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Boy, 13, Invited Out for Free Drinks and Strippers
Filed under: In The News, Weird But True
Nothing like getting a text message invite to a strip club -- free drinks included! -- after a hard lacrosse practice. Credit: AFP/Getty Images
This is America. We don't shoot a guy -- even a bad guy -- and parade a photo of his mutilated head around like a trophy.
That would be tacky.
We invite our boys in uniform out for a night of free drinks and strippers. And that 13-year-old kid? What the heck. He's invited, too.
Actually, er, uh, inviting the kid might have been an accident. Still, as the NBC affiliate in Denver reports, it's a day Jack Warta will never forget. Even if he didn't get to see any strippers.
"I just finished my lacrosse practice and I looked at my phone," the boy tells Denver's 9News. "It asked me if I wanted to come and celebrate Osama bin Laden's death with free cover and free drafts. It was kind of confusing."
Confusing? Perhaps. But you have to admit, it's more fun than celebrating bin Laden's death by playing Whack-a-Mole down at Chuck E. Cheese's.
Matt Warta, the boy's father, didn't quite see at that way. He told the news station the text message was "shocking" and "inappropriate."
"You'd like to think you can protect your child from those kind of things," he tells 9News. "As a parent, that's really frustrating."
Clearly, the folks at Diamond Cabaret had some explaining to do if they wanted to salvage their squeaky-clean reputation. They promised to take the boy's name off their list.
"There's enough stuff out there that pollutes their minds," Matt Warta tells the station. "That's the last thing we want to do, is use a personal device like a cell phone to send those messages to them. Why would you send a 13-year-old a text message asking them to come to a strip club and give them free beer and alcohol? It's just wrong."
Let that be a lesson to you, kids. You should definitely wait until you turn 18 before you celebrate a confirmed kill by getting plastered and leering at naked women. Such activities are strictly for mature adults.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
5-18-2011 @ 1:39PM
Debz said...Geez, it was clearly an accident. People, spend your time over more important things like taking time out of your busy work day to have lunch with your child at his school or sit at the dinner table and communicate so that things like these can be discussed and explained appropriately.
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5-18-2011 @ 1:43PM
Michelle said...Well, if it is one of those family plan phones for the cheaper rates, it was probably in his fathers name, and the Co thought they were sending it to dear old Dad.
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5-18-2011 @ 2:14PM
brinniewales said...Perhaps a 13 year old doesn't need a cell phone. That will be the day! Until there are codes or blocks for messages to underage people, this type of advertising will happen. No one asked the kid to join them for a drive-by shooting. Dad needs to lighten up a little. This is hardly newsworthy for NBC or the Internet. Let's hope the kid has a really good spam blocker on his computer because the vulgar advertisements on the Internet exceed those received by cell phone.
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5-18-2011 @ 6:29PM
Nicki said...In some situations teenagers do need cell phones. I didn't get a cell phone until I was about 15, but I had a lot of things going on after school throughout my junior high and high school years and feel a cell phone would've been useful for me earlier. Also, my mom works nights, so cell phones have become an integral way for us to stay in touch-mostly by texting, because it's easier and more time-efficient for her to read and respond to texts on the job than it is for her to take calls. With all due respect, you don't know the situation of every kid with a cell phone-how busy they are, their mom's or dad's job, maybe they have a parent who lives in another state and cell phones are their main mode of communication. As a result, it's premature to judge them just for having a cell phone. However, I do think there should be limits. I suggest not giving any kids 10-13 years old a cell phone unless they have a busy afterschool schedule and teaching all cell phone-using kids responsible use. Unlimited text and data has also worked for my parents and I due to my mom's job situation, but I would leave unlimited text and data to the discretion of each particular family.
5-19-2011 @ 7:40AM
Giggles said...If I was that kids parent I wouldn't have given him a cell phone at this age.
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5-18-2011 @ 3:24PM
Vasu Murti said...Teen drinking was widespread during the 1950s.
Accidentally inviting a thirteen-year-old male for free drinks and strippers is "shocking" because secular American society understands these things are restricted to adults.
Similarly, according to a 2003 Zogby poll, two of every five Americans say “the government should treat marijuana the same way it treats alcohol: It should regulate it, control it, tax it, and only make it illegal for children.”
Close to 100 million Americans, including over half of those between the ages of 18 and 50, have tried marijuana at least once. Military and police recruiters often have no alternative but to ignore past marijuana use by job seekers.
In 1996, California voters passed a law to regulate medical marijuana within the state. In 2000, voters in California approved an initiative allowing people who are arrested for simple possession of drugs to go through a rehabilitation program rather than through the court process that would result in prison. Since the program began, most agree it has been very successful. It results in less recidivism and is considered cheaper than imprisonment.
Richard Posner, Chicago's chief judge of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and one of the nation's leading legal scholars, says marijuana use should be legalized as a way of reducing crime. Posner, a Reagan administration appointee once described by American Lawyer magazine as “the most brilliant judge in the country,” explained his views on marijuana in The Times Literary Supplement, a British publication, and in later interview:
“It is nonsense that we should be devoting so many law enforcement resources to marijuana," says Posner. "I am skeptical that a society that is so tolerant of alcohol and cigarettes should come down so hard on marijuana use and send people to prison for life without parole.”
Posner is the highest-ranking judge to publicly favor the repeal of marijuana laws. Several judges of the federal district court, a level lower than the appeals court, have made similar calls, including Robert Sweet of New York and James Paine of Florida, both Carter Administration appointees.
New York University law professor Burt Neuborne said it's significant that “one of the leading intellectuals in the judicial system recognizes that the laws don't seem to be working well.”
Posner and other federal judges have complained that sentencing guidelines force them to give unjustly severe prison sentences to relatively minor drug offenders.
Says Posner: “Prison terms in America have become appallingly long, especially for conduct that, arguably, should not be criminal at all. Only decriminalization is a sure route to a lower crime rate. It is sad that it appears so far below the horizon of political feasibility.”
Rufus King, a Washington, DC lawyer who has served on the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, calls the drug war, “A worthless crusade.”
According to King, drug use is a social problem, not a law enforcement problem. He observes:
“Cigarette use is declining through changes in cultural values in the population. Like most smokers and alcoholics, most users of illegal drugs poison themselves because they want to be intoxicated. No human force can do them much good until they want help.”
King is optimistic that the current anti-drug hysteria will subside, and responsible and reasonable drug law policies will be adopted.
Let's put things in perspective, people!
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5-18-2011 @ 6:28PM
Bad said...geeeezzzz, get off your soap box, this has nothing to do with MJ
5-18-2011 @ 3:51PM
Elda said...Can someone explain to me why the 13-year-old is on the call/ext list for the strip club? He didn't just magically appear there, someone had to give them his information, and I bet that someone is him.
So why is the club catching grief for this?
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5-18-2011 @ 4:04PM
nethdwarf said...Maybe it was a "mis-dialed" number from a data bank or pehaps a newly recycled phone number.......or just maybe this kid isn't as innocent as he sounds.....how did his number get in the wrong channels?
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5-18-2011 @ 4:32PM
sherri connolly said...It was an accident and this happens. Sometimes we cannot forget them but this is something that must be gotten over and forgiven for those who sent it. Just forget it and go on with your life DAD> The kid was not hurt from this text.
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5-18-2011 @ 5:32PM
Dan said...As a father of teenagers, I wouldn't get upset at the club for sending the text. I would get upset at my son for being on their email or text list. "What were you doing on their list anyway? When did you visit that club?"
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5-18-2011 @ 6:13PM
krs12341234 said...i wonder how they got that kids number to send the text to.
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5-18-2011 @ 6:26PM
wongtpa said...Lucky !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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5-18-2011 @ 6:19PM
Nicki said...I'm single and childless, but this situation struck me because I'm only about 10 years older than Jack. While it is inappropriate for a strip club to text a 13 year old, accidents happen. (In fact, I once got a voicemail about getting an accident liability warranty for my car. I don't even drive.) What grabbed my attention the most is Jack's reaction to it. He very calmly said it confused him, whereas his dad is raising hell. In my opinion, this shows how well-adjusted Jack is-and I do think his dad is overreacting a bit. I also hope Mr. Warta appreciates his son's easygoing nature.
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5-18-2011 @ 6:28PM
bad said...the poor kid has a wimp for a father, feel for him
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5-18-2011 @ 6:30PM
wtf said...What the story fails to report is how the club got the boys cell phone number to begin with. They sent out an advertisment to phone numbers from some list. How did the boys name get on the list. i am sure the club itself did not put it there. Be reasonable.
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5-18-2011 @ 6:40PM
dennis headrick said...I bet that the dad is on a firstname basis with every pole dancer/stripper and bartender in the joint.
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5-18-2011 @ 6:54PM
ARI12003 said...I don't even see how this makes it to the news, sometimes people have to be a little realistic...
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5-18-2011 @ 10:12PM
Kathleen said...That is why I am thrilled to have a product called KidZafe which is a program that monitors the incoming mail,IM's, facebook,twitter messages of your child & if there is a word or phrase that is inappropriate for that age group you are notified! A report can be generated to see what kinds of messages have come to you child to help you better project them
www.zamzuu.com/dgts and click on KidZafe or use link below. It is not the complete way to keep our children safe but at least something.
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