NC: 6 yr. old boy sent to court for picking a tulip

[Marthe48]

The little boy was waiting for his school bus and picked the flower from someone's yard. He is charged with destruction of real property.

https://bnc.tv/six-year-old-north-carolina-arrested-picking-flower-from-lawn/

[Phoenix61]

1. Someone has clearly lost their ever loving mind. nt

[CoopersDad]

2. I know the color of this lad's skin without even opening the news link. eom

[malaise]

41. THIS n/t

[yardwork]

48. Of course. It's horrible.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

53. This

Was the first thing I thought. so sad for everybody here

[Diamond_Dog]

3. What in the world is wrong with people.

I hope the judge throws this case out.

Really!!

[dalton99a]

4. "When a cop picks up a white boy, he takes him to his parents"

"When a cop picks up a white boy, he takes him to his parents," said Mary Stansell, juvenile chief at the Wake County Public Defender's Office. "But if he is black, he takes him to the state."

Once children are in the system, the disparities continue. The process can penalize children whose parents can't take time off during a workday or who lack transportation to go to an intake meeting or drive their children to other programs, attorneys said.

https://journalnow.com/north-carolina-sends-6-year-olds-to-court-why-some-say-its-time-for-change/article_e2a15a82-8383-11eb-91ee-43ce7c88753b.html

[Lulu Latech]

5. What kind of person calls the police on a child picking a flower?

Jeeze....Who would call the police on anyone picking a flower from their yard. Really?

[Cracklin Charlie]

16. My mom told me when I started gardening my first yard...

You can’t get mad about things that happen in the garden. The garden is for happy thoughts.

Branches break, bug infestation, flying soccer balls, kid’s running...all take a constant toll on your garden. It’s just something ya have to deal with.

I would feel honored if any child thought my flowers were pretty enough to pick.

[demigoddess]

43. that is what I was thinking. Or...that is a future gardener.

Why didn't the 'owner' of the flower offer to teach him how to grow his own, give him some bulbs, plants, seeds.

STUPID People!!

[hunter]

63. This is a wonderful post. Thank you.

I strive to make the world my garden.

[Arkansas Granny]

6. Who in their right mind files a police report over a child picking a flower?

[ananda]

8. We live in a very sick society right now.

People have indeed lost their minds and hearts.

[RKP5637]

10. I've been seeing the US deteriorating this way for some time now. There seem to be more Haters

all the time.

[Jay25]

59. And it seems many are the ones in power, smugly making life a living hell for those of us

Who are actual human beings, you know, “real” human beings capable of humanity, compassion and empathy. The hateful ones not in power are just as bad.

[Texin]

62. They've always been here. tRump just gave them a license to openly display their hatred.

[ananda]

78. What's different is how fuckiing insane they are ...

while being enabled and normalized by the media.

[RKP5637]

84. Yeah, it's now group think/hate! And as you say, "fucking insane." n/t

[smirkymonkey]

92. It's enough to make you think you are losing your own mind.

[ananda]

93. Gawsh, tell me about it!

It feels like mass insanity running through our
collective unconsious.

[ZonkerHarris]

15. A racist

[Miguelito Loveless]

7. I am deeply ashamed to live in this state

with things like this happening.

[BComplex]

25. Me, too.

This makes me so mad I want to throw something.

[Rorey]

65. There are assholes like that in EVERY state

Sadly.

[RKP5637]

9. Guess some are going for getting cops involved rather than screaming, "Get off my lawn!"

This, is incredible.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

11. FTP.

[ret5hd]

12. ACA still B

[niyad]

54. ??????

[Treefrog]

70. It's a slur against police that employs the B word, so it manages to slur women too, as so many

insults seem to do these days. I won’t spell the entire phrase out here, but it’s easily found with a search.

[ret5hd]

71. Since when is "bastards" a slur against women? Tell me, please.

Awaiting your response.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.C.A.B.

[niyad]

72. Thank you. That was most informative.

[Treefrog]

73. You know as well as I do what that phrase began as, and if not, you've not been to many marches.

Please.

[ret5hd]

74. Tell me what you believe that phrase began as.

My link gave history back to the 1920's, when the article claims it first appeared.

[Treefrog]

75. Is this a history quiz? I spent many of my teenage years in London and the ACAB as YOU define it

Last edited Mon Mar 22, 2021, 04:30 PM - Edit history (1)

was widely used by skinheads. Bastard is a common pejorative in England, not so much over here. I’ve been in numerous marches on both coasts. I hear cops called the B word all the time, and not that one. The B word on the other hand is used so much it’s ubiquitous as an insult to women or men, though when used against men, we all know the reason. You believe whatever you think is right.

[ret5hd]

76. So, what you're saying is you were wrong?

[Celerity]

88. not just skins, all sorts of members of the general public and it goes back 100 years or so

I am a British citizen, grew up in London, and you kicked this all off by trying to falsely claim the B in ACAB was the B-word (which most assuredly is not bastards, which of course is what the B in ACAB actually is).

as far as this

I hear cops called the B word all the time, and not that one. The B word on the other hand is used so much it’s ubiquitous as an insult to women or men, though when used against men, we all know the reason.

goes

In the UK the C word is FAR more widely used in the manner you are describing than the B word.

[ret5hd]

13. The REAL news story should be the person filing the charges...

Put THIS persons name and face in the newspaper, on the tv screen. Send reporters and cameras to their front door, follow this person walking up the courthouse steps to testify against a 6 year old.

Just watch how fast those charges get dropped.

[PatSeg]

19. Exactly, I was thinking the same thing

[LisaL]

20. Judge already dropped the charges per the article.

NT

[Buckeye_Democrat]

23. Thanks!

Good grief! It's ridiculous that it even got that far, but at least the judge had some good sense.

[Marthe48]

49. I missed that part

Even so, just such overkill over a flower.


My grandmother had a bed of bulb plants, and my Mom told us never to pick those flowers. She also told us never to pick trilliums. She showed us flowers we could pick, like dandelions, violets, buttercups. She not only taught us about flowers, she taught us about conservation and gardening.

[ShazzieB]

57. I breathed a sigh of relief when I read this.

Turned out I'd been holding my breath and didn't even realize it. So glad that at least the judge wasn't a jackhole. (Some of them are, so you never know.)

[Ilsa]

61. I wish he would assess court charges against the racist whiner. nt

[Marthe48]

52. Maybe the accuser's name will be in the court filing

Seems like if the child's appearance in court is public, the person who called the police should also be in public. .

[uponit7771]

69. THIS !!!! ☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾

[multigraincracker]

14. He is 6 freaking years old.

WTF!

[PatSeg]

18. That is so pitiful

I think pretty much every child at some time or another has picked a flower that they shouldn't have. And they might have gotten yelled at, but to take a young child to court is so petty and cruel. I hope the fool who called the police becomes "famous".

[Buckeye_Democrat]

21. Me too!

It's so insane, especially given the boy's age!

The police and court system should've scoffed at the idea, anyway!

[PatSeg]

27. I agree

The police could have easily said "no" and if not, the judge should find a reason to dismiss it. There is plenty of blame to go around.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

28. The judge indeed dismissed it.

Crazy that it went that far, though.

[PatSeg]

34. Thank goodness

Yes I agree, it is crazy that it went that far. Hopefully, it hasn't caused any great harm to the child.

[3auld6phart]

40. Shameful

The PIG was probably,I’m sure was a white cop. More than happy to arrest aand shame the child. Happy the Judge wouldn’t hear the case and tossed kit.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

45. That word perfectly describes it.

So many nutcases in this country!

[Texin]

64. Actually, I think every ADULT has done something like this -a flower, a fruit hanging over the fence

and how 'bout those couple of grapes people pinch at the grocery store (pre-pandemic, of course)?

[PatSeg]

83. And that would include the adult(s)

who arrested that poor child.

[Klaralven]

22. North Carolina sends 6-year-olds to court. Why some say it's time for change

From 2015 through 2018 nearly 7,300 complaints were filed against children age 6 to 11 years old, according to numbers from the state Juvenile Justice section.

Of those complaints, 47% were against Black children, 40% were against white children and 7% against Hispanic or Latino children.

In general, 22% of the state's population is Black, 70% is white and 10% is Hispanic.

Roughly 82% percent of the complaints were against boys.

https://journalnow.com/north-carolina-sends-6-year-olds-to-court-why-some-say-its-time-for-change/article_e2a15a82-8383-11eb-91ee-43ce7c88753b.html

Gender inequity also needs to be addressed.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

26. I mentioned my paper route at age 7 in a recent thread...

... here, and it reminded me of the times when an adult had approached and screamed at me about the silliest things.

I had been told to deliver any extra newspapers to random non-subscribers in the neighborhood (free). In hindsight, the newspaper publisher probably thought it could lead to new subscribers.

There were some of the recipients who stormed out of their homes when they next saw me, screaming that they weren't subscribers and I'd better never try to collect money for it. I'd reply that it was a free sample, but they'd usually still keep yelling in my face while complaining that nobody should've hired such a "young idiot" to deliver papers.

It was often terrifying, and I'm now amazed how some of those supposed "adults" treated a young child.

Edit: I'm a white male, btw.

[PatSeg]

32. Not only is this cruel to young children,

it is unnecessarily expensive to taxpayers. Our courts are often overwhelmed as it is.

As for "gender inequity" however, I raised both a boy and a girl, and boys do tend to get in more trouble as a rule. Of course, girls tend to be better at not getting caught when they do misbehave.

[dianaredwing]

39. Maybe the cops there

Don't have anything else to do. Low crime day. No Asians doing nails. No women being uppity. What's a cop to do?

[Buckeye_Democrat]

55. Maybe.

The cops in my area can behave like cases of vandalism are major terrorist acts.

I dealt with one of them years ago as I was smoking a cigarette outside, seated at my own back door. He demanded to know what I was doing and beckoned me over to him. I probably should have just opened my door and went inside while ignoring him, but I instead walked toward his police car. (He then exited his vehicle and ordered me to extinguish the cigarette before getting near him with it. So I did.) He ended up asking for my ID, then called it in to look for a criminal history!

After all of that nonsense, he finally explained that a car was vandalized about a mile away and he was looking for the culprit! WTF?! I told him that I had just returned home from work, so I certainly know nothing about it!

Then he told me to go inside and lock my door because they're probably still in the area!

Barney Fife, basically.

[PatSeg]

80. It seems that these days,

they tend to over-police and they see everyone has a suspected criminal. They totally forget the "protect and serve" part. I know that has been true for a long time, but ever since the excessive militarization of our police departments after 9/11, it has gotten worse.

That experience must have been very unsettling and no one should have to provide an ID when they sitting on their own porch. So was he going to check every person in a one mile radius? Very Barney Fife, but not as endearing.

[PatSeg]

81. Yeah, if there ain't no crime,

might as well create some.

[Klaralven]

58. I think its the "better at not getting caught" factor

Plus the types of misbehavior that girls do may not be as alarming to adults.

For example, girl to girl bullying is unlikely to be as physical as boy to boy bullying. More psychological damage and less physical damage.

[PatSeg]

82. Yes

and a school psychologist told me that boys act out younger, at an age when girls tend to be more well behaved. When the girls become teenagers, then they are more inclined to act out. It is easier to deal with behavior problems when they are young and less independent.

[blm]

86. FFS, that's a BS comment to add and a deflection from the issue.

[lpbk2713]

24. Anyone planting flowers near a school bus stop should expect they will be picked.

The judge should admonish the complaining party for wasting the court's time.

[edhopper]

29. Is the child black?

He asks rhetorically.

[countingbluecars]

30. Wondering

if he picked it for his teacher. This story makes me cry.

[Duncanpup]

31. Evil people to do this to a child

[sop]

33. One tulip flower/stem costs less than $1.

[Lonestarblue]

50. And that tulip will be dead in a couple of weeks anyway.

Tulips don’t last forever. What a creep to call cops on his child. It infuriates me.

[Wingus Dingus]

35. The most upsetting thing is the article from the Winston Salem Journal

about the damage that an early introduction to the criminal justice/court system can do, as if that was the REAL problem here. The ACTUAL problem here is that a clearly mentally-ill, disordered adult or adults went after a small child, using prolonged and nonsensical legal harassment toward his family, for normal child behavior--and everyone around this adult(s) went along with it, INCLUDING ATTORNEYS AND THE COURT. What the actual fuck?? The adults who brought this case should be punished. This is psychotic.

[CRK7376]

90. OH JFC!!! After posting #89 I now see this post and if

the Winston-Salem Journal is running this story, then the jackass that called the cops lives in my town/county. Ruined my night.....

[Politicub]

36. North Korea or North Carolina?

Hard to tell the difference in this case.

[Grammy23]

37. Back in another lifetime, my mom always had flowers in our yard.

She grew roses, chrysanthemums, iris, pansies, peonies and camellias. Our yard was usually lovely with flowers blooming in three of the four seasons.

Our backdoor playmate was enamored with mama’s flowers. She would tell us which ones to not touch (at our peril). It was not unusual for Tommy to show up at our backdoor with a handful of flowers (freshly picked in our yard) and announce sweetly, “I brought you these flowers, Mrs. T.” How could you get mad at that?? Annoyed a little, maybe. Never angry.

Oddly enough, this child grew up to get a degree in business and, with his wife, ran a very successful flower shop and was active in the state floral association. He recently retired after a lifelong career as a florist. 🌹🌻🌸🌷🌼🌺💐🌹

[LisaL]

38. Your mom's flowers likely influenced your neighbors whole career.

NT

[Grammy23]

44. She probably did! His mom worked (this was the 50s) and mine didn't at the time.

So my mom had plenty of time to work on our yard. It was always so pretty, but especially in the spring. Our back door neighbor also liked “weeds” and wasn’t opposed to bringing momma a bouquet of clover flowers or other things that popped up in springtime. 😉

[niyad]

56. Oh, your Mom worked. Just not for pay. "All women are working women", as we said in the 60's

and further. Your mom sounds a truly remarkable woman.

[Grammy23]

85. You got that right!

My mom went back to school in her 40s to become a nurse, a lifelong dream. She became a vocational nurse first in Texas and after we moved back to Mississippi she enrolled in the local Jr. College to become an RN. Halfway through that, my dad got sick and died in eight days. She continued in the program and got her credentials to be an RN. She worked in hospitals, Public Health in New Orleans and finished her career at the VA Hospital and Domicilary in Biloxi, MS.

Her nursing degree insured she always had a good job and excellent benefits that served her well even after she retired. She proved it is never too late to fulfill a dream. Inspired by her, .I returned to school at 36 to finish my BA and hung around long enough to earn a Master’s degree.

So yes, my mom was pretty remarkable. She also had a green thumb! 😉

[Marthe48]

51. My cousin got a degree in gardening and landscaping

Because my Mom would grow avocado seeds in a cup on the window sill in the kitchen. She'd stick 3 toothpicks around the sides of the seed, so it would sit just at the water level. She got one to grow over 6 dt. tall, had it in a big pot. Never got avocados, but the whole process fascinated my cousin and led him to his career.

[3auld6phart]

46. Nice.

Flowers and plants were his forte even when a youngster. Nice.

[Smackdown2019]

42. Was it even really on the persons property?

People tend to plant right up to the edge of the sidewalk of their front yard, but dont realize that the city owns part of that front yard. Boundary lines are usually invisible and I am betting that tulip next to that bus stop is actually city property...

Either way, sad it gotten this far!

[Fla Dem]

47. Shame on the person who called the police. Disgusting.

[niyad]

60. May the Goddess of Gardening, and the Guardian Goddess of young children, deal with those

involved appropriately.

The name of the complainant, and the cop, and the DA who let it get that far, should be known far and wide.

I wonder what one would find looking into the complainant's history? Bad relations with the neighbors? Sounds like our local "neighbors from hell" some years ago. Absolute menace to society. Unwelcome everywhere.

[LNM]

66. 10 to 1 he was picking it for his Mom

My Grandson always wants to give flowers to his Mom.

[Warpy]

67. Our country has gone completely insane

and that cop had obviously had nothing useful to do that day, all s/he had to do is yell at the kid and the kid would have figured out he'd done something wrong.

Tying up a court of law and lawyers with this bullshit is unconscionable.

That cop needs to go.

[jaxexpat]

68. Well, there was a time when a tulip bulb was much more valuable than gold.

But that was settled when the market crashed in early 1637.

It would be sooooo sweet if a surveyor stepped in and determined that those damn tulips were actually growing in the street ROW, public property. There are lots of people who actually believe they OWN property to the edge of the street paving, the edge of the sidewalk or of the back of the curb. When people install lawn irrigation sprinkler heads right at the back of the curb and they get damaged by traffic or temporary parking I laugh a little in an obnoxiously smug way.

[IcyPeas]

77. THE CASE WAS DISMISSED BY THE JUDGE.

'It was just appalling'
The 6-year-old accused of picking the tulip ended up before a judge because his mother couldn't make the intake meeting. Once the judge realized what was happening, he dismissed the case, said Boyer.

If you go to the linked newspaper (Winston-Salem Journal) article here it goes into more detail:

https://journalnow.com/north-carolina-sends-6-year-olds-to-court-why-some-say-its-time-for-change/article_e2a15a82-8383-11eb-91ee-43ce7c88753b.html

[LAS14]

79. This society is absolutely NUTS!!! nt

[Duppers]

87. OMG! 😠

Their cruelty keeps surprising & saddening me.

But not shocked over this one, only surprised, when I shouldn't be.

[CRK7376]

89. Why oh Why is it always my state that

STUPID reigns? We do about a half acre of wildflowers every year. Let the young man come and pick all he wants from our wildflower meadow! I love my state but I sure hate the STUPID that reside here. A frigging flower............

[struggle4progress]

91. ... The 6-year-old accused of picking the tulip ended up before a judge because

his mother couldn't make the intake meeting. Once the judge realized what was happening, he dismissed the case ...

https://journalnow.com/north-carolina-sends-6-year-olds-to-court-why-some-say-its-time-for-change/article_e2a15a82-8383-11eb-91ee-43ce7c88753b.html