mamacita
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Especially someone who would pick up an axe when angry. I know what you mean.
on their own family member (niece), none the less...
Especially someone who would pick up an axe when angry. I know what you mean.
Warning - SPECULATION - Just a theoretical question
I wonder if I could wake my daughter (when she was 9 YO) at ...oh, say 3:30 am and tell her to get in my bed. Then at 9 a.m. or so wake her up and make her think it was 6:30 a.m. when I had her go to my room to sleep? It might work if there was no digital clock glaring her in the face, right? She might then swear she was woken up and told to go to the other room at 6:30, right?
I live about an hour away and I know that the light starts shining in my bedroom about 6:30-6:45am and I can see outside. Our Maintenance guy is usually up and starting to do yardwork and such by 7am.http://www.wunderground.com/history...tml?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA
Sunrise times in Weston, WV:
9-24-2011
Actual Time 7:10 AM EDT
Civil Twilight 6:43 AM EDT
Nautical Twilight 6:12 AM EDT
So, IMO, 6:30 am is smack in the middle of Nautical Twilight and Civil Twilight.
(Go to the link and hover over those words for definitions, bottom right of the page under Astronomy.)
Right about the time where most people start to realize the sun is coming up, IMO
Just an observation...
Such a sad task in such a serene place.....I can literally hear John Denver singing....... "West Virginia, mountain momma, take me home, country roads"!!!!!
Using this address in Google Earth shows a neat little walking bridge (just N of the address) using street view.
384 US Highway 19 S, Weston, WV
It's the address for H K Kasting.
Looks like there may be abandoned buildings across the street. It's a very secluded spot if the businesses across the street are abandoned.
Using that address Mapquest is way off base.
Use this link instead, but there is no street view to see the bridge at ground level.
http://mapq.st/rqncUT
Try this link for Google Maps to get a street view and walk around:
384 US Highway 19 S, Weston, WV - Google Maps
Does HWY 19 go into Monongalia County?
Updated: 12:19 AM Oct 1, 2011
NEW INFO: Search for Missing 3-Year-Old Girl Stretches Nearly a Week
Day seven of the search, and volunteers remain hopeful they'll find her alive. The FBI says it's looking into all possibilities, including the chance that someone may have taken Aliayah from her home in an attempt to -- in their mind -- protect her.
"The message we have is one of hope," FBI Special Agent Jeff Killeen told reporters at the search zone near Weston. "We want to get this child back.
Thank you, HBDiva, truly.
Hugs,
Dsn
There's been some conversation about Child Protective Services, foster parenting, etc. etc and I'd like to throw some thoughts into the ring.
My academic discipline was anthropology with an emphasis on Appalachian culture. Specifically, I was interested in how the hillbilly stereotype was born and how it was propagated and how it's still and stupidly (in my opinion) regarded as gospel. Since paying gigs in anthropology are few and far between, I work for the state's largest nonprofit working to prevent child abuse. We're an umbrella organization housing three major programs and a multitude of smaller ones all designed around strengthening families and communities, advocating for child-centered policies, and improving the infrastructure of parenthood and childhood. For those of you interested, take a gander at http://www.preventchildabusewv.org or http://www.wvpartners.org or http://www.wvctf.org
For a few years, I also had a part-time gig with an emergency shelter for teenagers removed from their homes for one reason or another.
I'm immersed in data and raw statistics on a daily basis related to child welfare issues in West Virginia and the nation. West Virginia has a high rate of child maltreatment - not because we're hillbillies, but because we're poor aka "economically stressed." The good news is that because of our programs and a multitude of others around the state, documented cases of child abuse have declined 39% over the past five years according the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. It's also been a blessing that WV has weathered the economic crisis of the past few years much better than most states. My personal opinion is we've been poor so long, we haven't much noticed the current "economic downturn."
Child abuse, including neglect, is very seldom intentional. As I'm sitting here writing this, the incidence of child maltreatment is increasing in some very surprising places - middle and upper middle class suburbs of large, urban areas. The supposition is that as more and more Americans are becoming "economically stressed", children are suffering. It's hard to parent well when the bank is foreclosing and unemployment benefits have run out.
One of the truths that guides our organization is that by the time Child Protective Services becomes involved, we have ALREADY failed to protect the child. CPS does not get involved until there's an allegation of mistreatment and they don't intervene until mistreatment is substantiated. And even when it is substantiated, removing children from the home is a last resort. This is not just true in WV, it's true for the nation.
Between my parents' experiences as foster parents and my experiences with the agencies I've worked for - with few exceptions, children love their parents regardless of how they've been treated. And with few exceptions, the parents have loved the children. I have listened to teenagers overly concerned with being uber-cool sob because they have been taken from their homes. I have wanted to throttle some of their parents and then I hear mom and dad sob. There's a lot of crying at children's shelters. Breaking that bond damages everyone further except in the most extreme of cases. When a child doesn't want to go home, that's a major sign that it's severe, unspeakable abuse.
Most of us have said at one time or another there oughta be a licensure test for parenting. I have been persuaded by the studies, the stats, and the stories I hear from children that the answer is not (generally) to separate children and parents. The answer is to increase the likelihood that parents will parent well and communities will support parents.
I don't know a lot of the details of Aliyah's case. I tend to shy away from cases like this, because I'm immersed in too many sad stories as it is. I don't think this story will end well - just a gut feeling. And if I'm right, please God, I hope not, this case is not typical of child maltreatment either in WV or the nation at large.
If we want to end child maltreatment, the answer is not increased jail time or more foster parents or more shelters or more reporting requirements. The answer is not a better Amber Alert system or more vigilant law enforcement personnel. Remember, by the time those solutions are invoked, the child has already been harmed.
[Don't get me wrong. Foster parents and CPS workers and LE and judges and shelter workers and victim advocates all deserve huge paychecks, an annual parade, and a special place in heaven. The Amber Alert system has been a godsend.]
The first six years of life are critical and what happens in those years colors all the years that follow. What is happening to brain architecture in those years is awesome. See: http://unitedwayrivercities.org/sb6.html
The solution to child maltreatment is preventing it in the first place through better schools, more playgrounds, Little League, scouting, nutrition, better access to health care, quality daycare, jobs that pay enough to support a family. The answer is understanding child development and conveying that understanding to expectant and new parents. Better yet, infusing it into school curricula. Parenting 101 for high schoolers. It's taking a casserole to a new mom and offering to babysit for a couple of hours while she catches up on sleep.
On the surface of things, Aliyah's family did some things right. It appears there's access to health care. It appears there's adequate housing. Mom did call 911. StepDad has a job. The family has transportation. The response of the community has been awesome. With a major FBI facility in Clarksburg, WV, some of the best and brightest minds are on the case.
In various comments on CNN and in other places, I've seen the hillbilly stereotype exploding. Allegations of incest, inbreeding, missing teeth, secretive, isolated, lazy, backwards, distrust of outsiders, blah blah blah blah. It diminishes that sweet baby girl to color her with that paintbrush. It diminishes us all. If any of those characteristics prove to be accurate in this case, it's not because we're hillbillies. It's because those characteristics occur anywhere and everywhere with an outcome that is seldom good.
If you want to protect a child, any child, every child, support the families and advocate for child-centered policies. Just as in healthcare and security systems, prevention is more effective than intervention.:HHJP:
I'll quit blathering now. Lord, Lord, I hope they find her safe.
HBDiva