama, with over half of my practice in family court. To these people who think it is okay to leave a toddler in a vehicle in a parking lot by himself or herself for any length of time, I ask, "you're kidding, right?" I can see at least one reason why you may have lost custody of your child in court! (Although I do not know anything about the other choice for custody.) I remember last year reading the newspaper about a (Georgia?) family court judge (juvenile court, I think) getting in trouble for allegedly leaving her young children home alone one night while she left the house for a few hours. I am not sure what ever happened to her, but the press sure did make a big deal out of it! Most of these stories do not make the news, I guess because of the low regard our culture has for the mundane tasks involved in taking care of children, but throw in a juicy fact, like the father was in a strip club, or the mother was a judge in a juvenile court (or even better, Brittney not putting her baby in a car seat, and the press just snatches it up! Why? It sells advertising!