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Iowa Mom Arrested After Sending Kids to the Store - in Blizzard Conditions
Filed under: In The News, Tween Culture, Teen Culture
A mom was arrested after allowing her kids to go out during a blizzard. Credit: Getty Images
Temperatures hovered just about zero. You couldn't walk on the sidewalks because of snow drifts. The roads were unplowed. The schools were closed.
Yet Julie Jimenez allegedly let her 8-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter walk to the store at 10 p.m. Now she faces charges of child endangerment.
The Kum & Go market in Muscatine (a town of 23,000 people on the banks of the Mississippi in southeastern Iowa) is not far from Jimenez's home. In fact, it's just around the corner -- no more than a block and a half away.
Under ordinary conditions, it's about a two-minute walk.
However, Muscatine Police Chief Brett Talkington tells ParentDish the city was under a snow emergency. Officers say Jimenez was endangering her children.
They know the neighborhood well. The Muscatine Police Department is also just around the corner from the Kum & Go (about a three-minute walk).
Talkington tells ParentDish the kids reportedly wanted snacks. It was not a case of their mother ordering them to go, he says. "It was basically a case of her giving them money and letting them go," he adds.
The children allegedly had to walk in the street. The 8-year-old, according to the Muscatine Journal, was not wearing gloves.
Jimenez is scheduled to appear in Muscatine County court at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15. Child endangerment is an aggravated misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 2)
3-25-2011 @ 10:10AM
Roy Taylor Sr said...Are you kidding me! Is there anything a parent can still do without someone criticizing it? Its no wonder children are in trouble everyone else is telling us how to raise them. These are her children, leave her alone.
Reply
3-28-2011 @ 10:50AM
diane said...interesting name of a store...kum & go? that has to be one of the funniest names i've ever read.
Reply
4-03-2011 @ 11:45AM
Head Line Hype said...You NEED to change your very misleading headline! I was outraged at the thought of a mother "sending" her children to the store...granted her judgment is a bit off, but she didn't "SEND" them, they asked to go. Very big difference, or are you a branch of the National Enquirer?
Reply
4-03-2011 @ 3:07PM
Jeff Vachon said...Give me a break. I grew up in New England and my parents would always send me out to the store in blizzard conditions. During the blizzard of '78 I walked to the store, which was a half hour walk during nice conditions, several times, as did every kid. We are raising a generation of wimps!
Reply
4-04-2011 @ 10:42AM
John Harris said...America:
Land of the free. Home of the brave.
Yeah, right, not any more.
This could only happen in the Ugly Socialist Anarchy.
You get what you vote for.
What? You didn't vote?
Reply
4-06-2011 @ 10:00PM
veronica said...I'm from Canada. Northern Canada. Zero degrees F is perfectly normal winter weather. What the American hysterical media call "blizzard conditions" is called around here "a nice fresh day". A blizzard involves snow blowing so hard you cannot see your hand in front of your face, and if there had really been a blissard, the kids would have opened the door and immediately shut it again, Yes, the kid should have worn his mittens, but he can make a block with his hands in his pockets. You have to be careful walking in hte street -- so the city should be spending its time and money clearing the sidewalks, not arresting people for teaching their kids to be independent. 10PM is a bit late, but I had a kid who did't believe in sleep and was always up at 10 (honour student and athlete, thank you very much) -- it's not a big deal. The teenager is old enough to watch the smaller one, legal at that age to babysit. This is just getting out of hand.
Reply
4-15-2011 @ 1:07PM
Jim Allen said...Police State alert!
Reply