Parents fight over gang colors

I sometimes post stories about parents taking some silly dispute to family court, and some overreaching judge trying to make some decision that he is ill-equipped to make. But this Colorado story tops them all.

When Mom wears one set of gang colors and Dad wears another, conflict over how to raise the baby can cause irreconcilable differences.

At least that's what happened for one Commerce City couple.

Commerce City police were called to a disturbance Saturday at a Hollywood Video on East 64th Street, where a man reportedly was harassing his ex-girlfriend, who was working there.

The man knocked over a computer and a magazine stand and yelled obscenities at her, witnesses said.

He left the store before police arrived.

When officers questioned the woman, they learned that the two had been together for four years and were the parents of a child.

When police asked the woman why the two had separated, she said they have "different ideas about how the baby should be raised," according to a police report.

When officer Daniel Swift asked the woman what she meant by that, she said that the two belong to different street gangs.

"They could not agree on which gang the baby would claim," Swift said.

There are people who argue that if parents do not agree on some child-rearing issue, then a judge or psychologist must make the decision. I wonder if those folks really think that a judge should make a choice of gang colors for a baby!