Bueno y Sano: downtown Amherst, contiguous with parking garage, near busy construction site
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So my friends in the bricks-and-mortar media were all over the (alleged) abandoned baby incident over the past 24 hours, with the Daily Hampshire Gazette leading the charge, splashing it on the front page--even highlighting it further with washed out color over the entire four columns.
To recap: A mother from Sweden goes into a busy take out restaurant in busy downtown Amherst around 2:00 PM on Friday to order food while leaving her baby boy snugly wrapped in a carriage the Swedes refer to as a "pram," just outside the establishment--but well within view via a window(s).
A Good Samaritan passerby calls police from his cell phone to report a baby in a carriage without parents in sight. APD responds, finds the child healthy and happy; but as a "mandated" authority, they report the mother to Department of Children and Families via a 51A .
The mother casually responds that it's a common practice in Sweden (even in the dead of winter), and she was watching periodically through the window. Since DCF has no enforcement authority anyway, chances are they will issue a letter outlining how things are done here in America and that will be the end of it.
The recent terrorist mass murder in Norway--many of the victims young adults--is still vivid in our minds, and since most Americans mix up Sweden and Norway anyway, why not go all tabloid over a non story concerning child safety that questions the rearing habits of Swedish mothers?
Maybe because next time the media goes ballistic on a far more deserving child abuse story, readers will be a tad less prone to pay attention.
Seen any wolves lately?
Springfield Republican also reported
14 comments:
I can't even believe that someone called the police over this. If the person who called the police had simply stepped into Bueno y Sano, he/she would almost certainly have noticed the parent looking periodically out the window. What a non story.
As usual with the Gazette - much ado about nothing...where is the reporting when it's really warranted????
Interesting how we define paranoia, isn't it?
Yeah, now I'm a little worried some Anon will send the photo from yesterday's "Rainy Days & Mondays" post to DCF to complain I let my kids play in the rain.
Before you let her off easy....
http://sorb.chs.state.ma.us/search.htm
Don't forget, like most cities and towns Amherst is crawling with child rapists. Look at the addresses for these animals, Lincoln Ave, Bridge St, streets of Amherst (downtown).
It's not like she's from Mars and has never read a newspaper or watched the news.
Richard
If this a non story then your coverage is the ultimate non story.
Well it's all about Amherst, and it made national and international news, so THAT becomes the (non) story.
And so far I'm the only one publishing a picture of the "scene of the (alleged) crime," which alone is worth 1,000 words illustrating the silliness of this story.
I'm sure the 25 or so visitors from Sweden who have come here over the past 12 hours appreciate the inside, back story on this non story.
I wouldn't leave my kid alone -- especially if I were not in my own country. It's too bad, however, that the Good Samaritan couldn't have waited for the mother to appear rather than calling the police.
By the way, a blog is more of a discussion or a conversation rather than reporting hard news.
Not this one. I do both.
A responsible adult would have stayed with the kid till the parent returned, not call the police.
It take a village to raise a child....
It takes a village idiot to call the police over something like this....
A responsible adult would have stayed with the kid till the parent returned, not call the police.
A responsible and concerned adult would have gone into the store and shouted -- in a loud voice -- "anyone know who belongs to that abandoned baby out there?" -- and if no response, THEN call the police.
Larry, you do realize that she very well may loose her student visa for this, don't you?
I agree that calling the cops was overkill - but that's how folks are conditioned in uber-liberal, uber-regulated communities. They don't know how to be concerned neighbors, anymore.
On the other hand, I find 'this custom' repulsive and irresponsible. So what if it's acceptable in Sweden? It doesn't make it right to leave a baby alone like this. It's not Sweden is a crime-free mecca.
Hey Izzy,
I think the Swedes consider their prams to be sort of like impervious, little baby battle tanks.
Dipsy-doodle thinking at work, then, Lar.
Thanks for blogging about this .... fascinating story. I'm glad the baby is ok, though.
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