Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Jessica Beagley Is Convicted; Other News

Sistter Jessica Beagley, LDS mother of six, two of whom included adopted Russion twins, was convicted of the single count of child abuse with which she was charged. She'll be sentenced on Monday. I'm really curious as to what her sentence will be. The maximum is something like a year in jail and a fine. I'm not sure either of these penalties would help her tiny and vulnerable son. I don't know what would help him. What if she were sentenced to taking both little Kristoff and his twin brother each by themselves to do something actually fun once or twice a month, where they could each have her undivided attention, and where she wasn't yelling at some kid to eat his or her oatmeal while ear-splittingly drilling another kid on spelling words? Perhaps that would accomplish more than any monetary fine, jail term, or mandatory community service sentence.

The Russian consulate has supposedly threatened to take the child back to Russia if she was convicted. I'm not at all certin that would be in his best interests, either. Neither the orphanage in which he previously resided nor the parents whose lifestyles sent him to that orphanage in the first place would be much of an improvement over Sister beagley' care. Maybe Sister Beagley just needs help, although the way she sought it - by sending tapes to Dr. Phil as opposed to consulting professionals in her own area who are trained to help with such matters, would cause one to think she was more motivayed by the 7.5 minutess of fame that reality television typically offers these days, as opposed to any actual practical assistance she might have received in dealing with the behavior of a troubled little boy. Regardless of her motivations for anything that she's done, or, for that matter, for what she actually deserves in terms of justice, I hope that the guiding force in all of this is what is best for the poor child already harmed enough in this process.

Mt PseudoAunt Jillian underwent a procedure to pilverize her renal calculus into piecess small enough to pass easily. The procedure appears to have been successful. She's already far more comfortable than she was a day ago. Her parents and brothers andd their families were already here celbrating the birthday of her youngest brother, which is nice for her. My parents came as well, becaus my father is a board-certified anaesthesiologist who provided her general anaesthesia for the procedure.

For the remainder of the week, we'll do fun thing as she getss stronger. My job is mostly to keep an eye on the small children when their parents need me to do so. Yhis is something I enjoy doing. If teaching were not such a miserable profession, with less-than-great pay while legislators who haven't a clue as to how education really happens enact legislation all over the place dictating how the job must be done, I could consider teaching as a profession. As things stand, it's out of the question for me.

Have a pleasant night!

4 comments:

  1. Glad to see that you're back, and having a good time.
    I absolutely love that all things to do with children are the least paying most commonly eliminated jobs. We're planning for the future aren't we?

    ReplyDelete
  2. two items of good news! The conviction and the successful medical procedure!

    By the way, the way I recall the Dr Phil broadcast was that Mrs Beagley went on to the show to boast about her fantastic child rearing methods, that she made one of her other children film.

    It was only after she saw the expression on Dr Phil's face and heard/saw the outraged and horrified reaction of the studio audience that she or her legal team claimed she had gone on the programme as a "cry for help."

    ReplyDelete
  3. They're not saying it now, but I recall that becing the case at the time as well, Matt.

    Poor pseudoaunt is genetically predisposed to stones. she had her first one that her parents knew about at four, and has had about one a ear since then. He mom haad them and still produces one every four of five years, which is down form her peak of one to two a year in her early thirties. Auntie's CF causes her to have chronic diarrhea as well, which also predisoises her to the lovely renal calculi. Her doctor is suggesting thta her ureters are so scarred that she's best off having lithotripsy as soon as a stone gives her symptoms, necause if it hasn't passed on its own before she's experienced its symptoms, it will probably make her sick for too long to wait it out, as she has trouble keeping on weight. We're just glad that the 2011 stone is history. I told her she should name her stones.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You could write their life's story, Alexis. Call them Lithographs. Well, maybe not!

    ReplyDelete