Couple Sues Wal-Mart
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Couple Sues Wal-Mart
| Mon, 09-21-2009 - 9:48am |
I saw this on Good Morning America this morning. I think Wal-Mart should have their pants sued off of them! This is ridiculous. Think twice before taking any cute half nude pictures of your children and taking them some place to be developed. None of the pictures shown were child porn. Stupid Wal-Mart!
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/parents-sue-wal-mart-children-bath-time-photos/Story?id=8622696&page=2
Edited 9/21/2009 11:50 am ET by claddagh49

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****"I think the policy should be any pictures could be turned over. I wonder if this will make all people decide never to turn in pictures regardless."***
Are you actually saying that *ANY* pictures could be turned over, just because the photos show naked kids?! And such evaluation dependent solely on some individual's opinions of nudity?! Or see all nudity as suspect and evil? There *are* people out there who think the naked human body is evil and should be covered up from neck to ankle. Should these people be in control pointing fingers that end up harming an innocent family, like this family was harmed? Especially with paranoid gov't agents jumping on that bandwagon, too! YIKES! I think that's 'way extreme and uncalled for. There *are* perfectly innocent "bath pics" and so on, of naked kids. That would really turn us into a police state. :// And for employees to decide *not* to, maybe if it prevents the huge percentage of innocent people being victimized like this family, it would be a very good thing. We don't need paranoia running rampant and people seeing what they want/suspect to see, and not reality at all. Turning every citizen into a spy of every other citizen, and turning them in for imaginary misinterpretation of observations, based on the observer's mental state. YIKES, again! :O At the very very least, it should make people hesitant to do so. Again, we are not seeing every single photo that was confiscated by the gov't and evaluated. We *do* have a judge, who evidently *did* see the photos, ruling there was *NO* porno. So, this is a real warning of invasion of privacy and paranoia leading to false arrests and accusations, IMO.
Blessings,
Gypsy
)O(
"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset.
- Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator
Dog fighting is cruelty, which is a human activity and a human illness.
It's not the dog's fault.
All dogs need to be evaluated as individuals."
--Tim Racer, one of BAD RAP's founders
http://www.badrap.org/rescue/
Mika Dog
"All things share the same breath;
the beast, the tree, the man.
The Air shares its spirit with
all the life it supports."
--Chief Seattle
"If there are no dogs in Heaven,
then when I die I want to go where they went."
~Will Rogers
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress
can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
~~Mahatma Gandhi
"Life is a state of mind." ~~from Being There.
Edited 9/22/2009 12:33 pm ET by gypsywolfwoman
Blessings,
Gypsy
)O(
Obviously your school district failed to check that teacher's background. That's their job when considering hiring a teacher, isn't it? And, if that person served his time, and BY LAW is still allowed to teach, who's to say having him teaching was a risk to any other children? I don't know if someone convicted of child porno is not allowed to teach ever again, or not. Do you? And someone might also want to take it up with your school district, if it *IS* against the law to hire a teacher with such a conviction, for being negligent in their hiring practices.
This is also "apples & oranges." This teacher, according to you, was a *convicted* child pornographer. That's a huge difference than this Walmart incident. These parents were innocent, had never been convicted of pornography and had no police record. Yet they were treated as though they were in the process of a punitive "investigation." Even a JUDGE threw it out. But damage has been done to these people's reputation due to idiots who will continue to see them as guilty but got off, because they read about the investigation in the paper, and decided that was enough to make them guilty. Horrific damage to their lives and reputations, that will never fully be eradicated because of abusive Walmart and gov't.
Blessings,
Gypsy
)O(
"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset.
- Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator
Dog fighting is cruelty, which is a human activity and a human illness.
It's not the dog's fault.
All dogs need to be evaluated as individuals."
--Tim Racer, one of BAD RAP's founders
http://www.badrap.org/rescue/
Mika Dog
"All things share the same breath;
the beast, the tree, the man.
The Air shares its spirit with
all the life it supports."
--Chief Seattle
"If there are no dogs in Heaven,
then when I die I want to go where they went."
~Will Rogers
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress
can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
~~Mahatma Gandhi
"Life is a state of mind." ~~from Being There.
Blessings,
Gypsy
)O(
I see your point. Teachers can "go bad" after passing the background check and getting hired. Just like I guess, any parent could "go bad" some time after having their kids. And the trusted neighbor of 30 years could turn out to be a serial killer, too.
I think, though, *some common sense* needs to be applied. "Odd" behavior, photos, whatever, can indicate something sinister, yes. Or could just be innocent, too. It's all "in the eye of the beholder." And that "eye" can be fickle, see what's not really there, colored by expectations in the brain.
But abusing gov't's power, or giving some clerk somewhere this kind of power, without sufficient proof, jeopardizes all of us, potentially, to be falsely accused, and then suffering and having lives ruined because of over zealousness. Automatically assuming the very worst from the get-go leads to travesties like the false persecution of the parents in the OP, losing jobs, income, not to mention their kids, and now having to rebuild their lives. IMO, it's akin to people being hauled off in the middle of the night and never heard from again, like in some other countries where citizens have no rights, and are, at any time, in danger at the whim of their gov't.
We live in a country in which we have freedoms and rights to be protected from gov't or others, due process of law, and the process of accusations must be law-abiding and preserve people's rights to being innocent until proven BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT, guilty. Or the rights of all of us are at risk. I guess what I'm trying to say, it's a very slippery slope and preserving people's rights is important. An accusation without sufficient backup, or evidence, can ruin innocent lives, even when the person is subsequently exonerated. *Especially* concerning accusations of child abuse or child porno.
Blessings,
Gypsy
)O(
"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset.
- Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator
Dog fighting is cruelty, which is a human activity and a human illness.
It's not the dog's fault.
All dogs need to be evaluated as individuals."
--Tim Racer, one of BAD RAP's founders
http://www.badrap.org/rescue/
Mika Dog
"All things share the same breath;
the beast, the tree, the man.
The Air shares its spirit with
all the life it supports."
--Chief Seattle
"If there are no dogs in Heaven,
then when I die I want to go where they went."
~Will Rogers
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress
can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
~~Mahatma Gandhi
"Life is a state of mind." ~~from Being There.
Blessings,
Gypsy
)O(
I agree! The whole situation was very poorly handled. My grandson's stepfather was horrible to him and that's why my son got primary custody. He would hit him, push him down to the floor, my grandson was so afraid to come downstairs again if he had to go to the bathroom after he was sent to go to bed, he would pee in the trundle drawer of the bed.
These parents were guilty until proven innocent, but the trauma will remain forever.
Not a school teacher, a private piano teacher. And I should have checked but he came highly recommended from a few people. But, my point is that someone turned him in. That person could have been paranoid or whatever but he or she did what he/she thought was right and law enforcement did what they were supposed to do and this teacher was put in jail. What if that original person decided it wasn't his call and left it?
As this case goes, I've said I feel for the parents and the system needs to be looked at but I don't think it's up to Wal-Mart to look the other way. If they passed on pornography, they could also be sued. There are hundreds of thousands of people who've been arrested and searched and found innocent. Do you think we can ever attain a 100% conviction rate? What do you propose to do w/ people who are suspects in crimes like rape or pedophilia? Let them go until they come up to court? I don't think people's names should be released if they are suspects, even in cases like rape, although I'd like to know, on a personal note, if someone has been arraigned. There isn't an easy solution. I just don't think it's as cut and dry as this couple is making it seem, obviously innocent pictures that everyone down the line, except the judge, was dumb enough to think was obscene. The judge had to make a judgement but we don't know how easy of a decision it was. I mean, was OJ innocent? He was found not guilty and his name was dragged through the mud.
Thanks for the clarification re the piano teacher not having any connection through the school district. I'm still surprised that this person can legally run a personal business as a teacher, whether private or through the school district. But since there's no licensing involved for private teachers like this, you're right that it's up to the consumer (parent) to do their homework. Could be teachers at a private dance studio, or personal sports coach or a martial arts teacher/studio, for that matter. If I got recommendations from others, I would also have run it by the school music director as to knowing this person. But, even then, as you demonstrated, others may not know, either, and had a good experience with the teacher's services, with no problems, so he was able to continue teaching. I guess it would be nice to afford having people investigated before allowing them near our children. That's not feasible, I don't think. But sometimes you think we should all be able to afford to do so, you know? Heck, I'd prefer doing a full background check with any person I do business with, too, who runs their own business or provides a service as their own business. I can and do check references, but as your account demonstrates, obviously that isn't always sufficient. :O
As for the judge, it doesn't matter how hard the decision was. It's the judge's job to interpret and rule on the laws. He did. That *should* be the end of it, but of course, just the inept and out of control way the investigation was handled created serious harm and fallout for this family. Something should be done, the gov't people reprimanded, and procedures set in place that prevent such, even unintentional, abuse from happening to others.
Blessings,
Gypsy
)O(
"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset.
- Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator
Dog fighting is cruelty, which is a human activity and a human illness.
It's not the dog's fault.
All dogs need to be evaluated as individuals."
--Tim Racer, one of BAD RAP's founders
http://www.badrap.org/rescue/
Mika Dog
"All things share the same breath;
the beast, the tree, the man.
The Air shares its spirit with
all the life it supports."
--Chief Seattle
"If there are no dogs in Heaven,
then when I die I want to go where they went."
~Will Rogers
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress
can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
~~Mahatma Gandhi
"Life is a state of mind." ~~from Being There.
Blessings,
Gypsy
)O(
I was surprised to find that the teacher had been a convicted pedophile and was allowed to still be teaching kids. It was a big dilemma--I told the people who recommended him to me but wish I could warn other students. We had only been there a short while and didn't know the others. I happened to come across his name just because I had discovered the sex offenders registry and was looking in my area. A quick google search found the whole story. I talked to a prosecutor about it, why someone would be allowed to work with children (and live within a mile of an elementary school). It's not his primary living so they wouldn't deprive him of making a living even. She said it all depended on the sentence.
All I'm saying, as the judge decision goes, is that it might not be so easily cut and dry. Apparently people down the line felt there was enough in the pictures to warrant investigation. I'm not falling for their lawyer's picture of the innocent non-naked picture of the girls and thinking that people from Wal Mart to law enforcement officers were dumb enough to see that and think it was child porn. I'm not that gullible to fall for the lawyers line.
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