Thursday, June 14, 2007

Police: Community input casts doubt on baby sitter in fatal fire

We talked about this with our family and my wife's first reaction was -- where were the dads? A focus is upon the babysitter, the moms -- and not the dads?

One of the dads was on a TV interview talking about defense of his wife. Time will tell.
Police: Community input casts doubt on baby sitter in fatal fire Investigators have doubts whether a teenage baby sitter who was supposed to be watching five children killed in a row house fire really exists.

Witnesses and neighbors are providing information that 'has a tendency to cast doubt' on the baby sitter's existence, Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard said.

'Legally, and in all fairness, we will continue the investigation so we can completely rule that out,' she said.

The blaze, reported at about 1:20 a.m. Tuesday, ...

6 comments:

Thomas Leturgey said...

Where are the Dads? That is a good question, especially this time of the year.

The fact of the matter is, there aren't that many good "Dads" out there. I'm not sure if the percentage of "good Mothers" is any better, but this is about the fathers.

There just aren't that many men out there willing to make the sacrifices necessary to raise good, responsible children. Where were the Dads in Mt. Oliver yesterday when a 16-year-old shot a 14-year-old who was DRIVING A CAR.

If there were more responsible Dads out there, the world would be a better place. There's simply no question about it.

That's what makes guys like Mark, who has obviously made countless sacrifices for his sons. I like to think that I've done more than my share for my son as well.

A Good Dad remains the most underappreciated special interest group on the planet.

Anonymous said...

Tom, is this family values your discussing...no is not a dig to inject "family values," just a realistic request of what society obviously needs based upon your obvervations of these tragic events that impact our communities and our city.

Mark Rauterkus said...

Stay tuned. I'm going to put up a new video onto my web site of a song -- for Father's Day. It is about "Men" -- and a hint at things with dads.

I have said that I don't want to push "family values" as that is a buzz term that has been taken by storm by certain political folks. Earl Jones talks a bit about "family values." I spin it in different terms. I say I value the family.

Another friend encourages me to talk about "value" over and over again. Living in Pittsburgh isn't the 'value' that we've come to expect or else have had in the past. People understand 'value' in their frugal nature. What value do we get from our tax dollars these days??? There isn't much 'value' to city, county nor state government.

little scribbler said...

My thoughts are in tune with your wife on this one. Upon hearing the story on the news yesterday, it was one of the the first things I thought about. Reporters kept speculating about whether or not charges would be brought against the mothers and made no mention of any fathers.

Perhaps if the "authorities" would have stepped in a long time ago, we wouldn't hear of such stories. By that I mean, address the roots of the problems faced by low income families in the Pgh area. That there are so many families facing struggles in the darkness of poverty should be tragedy enough to raise voices citywide calling for community action.
btw, my email is lauriekir@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

The value of the family is to respect the diversity, but to recognize these offspring our the future of our communities.

Mark, we are getting not a lot a bang for our buck, and my family is perhaps valued to pay the taxes, but, getting very little in return. How do buck this trend?

Mark Rauterkus said...

Begin by talking about it.

Begin by setting priorities.

I think the valued priority is the family -- the diverse family setting. This value is NOT like the corporate welfare crowd, the cronies. I'm not in favor of giving away tax money to PNC to build a new building downtown. I'd rather invest in the health and wellness of families -- common folk.