Girl Says Dad Died In Iraq To Win Contest

Mom Helped 6-Year-Old Make Up Lie About Her Father's Death To Win Hannah Montana Tickets

(AP)  A 6-year-old girl who won four tickets to a Hannah Montana concert with an essay that falsely claimed her father died in Iraq won't be going to the show after all.

The contest's sponsor, Club Libby Lu, withdrew the prize on Saturday and awarded it to another unnamed winner.

"With this decision, we hope to revive the intended spirit of the contest, which was designed to make a little girl's holidays extra special," Club Libby Lu chief executive Mary Drolet said in a statement Saturday.

Officials with the Chicago-based chain surprised the girl on Friday at a Club Libby Lu store in a suburban Dallas mall. Club Libby Lu sells clothes, accessories and games for young girls.

The girl won a makeover that included a blonde Hannah Montana wig, as well as the grand prize: airfare for four to Albany, N.Y., and four tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert on Jan. 9.

The opening line in the essay was: "My daddy died this year in Iraq."

But the girl's mother, Priscilla Ceballos, admitted later Friday that the essay and the military information she provided about her daughter's father were untrue.

Ceballos had told Club Libby Lu officials that the girl's father died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq, company spokeswoman Robyn Caulfield said.

She identified the soldier as Sgt. Jonathon Menjivar, but the Department of Defense has no record of anyone with that name dying in Iraq.

"We did the essay and that's what we did to win. We did whatever we could do to win," Ceballos said in an interview with Dallas TV station KDFW on Friday. "But when (Caulfield) asked me if this essay is true, I said, `No, this essay is not true."'

[proudmarine2]

GrammaWhamma..I will pray for your Son''s safe return. Thank him for his service and my Freedom.

[grammawhamma]

ProudMarine2: My son is currently stationed in Iraq. The keyboard warriors, sitting in the safety of their computer chairs, can talk big...but we know who the real heroes are.

[proudmarine2]

GrammaWhamma.. Thank you for you kind words. My Marine and most Sevicemembers I have met these last 2 years all say the same thing, I was only doing my job, and would do it all over again. Those Words say alot about our VOLUNTARY Military, but mean nothing to others. I know my family is blessed and covered in FREEDOM because of our Heroes.. Thank you America

[grammawhamma]

ProudMarine2: Thank you to your son for his service to our country. People on these boards are too filled with hate for GWB to see past it. They would rather condone the horrid lie that this mother did (and the poor example she set for her child) then to try to understand why this article upsets veterans, those currently serving in the military and the families of those serving. God bless our troops!!

[proudmarine2]

It is so sad that a Mother would encourage her child to lie about her Daddy dying in Iraq just for concert tickets, when my Hero Son who fought and was severely injured in Iraq 2005, has fought so hard these last 2 years to come back from his injuries. This Mother should be Thanking the Sevicemembers for their sacrifices instead of taking for granite what we hold so dear in our Hearts.. FREEDOM.. God Bless America

[pcal5]

To hear the media ladies weep about the horror of this mother, oh my gawd!, LYING...in an America where our three faced president and his media troop LIE every minute they breath, LIE to get us into a war that has killed over 100,000, LIE FOR THEIR BNREAKFAST, lie for their dinner. We''re coming to the end, Armeggedon or Revolutiom. Yuck onm you all.

[grammawhamma]

jennmarie620: Excellent post!! I suppose in the future when this kid gets in trouble with the law...her mom will give her a false alibi to protect her. I do feel sorry for the child involved....she will have a rough road ahead of her with the example her mother is setting for her to follow.

[erasmus6]

I would bet you any money that this mother lies everyday of her life. And I would bet that the 6 year old daughter is on her way to doing the same thing.

I had a neighbor who always told "little white" lies. She thought there was nothing wrong with it. A lie is a lie. Needless to say her two kids did the exact same thing.

One day she phoned me and told me that she had told her husband a little white lie and that she had used ME in that little white lie. I made it very clear that if the husband asked me anything about this "little white" lie, I would be telling the TRUTH, because I DO NOT TELL LIES, little or otherwise. The funny thing was that every time she did tell her lies, she always got caught.

[jennmarie620]

Concert tickets are a dime a dozen - and people who go to any lengths to get concert tickets are just sad, especially when it''s for a six year old child. All of this mania surrounding Hannah Montana is so far beyond ridiculous and asinine, that no one sees how psychologically destructive this mother is to her daughter! Telling your daughter it''s okay to lie about her father being killed in Iraq - just to get some stupid concert tickets? One, what does the father say about all of this? Being used as an instrument for gluttonous desires? Two, if the mother is willing to lie like this for something so insignificant - what else is she willing to lie for, or make her daughter lie for? She''s the kind of mother who shaves their child''s head and claims the child has cancer just to receive charity money.

Beyond everything, the disrespect this woman has shown to the families of soldiers and workers who HAVE died in Iraq is unfathomable. I''m sure there is a little girl who really did lose her daddy this year who would have loved to have gone to a Hannah Montana concert - but was too proud to use the situation for her own benefit.

More reason to be ashamed of people in this country and this species.

[justsane-2009]

"A work of fiction is not a lie. It isn''t about truth/lie." pardon me for making a wild guess here, but given that the company rescinded the tickets and awarded them to another child, i think that it is. check out the statement posted on the company website...

[zootallures2]

We are DEVO.... More like SH*T-O. Someone get a big plunger!!!

[agnim]

The child''s wig is FAKE!
The child''s make up is FAKE!
And the story is FICTION!

Did the competition required ''true stories'' on the part of the contestants to go along with their FAKE WIG?

The girl earns her tickets in this ''not life and death'' contest.

A work of fiction is not a lie. It isn''t about truth/lie.

[erasmus6]

Posted by Khanghi at 08:25 PM : Dec 30, 2007


Thank you for your post. But I doubt if some of these people will get it. When you are brought up to be liars and cheats, there probably isn''t anything that will change their way of thinking. To them it is a way of life.

[khanghi-2009]

I read what''s posted here regarding news stories from time to time. With close to 30 years as an award winning broadcast Promotions Director, I can tell you that I wouldn''t give the child and her mother the tickets either. And, I would invite them to take me to court if they wished.

Those of you with no background in this business don''t realize that these contests are not set up by the part time employee that also folds the sweaters. The legalities of these types of promotions are deep and wide. I have built promotions for The Rolling Stones to The Eagles, Amtrak to KitchenAid. Believe me when I tell you that every contingiency has been planned for. Even this one.

I have a few questions for those of you who view this as OK, or, "a work of fiction".
Would it have been OK to say "I should have the tickets because my daddy abuses me at night" if he didn''t?
For the poster that thinks this child is speaking (on her own) in metaphor, you are, metaphorically speaking, a horses ***. Six year olds don''t speak metaphorically on their own. There are reams of documentation that will support that.

As far as it being in any way disrespectful to those that serve: While I doubt your ability to understand why, you don''t trade on legacy.

[iceman_1960]

"The girl won a makeover that included a blonde Hannah Montana wig"

Why would anybody want that ?

[nmsuip]

Yup. It''s pathetic when we have to design the world to protect against idiots and their lawyers. It should be the other way around. It''s the plaintiff lawyers and idiots who should be in the defensive position rather than everybody else. How many frivolous lawsuits would survive if the lawyer had to substantiate the stupid actions of their clients in a preliminary hearing? If ignorance of the law isn''t an excuse, then stupidity shouldn''t be either. But back to the real world- "There''s no law against stupidity" as they say...

[djrose58]

ya think ! what nerve... what will she teach her daughter next???

[formrusmcsgt]

Hmmm...no mention of the real father.

Probably left this broad for being a pathological liar.

[djrose58]

MY SON DID LOSE A LEG IN IRAQ MARCH 24TH 2004..BY AN IED...WAS FLEW FROM GERMANY TO BETHSEDA WITH ONLY 20% CHANCE OF SURVIVING!!8 WEEKS IN ICU... TWO YEARS IN THE HOSPITAL...THE F''N NERVE OF THAT WOMEN!! FOR A STUPID CONCERT!!! SHE SHOULD WHIPPED, CANED SOMETHING...HOW LOW CAN A PERSON GET...SHE''S POND SCUM....

[djrose58]

MY SON DID LOSE A LEG IN IRAQ MARCH 24TH 2004..BY AN IED...WAS FLEW FROM GERMANY TO BETHSEDA WITH ONLY 20% CHANCE OF SURVIVING!!8 WEEKS IN ICU... TWO YEARS IN THE HOSPITAL...THE F''N NERVE OF THAT WOMEN!! FOR A STUPID CONCERT!!! SHE SHOULD WHIPPED, CANED SOMETHING...HOW LOW CAN A PERSON GET...SHE''S POND SCUM....