Nothing but the News:
Toddler-beating dad ‘sorry,’ gets 12 years
By Dionne Waugh, The Journal Gazette
A judge Tuesday sentenced a Fort Wayne man who beat and choked his 2-year-old son, causing unknown brain damage, to 12 years in prison.
Cameron M. Niemeyer, 21, of the 4300 block of Champlain Drive, pleaded guilty June 30 to battery and neglect of a dependent for assaulting his son during the Christmas holiday. He initially told the boy’s mother and police that the boy fell and hit his head on a coffee table.
In court Tuesday, he apologized for his actions. “Things went a little bit farther than I meant them to. I’m not that bad of a person. This is the first time it happened. I’m sorry,” he said as he began to cry. An emergency room doctor showed picture after picture as he testified that the boy had choke marks around his neck; severe bruising on both cheeks and ears that were consistent with the child being slapped or punched several times on both sides of the face; and bleeding in his brain.
The child’s mother, who did not attend the hearing, wrote a letter to the judge asking that Niemeyer be given the maximum sentence. She also asked that her 911 tape be played in court to show how she felt when she saw her son after his stay with Niemeyer, but the audio player didn’t work. Deputy Prosecutor Patricia Pikel told Allen Superior Judge Fran Gull that Niemeyer has had a violent record since he was a juvenile, including a previous battery conviction. She said he has a high likelihood of re-offending, and she worried about a 9-month-old child he has with another woman.
“He violated a position of trust with this little guy on Christmas and then lied about what happened. We won’t know for years the long-term effects of his brain injury,” Pikel said, adding that Niemeyer also threatened the boy’s mother on the phone afterward. Defense attorney Anthony Churchward asked Gull to consider Niemeyer’s childhood, which included abuse at his own father’s hands. “As (Niemeyer’s) mother said, it’s not an excuse, but it is an explanation of how this abuse carries over from generation to generation. He now realizes this is not the way,” Churchward said.
In reading aloud Niemeyer’s criminal record, Gull noted that previous reform efforts had failed. She sentenced Niemeyer to 12 years in prison, the maximum, for each charge, but she ran the sentences concurrent. She also gave Niemeyer 98 days jail credit and ordered him to pay $3,801 in restitution.
(Just an I am sorry will do')
Unwatched-child ads jolt viewers
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS – TV commercials featuring children in danger have some viewers turning the channel or looking away – but supporters say the ads have the emotional effect to draw attention to the important issue of child supervision.
The ads, running on Indiana TV stations since June, show different scenarios of unattended children.
In one ad, a father is giving his child a bath when he is called to take a phone call. In another, a mother loses sight of a child in a backyard swimming pool. In both ads, the children appear to have drowned as the parents begin to panic.
A third ad, scheduled to run in August, shows a mother sleeping with her infant on a sofa before she wakes up to find the baby suffocated.
At least 30 people have complained about the graphic nature of the ads, said Susan Tielking, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Child Services, which sponsors the ads along with Kids First Trust Fund. Jon Bolen, a 39-year-old Indianapolis resident who has a 5-week-old baby at home, told the Indianapolis Star that his wife will not watch the commercials.
“To me, it’s the shock factor of the reality of what could happen,” he said.
But the ad’s sponsors say the subject matter is important: “The issue of supervision, even leaving children for a moment, is an issue we need to talk about,” Tielking said. “The intent of the summer campaign was to get people to talk about supervision.”
The Asher Agency in Fort Wayne produced the ads. Larry Wardlaw, an account executive for the agency, said some TV stations have received protests about the commercials, but stations have not pulled them from the airwaves.
Matt Georgi, the creative director for the Asher Agency, said none of the ads actually shows a child underwater or dying. But they do show the panic surrounding the events in shaky, off-angle camera footage.
“Why we went with a more realistic feel and a hand-held movie is because more and more people can smell fakes,” Georgi said. “They see ads that say ‘Watch your kids this summer because they may drown’ and they tune them out.”
The ads cost $50,000 to produce, and placement costs have been about $388,000, Tielking said. The Kids First Trust Fund, paid for by sales of specialty Kids First license plates, put up about $250,000 toward this and other related ad campaigns this year.
Clara Anderson, president of the Kids First Trust Fund board, said the ads fall within the organization’s mandate of preventing child abuse and neglect.
“Whether it’s accidental or not, what we’re holding onto (is) can we prevent trauma not only for the kids but also the family,” Anderson said.
(Gee, how many programs that are really out there doing the work, could that money have funded, vs. going to Mitch's friends and supporters, I would love to see what staffing costs are slide in there, in goverment, nothing is as it seems)
By Dionne Waugh, The Journal Gazette
A judge Tuesday sentenced a Fort Wayne man who beat and choked his 2-year-old son, causing unknown brain damage, to 12 years in prison.
Cameron M. Niemeyer, 21, of the 4300 block of Champlain Drive, pleaded guilty June 30 to battery and neglect of a dependent for assaulting his son during the Christmas holiday. He initially told the boy’s mother and police that the boy fell and hit his head on a coffee table.
In court Tuesday, he apologized for his actions. “Things went a little bit farther than I meant them to. I’m not that bad of a person. This is the first time it happened. I’m sorry,” he said as he began to cry. An emergency room doctor showed picture after picture as he testified that the boy had choke marks around his neck; severe bruising on both cheeks and ears that were consistent with the child being slapped or punched several times on both sides of the face; and bleeding in his brain.
The child’s mother, who did not attend the hearing, wrote a letter to the judge asking that Niemeyer be given the maximum sentence. She also asked that her 911 tape be played in court to show how she felt when she saw her son after his stay with Niemeyer, but the audio player didn’t work. Deputy Prosecutor Patricia Pikel told Allen Superior Judge Fran Gull that Niemeyer has had a violent record since he was a juvenile, including a previous battery conviction. She said he has a high likelihood of re-offending, and she worried about a 9-month-old child he has with another woman.
“He violated a position of trust with this little guy on Christmas and then lied about what happened. We won’t know for years the long-term effects of his brain injury,” Pikel said, adding that Niemeyer also threatened the boy’s mother on the phone afterward. Defense attorney Anthony Churchward asked Gull to consider Niemeyer’s childhood, which included abuse at his own father’s hands. “As (Niemeyer’s) mother said, it’s not an excuse, but it is an explanation of how this abuse carries over from generation to generation. He now realizes this is not the way,” Churchward said.
In reading aloud Niemeyer’s criminal record, Gull noted that previous reform efforts had failed. She sentenced Niemeyer to 12 years in prison, the maximum, for each charge, but she ran the sentences concurrent. She also gave Niemeyer 98 days jail credit and ordered him to pay $3,801 in restitution.
(Just an I am sorry will do')
Unwatched-child ads jolt viewers
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS – TV commercials featuring children in danger have some viewers turning the channel or looking away – but supporters say the ads have the emotional effect to draw attention to the important issue of child supervision.
The ads, running on Indiana TV stations since June, show different scenarios of unattended children.
In one ad, a father is giving his child a bath when he is called to take a phone call. In another, a mother loses sight of a child in a backyard swimming pool. In both ads, the children appear to have drowned as the parents begin to panic.
A third ad, scheduled to run in August, shows a mother sleeping with her infant on a sofa before she wakes up to find the baby suffocated.
At least 30 people have complained about the graphic nature of the ads, said Susan Tielking, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Child Services, which sponsors the ads along with Kids First Trust Fund. Jon Bolen, a 39-year-old Indianapolis resident who has a 5-week-old baby at home, told the Indianapolis Star that his wife will not watch the commercials.
“To me, it’s the shock factor of the reality of what could happen,” he said.
But the ad’s sponsors say the subject matter is important: “The issue of supervision, even leaving children for a moment, is an issue we need to talk about,” Tielking said. “The intent of the summer campaign was to get people to talk about supervision.”
The Asher Agency in Fort Wayne produced the ads. Larry Wardlaw, an account executive for the agency, said some TV stations have received protests about the commercials, but stations have not pulled them from the airwaves.
Matt Georgi, the creative director for the Asher Agency, said none of the ads actually shows a child underwater or dying. But they do show the panic surrounding the events in shaky, off-angle camera footage.
“Why we went with a more realistic feel and a hand-held movie is because more and more people can smell fakes,” Georgi said. “They see ads that say ‘Watch your kids this summer because they may drown’ and they tune them out.”
The ads cost $50,000 to produce, and placement costs have been about $388,000, Tielking said. The Kids First Trust Fund, paid for by sales of specialty Kids First license plates, put up about $250,000 toward this and other related ad campaigns this year.
Clara Anderson, president of the Kids First Trust Fund board, said the ads fall within the organization’s mandate of preventing child abuse and neglect.
“Whether it’s accidental or not, what we’re holding onto (is) can we prevent trauma not only for the kids but also the family,” Anderson said.
(Gee, how many programs that are really out there doing the work, could that money have funded, vs. going to Mitch's friends and supporters, I would love to see what staffing costs are slide in there, in goverment, nothing is as it seems)
posted by John Q. Public esq. at 3:55 AM
<< Home