Pa. girl in costume mistaken for skunk, shot
FREEDOM, Pa. Police say a costumed 9-year-old girl was accidentally shot outside a western Pennsylvania home during a Halloween party by a relative who thought she was a skunk.
New Sewickley Township police say the girl was over a hillside and wearing a black costume and a black hat with a white tassel.
Chief Ronald Leindecker says a male relative mistook her for a skunk and fired a shotgun, hitting her in the shoulder Saturday night.
Leindecker tells the Beaver County Times that the girl was alert and talking when she was flown to a hospital in Pittsburgh, about 30 miles away. Her condition was unavailable.
Leindecker says the man hadn't been drinking and he doesn't know whether charges will be filed.
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RetiredArmy_Nurse replies: We are actually quite the laughing stock internationally with so many of the neocon ideas that seem to run rampant within our borders. We rode the train out of Wisconsin recently and met a number of Canadians. An Anglican minister from Manitoba told me all our turmoil in Wisconsin was like Saturday Night Live to them. My response was "try living it."
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IPonUall2 replies: RetiredArmy_Nurse replies:We are actually quite the laughing stock internationally with so many of the neocon ideas that seem to run rampant within our borders.-------------------------------------------------------------------It's true folks, the republicans have twisted our society since at least Reagan. Many citizens that argue against the socialized healthcare would have been better served by it...have you been to some of these bible belt states?...It's like a third world and they don't know it...good job manipulating the poor and ignorant religous zealots who have a better chance at dentures than true say so in government.
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JV1970 replies: IPonUall2 Apparently you know NOTHING about the South! We are NOT a third world country! We have all the all the modern conveniences that you northerners have available to us if we can afford them!
The problem is the South is the poorest part of the country. There are more people living in poverty in the South than in any other part of the country. It's not that we don't know that. We know it. We know it very well. There's just nothing we can do about it. Many employers here refuse to pay the wages that others pay in other parts of the country and many Southern states are still non-union.
We are very proud of our Bible belt status though! We are proud of the fact that we have more praying Christians than anywhere else in the country! We don't want that to change no matter what you think of us!
In short, we love our Lord and we like ourselves. We have the attitude that if you don't like us, that's fine! Just stay away from us and stay out of the south! We don't intend to change for you or anyone else!
And as for us having a better chance at dentures than true say so in government, well that remains to be seen on election day doesn't it! I think you're going to be very surprised and you won't like the surprise that you get!
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RetiredArmy_Nurse replies: JV, I'm a southernor too, born & bred, with 2 confederate ancestors in the family tree. Problem is, I know too much about the south. A lot of it ain't pretty. I was there during the bus boycott back in the 1950s as a kid. We have a shameful history, don't whitewash it.
I know that slavery was shameful but I know that most Southerners weren't slave owners. Most were like my ancestors. They were too poor to own slaves. They fought in the war to defend their homes and homeland against the northern intruders. They also fought for their way of life, right or wrong.
One of my gggrandfathers was even critically wounded with a shot through the head during one of the battles in Arkansas. Miraculously he survived the initial wound but died from complications resulting from the wound many years later. He never again saw anything with his left eye or was able to hear with his left ear again though.
As you know, the whole southern economy and life depended on slave labor even though owning other human beings is NEVER right. But the South couldn't survive without them.
I refuse to be ashamed of my ancestors because, even though today we know that slavery is wrong and we have a different outlook than they had back then, my ancestors stood and fought for what they believed in and they defended their homes and homeland. I will always respect them and be proud of them for that.
Also I want to tell you that my father never attended school more than a few days in his life. He could neither read nor write and couldn't even scribble his name until after he married my mother. She taught him to write his name.
Even though my family is white, they were sharecroppers when my dad was growing up. My dad began working in the fields as soon as he was old enough to use a hoe or pull a cotton sack. His stepfather didn't allow him to attend school because he was needed at home to work in the fields. I am so glad that today there are laws against this kind of child labor and that force parents to send their children to school!
My mother had it a little better than my father as a child even though her family weren't rich either. Her father was an oil field worker.
She, though, grew up during segregation and at a time when blacks weren't allowed to attend the same schools, drink from the same fountains, or use the same public restrooms.
Many times I've heard her say that when she was young blacks had to step off the sidewalk or even cross to the other side of the street when they saw a white person walking toward them down the street.
You are right that there are many things about our past that weren't right and that shouldn't have been but I repeat that refuse to be ashamed of my ancestry. I would be ashamed of them, though, if they had been cowards and had refused to fight for what they believed in and had refused to defend their homes and homeland.
And as I've said many times, I'm very proud of our conservative Southern values and the fact that we still believe in praying and reading the Bible!
Unfortunately, way too many people who have guns, shouldn't.
Seriously, what well-regulated militia did this doofus belong to? What militia-ordered mission was he on that he was shooting at skunks or nine-year-olds?
Barring that, why should somebody like this have access to a gun?
Are you that stupid?
Leave it to the anti-gun folks to jump on this and want to take away the guns of all law abiding citizens. More stupid stuff is done with cars than with guns. Where are the liberals calling for outlaw of cars? More kids are killed or maimed with cars (like the poor girl recently hit and dragged by a bozo in a truck) than guns. Where are the calls to outlaw non-commercial trucks because of that poor child who's bones were showing when the pickup truck driver finally decided to stop?
Oh yea, they are busy trying to make marijuna legal so people can get high and be bozos. Now we can have drunk and stoned folks running around hurting our kids. Take away our guns, but give us drugs.
No thanks! My guns have never hurt anybody, and they never will -- unless you are a criminal and I'm defending myself and my family.
Leave it to the anti-gun folks to jump on this and want to take away the guns of all law abiding citizens. More stupid stuff is done with cars than with guns. Where are the liberals calling for outlaw of cars? More kids are killed or maimed with cars (like the poor girl recently hit and dragged by a bozo in a truck) than guns. Where are the calls to outlaw trucks because of that poor child who's bones were showing when the truck driver finally decided to stop?
Oh yea, they are busy trying to make marijuna legal so people can legally get high and be bozos. Now we can have drunk and stoned folks running around hurting our kids.
Sorry, but I don't see how legalized pot for soothing constant pain or aid in healing (ie. for creating hunger and eating for cancer patients who otherwise would not eat) has anything to do with the discussion.
I agree with your point that we ought not have drunk or high drivers on the road.
Size of 9 year old human = 50 inches tall.
In terms of length and in relative dimension, how do you mistake a human in a costume as a skunk?
Something about this scenario stinks, sorry about the pun.
I couldn't care less either way which party he prefers to believe in.