And J, if you ever decide to reveal your true identity, drop me a line. Until then, I'll be forced to believe that you are The Phantom from the Tire Discounters commercials. I keep thinking you're going to offer me Nitrogen inflation and say "Out the door with more!" I need another nap...
Last month, I wrote about an Ohio couple that adopted a bunch of kids and forced said kids to sleep in cages. Oh, the humanity. Now comes my man Pete Bronson to the rescue. You can always count on Pete to follow-up on the "tragedies" that disappear from the mainstream as soon as the media sucks all the blood out of the story. I was wondering what ended up happening to this couple and their kids. So special thanks go out to Rustypants for sending this link. An excerpt:
A court motion recently filed by the parents, Michael andWho will take care of the fatherless and the widowed? I'll give you a hint, it sure ain't that damn George Bush. (Sorry that slipped... sometimes it seems like the expletive is part of his name, if you listen to our celebrity friends. I don't dislike or worship Bush...) It is the duty of those who call upon Christ to serve God by loving the world, and off the top of my head I can't think of a better way to love the world than to adopt the needy and unlovable into a loving home where all their needs are met. God bless these people.
Sharen Gravelle, said social workers knew about the enclosures and approved of
them to protect the adopted children from themselves and one
another.
According to an Associated Press report, one social worker said she
"understands the need of the Gravelles to control the mobility of the children
and the beds providing safety for the family and security for the
children."
"If you can call these cages, take me to jail right now," Michael
Gravelle told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Dang. Just when we had them judged
and convicted as child abusers, the other side of the story gets in the way.
Such as: The 11 children adopted by the Gravelles, ages 1 to 14, have big
problems such as HIV, autism, fetal alcohol syndrome and a dirt-eating disorder
called pica.
And that makes the Gravelles look more like angels than abusers.
It also raises a question: Who else will take care of these castoff "deep-end
kids" who require 24-7 supervision?
But one thing I'd like my man Pete to follow up on once more... where are the kids? There's no mention of what the status of the kids is... if anyone is following this story and knows more than I do, please let me know. I hope for the sake of the kids and the world that they are in the loving home of Michael and Sharen Gravelle. And as always feel free to comment.
(Sidenote: I called Pete last year around this time and suggested he write an article about my friend Poopy Sideburns... he did... and misspelled my name, which I was fine with... when I talked to him, it seemed like he'd be happy just talking to people about life all day... I'd like that job... quality dude...)
5 comments:
Are you daft? Just because an opinion columnist wrote a piece calling the Gravelles "angels" doesn't make it so. In this instance, it merely proves that said columnist is a numbskull. He reached his conclusions by ignoring most of the information available about the Gravelles.
Keeping the children in cages (enclosures in which a person can neither sit nor stand, has no bedding and no access to a toilet are definitely cages), refusing to send them to school, not providing them with shoes most of the time, and completely isolating them from society is child abuse.
Nor is there any mystery about what the Gravelles' goal was: obtaining money. Michael Gravelle forced his biological children to pay for room and board as young teens. The girl was eventually removed from his care because he sexually abused her. The boy fled and lived on the streets rather than continue tolerating conditions at home. Both of the now adult Gravelle children, who have not spoken to their father and stepmother in years, have volunteered to testify against the Gravelles in court. In the current situation, the Gravelles have been collecting thousands of dollars in adoption subsidies from various agencies -- much more than they ever earned working in blue collar jobs. Gravelle allegedly told friends that if they could acquire enough children, they would never have to do any real work again.
If the Gravelles past had been properly scrutinized they would not have been allowed to adopt at all. They were able to acquire so many children by going to different agencies and concealing the number of children they already had. The courts have already stopped the adoption subsidy payments, but I believe criminal charges to recover the fraudulently obtained funds should be instituted as well.
There will be a hearing on custody Dec. 6. Hopefully, the Gravelles' parental rights with be severed then, if the adoptions are not voided altogether.
All of this information has been published on the Web. Obviously, you were too lazy to read it. Instead you are relying on someone with even worse judgment than yourself.
The history of black people being treated like animals by white Americans is a long and horrible one. This episode of black children being caged by a white couple is another sordid example. Instead of praising the Gravelles, you should be condemning them. "God bless these people." Only someone utterly clueless could say that.
I'm happy to admit when I'm wrong, J. And if the things you say are true, I will take back what I said. Please realize, however, it's hard for me to take you at your word with a private profile and no links to any of these websites you say the truth is found in.
And I'm not lazy, I just don't spend hours on the web every day. So, if you do, please share the relevant info. I'd hate to be utterly clueless... I don't think I am.
Happy Thanksgiving, J. May God bless you and all of us.
Scott, there was a new revelation about the Gravelles recently. Turns out that they also made at least one child live in the toilet for months. Yes, live there.
"Prosecutors said one of the children was allegedly forced to sleep in a bathroom for three months and was only allowed out for meals and when other children needed to use the bathroom, NewsChannel5 reported."
After the cages were built, the children were made to sleep there in their own urine and feces, of course. Actually, "cage" is not strong enough language to describe the situation. "Sty" might.
Read the rest of that story here:
http://www.newsnet5.com/family/5381609/detail.html
Beneath that article you will see a list of Channel 5's coverage. They were the first to obtain photos of the cages and have been very thorough in probing the Gravelles' seamy past.
Here are a couple other articles to supplement what you will read there:
Revelations lead to state investigation of inadequacies of adoption system:
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/113161873470410.xml&coll=2
The best in-depth stories on Gravelle's abuse of his biological children are now paid archive at the Akron paper. But, here is an excerpt of one of them in which his daughter describes being sexually abused by him at 12 and 13:
http://pahomeschoolers.com/messages/15721.html
The Gravelle saga became a national scandal, so you can locate more information by Googling.
I gather from research I did after reading the column that Peter Bronson is an embarrassing relic the Enquirer has shunted aside except for a column. African-American bloggers in Cincy say he has a long history of always defending white people whenever race is involved in an issue. Why he wrote that column is apparent. He saw that the Gravelles are white and the children are black and raced to defend the Gravelles. Looks a heck of a lot like bigotry.
J, thank you very much for following up. I thought you were a one-time commenter, never to be heard from again. May I ask how you stumbled upon Room113? Or may I ask if there's a place I can read your writings? It's hard for me to find folks with different worldviews to read who aren't blatantly hateful... Thanks for being reasonable in your critique of my thoughts.
I'm a sensitive dude, especially when it comes to racial issues. The last thing I want is to give off any sort of 'racist' vibes. (I will blog about some experiences I've had in the near future, now that I think about it... so stay tuned if that interests you.)
I'm still a young pup, so I don't know all of Bronson's past. What I know of him, I like very much. He doesn't seem to me to be a guy who makes everything a black vs white issue. If he did come across that way, I wouldn't bother reading him. One recent example of Pete not strictly following his own skin color was his support for Charlie Winburn for mayor. When Winburn didn't finish in the top 2 in the mayoral primary, he threw his support to Mark Mallory, who ended up winning the November election. (In case you aren't a Cincy politic follower, Winburn and Mallory are black... the man most predicted to be mayor is David Pepper, who is white. But enough about him...
I will keep my word, I will take back what I said. (I won't delete the post... I'm using this whole blog thing as a male diary of sorts, so deleting would be acting like none of this ever happened.) Again, J, thanks for your comment, thanks for making me think. Unfortunately, I will continue to form opinions on issues without knowing the entire truth. Heck, if I took the time to fully investigate every situation I have an opinion on, my wife would be a very lonely woman. And I would need to stop being Mr. Dialupe. These are the times I long for high-speed...
I appreciate your considering what I had to say, Scott.
Good luck with your blogging.
Post a Comment