IsItAnyWonder
01-08-2007, 10:44 PM
Here's a young mother who needs all the help she can get, before her
child becomes another statistic. Check this out.
Quote
ROCK HILL — A 12-year-old Rock Hill boy wouldn’t
wait to unwrap his Christmas present.
But his defiance landed him in trouble with the law after his mother and
great-grandmother called police. The boy’s great-grandmother had told him
not to open his Nintendo Game Boy Advance, which she had wrapped and
placed beneath the Christmas tree, according to a police report. But Sunday
morning, she found the box of the popular hand-held game console
unwrapped and opened. Both the great-grandmother and the mother said
they asked the boy where the present was. He said he didn’t know.
When the mother threatened to call the police, the boy got the Game Boy
from his room, the report said. The 27-year-old mother called the police
anyway, she said Monday, because she didn’t feel she had any other option
in dealing with the child she says “can’t stand authority.”
“He took it without permission. He wanted it. He just took it,” the 63-year-
old great-grandmother said. The boy was arrested on petty larceny charges,
taken to the Rock Hill police station in handcuffs and held until his mother
picked him up after church. The boy was never put in jail, police spokesman
Lt. Jerry Waldrop said. “We wouldn’t hold a 12-year-old.” The boy, his
mother and great-grandmother are not being identified because of his
age.The mother said she gave birth to the child when she was 15 and is a
single mother struggling to earn a business degree. She plans to graduate
from York Technical College next year. “I need help,” said the mother, who
also has a 7-year-old daughter. “I’ve been putting overtime in trying to
figure out what’s going on.”
She said her son was diagnosed in the last year with attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder, but his medicine does not seem to help. Repeated
trips to doctors and calls to various agencies have not produced results, she
said. “He can’t stand authority. He has a really bad attitude,” said the
mother.
“He always blames somebody else for something. I don’t want to see him be
another statistic. I want to see him be somebody.” The woman said she has
lost jobs because she has to constantly tend to her son, whose school
troubles began with him taking things from his kindergarten teacher’s desk.
Trips to the grocery store often end with her returning items he pocketed,
she said. The boy, on suspension from his alternative school, faces an
expulsion hearing today, his mother said. He was arrested last month for
disturbing the school after he swung at, but missed, a police officer, Rock Hill
Police Capt. Mark Bollinger said. His mother said neither arrest seemed to
scare him as she had hoped. She is distressed because her son is relishing
the attention brought by his latest arrest.
The boy’s case will be presented to Department of Juvenile Justice officials in
York County, who will decide what happens, Bollinger said. His mother hopes
he can attend a program that will finally scare him straight.
“It’s not even about the Christmas present,” she said. “I only want positive
things out of it. ... There’s no need for him to act this way. I’d rather call
myself than someone else call for him doing something worse than this.”
This article comes from Monica Chen.
Monica Chen is a reporter for the (Rock Hill) Herald, a McClatchy newspaper.
UnQuote
----------------------------------------------------------------------
To me this is the making of a futur criminal, hoping for everybodies sake that
he remains a petty thief and does not move on to major atrocities. But here's
another mother crying for help.
I personally don't believe it'll come to pass. But I do believe prevention is
much more important.
Does anybody out there know what to do? Does anybody care?
I know many of you out there are knowledged in these matters and I would
very much like to here your suggestions.
IsItAnyWonder
child becomes another statistic. Check this out.
Quote
ROCK HILL — A 12-year-old Rock Hill boy wouldn’t
wait to unwrap his Christmas present.
But his defiance landed him in trouble with the law after his mother and
great-grandmother called police. The boy’s great-grandmother had told him
not to open his Nintendo Game Boy Advance, which she had wrapped and
placed beneath the Christmas tree, according to a police report. But Sunday
morning, she found the box of the popular hand-held game console
unwrapped and opened. Both the great-grandmother and the mother said
they asked the boy where the present was. He said he didn’t know.
When the mother threatened to call the police, the boy got the Game Boy
from his room, the report said. The 27-year-old mother called the police
anyway, she said Monday, because she didn’t feel she had any other option
in dealing with the child she says “can’t stand authority.”
“He took it without permission. He wanted it. He just took it,” the 63-year-
old great-grandmother said. The boy was arrested on petty larceny charges,
taken to the Rock Hill police station in handcuffs and held until his mother
picked him up after church. The boy was never put in jail, police spokesman
Lt. Jerry Waldrop said. “We wouldn’t hold a 12-year-old.” The boy, his
mother and great-grandmother are not being identified because of his
age.The mother said she gave birth to the child when she was 15 and is a
single mother struggling to earn a business degree. She plans to graduate
from York Technical College next year. “I need help,” said the mother, who
also has a 7-year-old daughter. “I’ve been putting overtime in trying to
figure out what’s going on.”
She said her son was diagnosed in the last year with attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder, but his medicine does not seem to help. Repeated
trips to doctors and calls to various agencies have not produced results, she
said. “He can’t stand authority. He has a really bad attitude,” said the
mother.
“He always blames somebody else for something. I don’t want to see him be
another statistic. I want to see him be somebody.” The woman said she has
lost jobs because she has to constantly tend to her son, whose school
troubles began with him taking things from his kindergarten teacher’s desk.
Trips to the grocery store often end with her returning items he pocketed,
she said. The boy, on suspension from his alternative school, faces an
expulsion hearing today, his mother said. He was arrested last month for
disturbing the school after he swung at, but missed, a police officer, Rock Hill
Police Capt. Mark Bollinger said. His mother said neither arrest seemed to
scare him as she had hoped. She is distressed because her son is relishing
the attention brought by his latest arrest.
The boy’s case will be presented to Department of Juvenile Justice officials in
York County, who will decide what happens, Bollinger said. His mother hopes
he can attend a program that will finally scare him straight.
“It’s not even about the Christmas present,” she said. “I only want positive
things out of it. ... There’s no need for him to act this way. I’d rather call
myself than someone else call for him doing something worse than this.”
This article comes from Monica Chen.
Monica Chen is a reporter for the (Rock Hill) Herald, a McClatchy newspaper.
UnQuote
----------------------------------------------------------------------
To me this is the making of a futur criminal, hoping for everybodies sake that
he remains a petty thief and does not move on to major atrocities. But here's
another mother crying for help.
I personally don't believe it'll come to pass. But I do believe prevention is
much more important.
Does anybody out there know what to do? Does anybody care?
I know many of you out there are knowledged in these matters and I would
very much like to here your suggestions.
IsItAnyWonder