| - L E T T E R - |
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| Page 30b =========== |
| Letter to the Committee... |
| SUMMARY : Had this father requested a copy of the medical report, he would have seen the lack of information, and could have demanded the doctor ammend his records, accordingly. Further, had the father anticipated that someone, somewhere, somehow would raise an eyebrow, some time in the future, he would've documented the incident and had his friend sign it, as a matter of mere fomality. We cannot always anticipate the future, but we can cover our asses, for our own secutiry...If this seems much a do about nothing, think of how easily this father could have lost his family and/or gone to prison...for this... |
| Some five years ago, on a Saturday morning, my eight year old son was playing, with his seven year old sister, in the school playground, just down the street, from our house. Another young boy, strolled into the playground area, with an old tractor trailer tire, he had rolled down the street, from his backyard. My son and a group of other boys joined this young lad, in a game of, " Chicken ". The idea was to raise the tire, up the ladder, of the slide, and roll it down the other side, while running back and forth, in front of it, and avoid being struck, by this heavy moving object. During this time, my wife was in the house, engaged in her daily house keeping activities - and - I was in our backyard, working on a friend's truck. |
| Suddenly our daughter came running down the street, screaming and crying, that our son was hurt. Both my wife and I immediately dropped what we were doing and rushed to the playground, to see what had happened. While my wife attended to our son, I rushed home, jumped into the family station wagon and fled back to the scene. Using my knowledge of first aid, I examined my son and suspected he had a broken leg. I used what I could find for a, " make shift ", splint, out of a broom handle, window cleaner and some electrical cord. Then we all rushed our son to the emergency entrance of the local hospital. |
| After examining our son, the doctor said he did have a hair line fracture and would require a cast. The doctor commended me on my innovation, in making the splint. After talking at length with our son, the doctor was quite certain the accident was a freakish event, and "not" the result of abuse. After the cast had been set, we brought our son home and for the next several weeks we waited on him hand and foot, as it were, until the cast was removed and his leg was completely mended. |
| My son isn't accident prone. As time past, we forgot about this misfortune. That is until five years later, when I was being investigated by a social worker, at our children's school. It seems the doctor, in his haste, failed to completely fill out, the cause of the accident part, of the form, as described to him by my son. He merely wrote, "Struck by Tractor Tire". School officials protected their butts, by claiming there was no construction work being done, at the school -or- in the area, at the time. Last but not least my friend and only witness moved away, and was unavailable to give testimony, as to my innocence, in this matter. Needless to say, this raised much suspicion, in the eyes of the social worker and warranted a rather biased investigation of me personally, my relationship with my son - and - methods of discipline. As it turned out, when they took me to court, the judge, also quite biased, was not very impressed either. The lawyer, for the State was impressive, making every effort to focus on this one issolated incident, as the potential that I was either an abusive parent or a neglectful one. |
| Dear Committee Members, |
| Annonymous |