Imagine the horrible moment your son says he wants to kill himself. What would you do? Rush him to the hospital? Get him into therapy? Make sure every dangerous or blunt instrument in your home was safely locked away? Well, if you're Michael Yatsko of St. Cloud, Florida, you reportedly do NONE of those things. What you do allegedly do is hand your suicidal kid a gun.

Yatsko was arrested after his 13-year-old son threatened to kill himself and he reportedly said, "Do it; kill yourself; I really don't care." He then allegedly handed his son a gun.

He reportedly told police he realized it wasn't the appropriate response but he was sick of his son's "cowardly" comments and that they've become "frustrating."

Jeez, Yatsko must subscribe to the Gene Simmons school of compassion for those who are suicidal -- which means he has none, and just thinks people who threaten suicide are trying to get attention.

It's understandable that perhaps if his son has oftened threatened to kill himself, that Dad is frustrated. But what is he doing to help his son? Besides hand him the means with which to do it?

Sounds like the boy needs real help, whether or not he is following through on his threats, he is crying out for understanding and love.

And given the fact that Yatsko was also accused of slamming his son's head on a table, it's not difficult to guess why this kid is so unhappy.

If you or anyone you know is thinking of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK).

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Police say a male nursing assistant is a "person of interest" in the mysterious case of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, who went missing on September 12. Although no arrests have been made, authorities were reportedly able to confirm that Jesse 'LJ' Matthew says he met up with the 18-year-old at Charlottesville Downtown Mall the night she went missing. He also reportely admitted to buying her alcoholic drinks at a bar.

But that's as far as it went, the man swears. Matthew, a nursing assistant at UVA Hospital, says he went his way that night and Hannah went hers, and that the British teen did not get into his car, as police suspect.

A surveillance video from that night shows Hannah wandering around the mall. At first, police were suspicious of a man whom they saw following the young woman, but when they questioned him, he claimed his only intention was to see if the girl needed help and that he spotted another man putting his arm around her.

That other man is believed to be Matthew.

According to the man's grandmother, police searched both his car and his apartment and removed three bags from his home. Authorities haven't confirmed whether they still suspect Hannah got into Matthew's vehicle, but as of now, there is not enough evidence or probable cause to arrest him.

Meanwhile, this girl's poor family is just sitting and waiting to hear something -- anything -- about their daughter. I can't imagine how they feel, but our hearts certainly go out to them and we will continue to hope for the best in this bizarre, horrifying case.

How do you suspect this person of interest ties into this case?

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A man who reportedly served 18 years in the Army and retired in 2012 has been accused of jumping over the White House fence carrying a knife in his pants.

Omar J. Gonzalez, a 42-year-old wounded veteran from Texas, allegedly hopped over the fence at around 7 p.m. Friday and proceeded to make a run for the West Wing before he was apprehended by security guards. According to Gonzalez' family members, the man served as a sniper in Iraq three times and lost part of his foot while in combat. They say he suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorderand had been homeless and living alone in the woods with just his two dogs for two years prior to this incident.

Gonzalez says he felt compelled to get to President Obama because he had a very important message to deliver to him.

According to Secret Service agents, Gonzalez's intention was to warn Obama that "the atmosphere was collapsing." While the man was previously believed to be unarmed, it has since been revealed that he was actually carrying a Spyderco VG-10 black folding knife in the front pocket of his pants.

The president and his family weren't home at the time of the attempted break-in and had apparently been whisked away by helicopter just a few minutes before the incident.

You would think a potential target like the White House would be heavily guarded -- and it is -- but that didn't stop yet another man named Kevin Carr from attempting to break into the White House less than 24 hours after Gonzalez jumped the fence. Carr, who is just 19, was charged with unlawful entry.

Gonzalez was also charged with unlawful entry. I understand that this man deserves to face a consequence for breaking the law, but I find it sad that he sacrificed his life for his country and hasn't received the mental health help he likely needs. There's also no excuse for a military veteran who suffered a life-altering wound to return home and be forced to live on the street.

The two incidents prompted White House officials to make an announcement that they were working to beef up security.

Do you think this Army vet should be charged with a crime?

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A Texas woman working at a hospital nursery who didn't realize she had tuberculosis may have reportedly exposed 706 babies and 43 coworkers to the serious and sometimes-deadly, but treatable disease. 

A health case worker at Providence Memorial Hospital in El Paso was recently diagnosed with having an active case of TB, but health officials can't say with certainty whether she passed on the germ to babies born there between Sept. 1, 2013 and Aug. 16, 2014. This week, moms and dads who left Providence Memorial elated that they were going home with their new bundles of joy received the kind of letter in the mail that would be every parent's worst nightmare.

In the letter, which explained why the hospital was concerned, parents were told: "TB is a serious but treatable disease that is spread through the air. Although TB is not easy to catch from another person, we want to be extra sure that your child is examined."

TB is an airborne disease that affects the lungs and can actually create a hole in the lungs. It can lay dormant for months and even years, but is simple to spread -- someone can get it just by being around a person with TB who coughs, sneezes or even speaks. Symptoms of the disease include a bad cough that persists for three weeks or longer, chest pain, weight loss, coughing up blood, chills, fever, and night sweats.

Since their immune systems aren't developed yet, babies are vulnerable to TB.

The good news, so far, is that none of the hospital workers who were screened for TB tested positive.

The disease is treatable as long as patients begin a course of antibiotics when it's detected. Let's hope all of the parents who received letters take this notice seriously and that their babies test negative.

Do you ever worry about your child being exposed to untreated or undiagnosed diseases while at a doctor's office or hospital?

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Members of a fraternity at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee are being questioned after police say they may have spiked women's drinks with a date rape drug at a recent party.

The alarming news comes one week after students in the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity -- which is the same frat that was investigated last year in connection with three sexual assault reports -- allegedly slipped "roofies" into drinks at a wild party that took place last weekend. Police say they were called three times to an on-campus residence hall, where they found women and men so intoxicated they couldn't remember details about the night.

Cops say one woman they encountered at the hall was so drunk she couldn't stand. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.20, which is twice the limit of 0.08. She also had a red X on her hand. On that same visit, a man who they say was vomiting into a trash can had a black X on his hand and told them he had been drinking at the frat house all night.

In total, three women and one man were taken to the hospital and questioned about the party.

When police and officers from the university searched the frat house that night, they say they found 42 underage students drinking in the basement. One man was reportedly so drunk he kept saying "20 seconds" when asked his age.

Several students had highly disturbing accounts of what was happening at the party that night. One girl says her friend was escorted home by a male friend who told her a bunch of guys were trying to make out with her because she was "really wasted." Another woman said a Facebook posting claimed members of Tau Kappa Epsilon had tried to "roofie" women so that they would become unconscious. The same student recalled how she was physically removed from the bar when she tried to pour her own drink.

Other students reportedly say the vodka shots they were served were "cloudy." Many had difficulty recalling the night and say they blacked out at the party.

After searching their house, police say they have reason to suspect the date rape drug was used, which is beyond frightening and cowardly. UWM suspended the fraternity while the investigation takes place and one student has been arrested in connection with the incident.

How do you talk to your kids about the dangers of date rape drugs?

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Apparently it wasn't rape-rape. A Swedish man who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman had the charges overturned after experts claimed that he was asleep during the attack, and therefore could not be held responsible.

According to a translated copy of a the Sundsvall appeals court ruling, Mikael Halvarsson suffers from "sexomnia," a condition that occurs when a person engages in "unintentional sexual behaviors during sleep."

The alleged assault occurred on April 2, 2014, when Halvarsson was sharing a bed with a female companion, but they had separate blankets. The woman called the police the next morning, and when they arrived, they found him still sleeping.

According to a previous girlfriend, Halvarsson once tried to have sex with her in his sleep, and when she stopped him, he acted confused and asked what happened. His mother also confirmed that he's suffered from disturbing sleep patterns in the past.

Sleep expert Dr. Kingman Strohl (who has no connection with the case) is the director of research at the Sleep Center at Case Medical Center in Cleveland. He says that while very rare, sexomnia is an "actual medical diagnosis that includes unintentional sexual behaviors during sleep."

He says that more common parasomnia activities include sleepwalking or sleep talking, but that sleep sexual advances can occur. "Usually people are very scared and also quite confused as to what's going on," Strohl said.

He said experts have to be careful when people blame sleeping disorders when crimes are committed, and that they "look for signs" that the behavior has "gone on before and occurs in context of sleep walking and sleep talking."

"You want to know how people react to it. You want to know what the people look like and want to know how each partner reacts to it," said Strohl of diagnosing a sexomnia incident. "You don't want to encourage unwanted sexual advances."

OK, I'll buy that there are people who suffer from sexomnia, but shouldn't there be some sort of requirement that they warn their partners about it if they want to use it as an excuse to get a rape conviction overturned? Because a sexual assault is a sexual assault no matter if the attacker knows they're doing it or not. The victim is aware it's happening, and it's equally traumatic for them whether it's a deliberate assault or not.

Do you think sexomnia is a valid excuse for overturning a rape conviction?

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God bless Texas. Pastor Benny Holmes of The Church of New Beginnings in Baytown, Texas, was frustrated that two packages that had been mailed to him went missing. Other residents in the neighborhood reported the same thing, so Homes set a trap to see if he could catch a thief in the act.

Months earlier, he and his wife Pat Holmes had seen video surveillance of a woman twice appearing to pilfer packages from their doorstep. Pat recalled her husband saying, "I'm going to sit here and I'm going to pull guard duty. I'm going to be a watchman on the wall."

Holmes set two dummy packages on the porch and waited to see if anyone would take the bait. It took several hours, but eventually a 52-year-old grandmother pulled her car into the drive and made her way to the porch from the side of the house.

That's when Holmes pulled his gun on her, and told her to lie down while he called the police. According to Pat Holmes, her husband recognized the woman as someone he'd found sneaking around his property two years ago, claiming to be looking for her lost dog. She used the same lost dog excuse again.

"I guess she uses that every time she gets caught," Pat Holmes said. "This time he replied, 'You found him, bow wow.'"

Homes allegedly held her down until the police got there and arrested her on charges of theft. The Baytown Police Department identified her as Laurie Ferguson, and suspect that she's the habitual thief who has been stealing packages from multiple homes in the area.

Detective Luzette Watkins said that they found at least 30 items that may have been stolen in a closet in her home, and that Holmes would face no charges for detaining the suspect with an armed weapon. "Here in Texas you're allowed to protect the property," Watkins said.

Pat Holmes is glad they caught the thief, but obviously has no hard feelings. She said she's already gotten a gift for Ferguson -- a cap that reads "forgiven."

Would you ever consider setting a trap for a criminal?

Image via Keary O./Flickr

A 19-year-old sophomore at Rutgers University died yesterday after police say they found she "became distressed" while at a gathering at a fraternity.

Caitlyn Kovacs reportedly passed out early Sunday morning while at a party at Delta Kappa Epsilon. She was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead at 3:19 a.m. -- less than half hour after her friends called 911 because she didn't look okay.

The preliminary investigation shows that her death was related to alcohol consumption, but the results of an autopsy are still pending.

Police are continuing to investigate this incident, but say the frat members are being cooperative and have expressed their condolences on their Facebook page.

Kovacs was majoring in animal sciences at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. She has been described by friends as an energetic, upbeat person who loved to plan events and become involved with school activities.

In a statement, Rutgers president Robert Barchi said: "Her passing over the weekend is a tragic loss to her family, her friends, and the entire Rutgers community."

Assuming Kovacs' death was related to drinking, it's a shame that someone who had a long life ahead of her and so much potential lost everything because of alcohol. It's no secret that many students who attend fraternity and sorority gatherings sometimes drink to excess. And it's difficult to say frats should just ban liquorbecause some of its members are actually 21 -- plus, we all know college kids are going to experiment, so would a ban even work?

More from The Stir: Fraternity Accused of Putting Date Rape Drugs in Women's Drinks at Recent Party

We feel for this young woman's family. Her story reminds us that, while we may not be able to shield our children from everything when they go out in the world alone, we can caution them to stick with friends and look out for one another.

Does your child belong to a fraternity or sorority and does this worry you?

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Whether it's a cop shooting an unarmed teen in Ferguson, Missouri or a cop choke holding a dad of six in Staten Island, New York, the news is full of cops who do terrible things. So it's nice to see a video of a cop doing what a cop is not only supposed to do, but does a lot of the time without anyone noticing -- saving a life. It all started when New York highway patrolman Officer Gregory Zakoscielny saw a car weaving in and out of traffic on a busy highway in the Bronx. Was the driver drunk? The car was putting others in danger. Then the car suddenly stopped in the middle of the parkway. That's when Officer Zakoscielny went over to investigate and discovered something unexpected ...

The officer's dashcam catches him as he slowly approaches the stopped vehicle. The driver side door bursts open and you can hear a woman gasping for air and trying to speak.

"What did you swallow?" he asks as the woman lurches out of the car. "Are you choking? Are you choking?"

"Yes, sir," the woman manages to blurt out.

The cop immediately gets down to business. He tells her to get out of the car, turn around, and place her hands on her chest. He then begins the Heimlich manuever. Within three thrusts the woman appears to have coughed up the candy that was stuck in her throat and she breathes a huge sigh of relief. Check out the heart-stoppingly dramatic scene:

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I'm not going to lie -- I kept waiting for this to turn bad. When was he going to ignore her pleas for help and walk back to his car? When was he going to push her to the ground and handcuff her? When was something going to go horribly wrong and this man going to show terrible judgment?

It didn't happen. It didn't happen because there are plenty of cops out there who are well-trained, compassionate individuals. But there are also ones who aren't. There are cops who wield the power they have like sledgehammers-- without wisdom, without thought, without compassion.

But then there are cops like Officer Zakoscielny. And they don't get enough attention.

Let's give him some of the kind he deserves.

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You would be hard pressed to find a parent who looks forward to flying with an infant or toddler. Gives you chills, right? It's natural for a mom to get stressed out while flying solo with a child. So it's no big shock that a mother recently lost it when a flight attendant asked her to turn off the iPad blaring the Bubble Guppies. Not surprisingly, it was annoying the other passengers. Also not surprisingly, the mother refused to comply. Part of her stress-fueled tirade was caught on video.

We certainly have sympathy for this mom -- to a point. It's incredibly difficult entertaining kids and keeping them from having a total meltdown on a flight. I've certainly been there. I come armed with toys, books, games, and, of course, the almighty iPad.

As this mom knows, it works wonders. But apparently, this woman's 2-year-old won't wear headphones. So, other passenger's right to fly in peace be damned. When the flight attendant asked her to turn it off, she argued. Despite the fact that it was a rule, she refused to comply. As a result, a crew of officers were waiting for her as she got off the plane and boy was she pissed. Take a look.

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As I said before, this woman gets a lot of empathy for her plight. She was probably doing her best to ensure there wasn't a teary tantrum. BUT that doesn't negate the fact that she was wrong. She comes off more like an entitled, selfish jerk than a beleaguered mom. She admits that she would NEVER comply with that air rule because she is a paying customer. (Never mind the fact that so is everyone else on the plane.) And the way she talked to the police officers is pretty shocking too. I have to wonder if they would have been so tolerant if she weren't a white, seemingly middle-class mom.

Yes, it's hard to rationalize with a 2-year-old and convince them to wear headphones if they don't want to, but that doesn't mean the rest of plane should have to suffer through an annoying kids show. She should have an alternative toy for her kid or tell her that she has to wear the earphones or no iPad.

What do you think about how this mom behaved?

Image via © Marc Romanelli/Blend Images/Corbis

Every summer, we hear tragic stories of kids who die after a parent leaves him or her in a hot car. In the case of 22-month-old Cooper Harris, his father, Ross, was even charged with malice murder. So it's no wonder that a woman walking in the parking lot of an H-E-B supermarket in San Antonio, Texas, paid attention when she saw a one-year-old locked in a car with the weather still hot outside. In fact, she did more than pay attention. She got all ninja on the car.

Angela Radtke happened to see the child about 10 a.m. on Saturday. Despite the fact that bystanders warned her she could be arrested if she damaged the car, Radtke didn't care. What about the damage that could be done to the child?

Retrieving a tire iron from her car, she came back to the vehicle with the baby inside -- and smashed right through the front window. She then climbed into the car, cutting herself in the process, and retrieved the baby.

The baby's father was reportedly inside the supermarket with his 12-year-old daughter -- and had been there for at least 40 minutes, surveillance cameras showed.

When he finally showed up and saw the scene outside of his car, he reportedly admitted that he had forgotten the baby was there.

By the time the baby was rescued from the car, police said the little boy was dehydrated and had heat exposure.

The little boy has been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services. The father, Richard Elliott, has been charged with child endangerment.

It's a shame that bystanders not only didn't help, but even actively discouraged Radtke from doing the right thing. "I felt like some people were kind of scared," she told KENS5. "They didn't want to be liable because the security guard was yelling that I could possibly be arrested for breaking the window."

Wow, this security guard needs to rethink his line of work or get more training. Imagine worrying about a car over the life of a child.

The woman who rescued him was not charged, thanks to Texas' "Good Samaritan" law.

What would you have done?

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Image via KENS5

If you've never been asked to do something for your job that made you slightly uncomfortable, consider yourself lucky. Many of us, including one TV reporter from Alaska, have been faced with a choice at one time or another to either keep mum about our beliefs or feelings about something in order to pay our mortgage or come clean and risk the negative consequences.

Reporter Charlo Greene from Alaska news station KTVA chose the latter -- and, boy, did she exit her job in spectacular fashion. Who needs a resignation letter when you can broadcast your desire to head for the hills on live TV? Not only did Greene use her on-air time to confess that she was the owner of the Alaska Cannabis Club, but she followed it up by saying "f*** it," quitting, and storming off camera.

So it seems Greene was chosen to speak about a pre-taped segment about the Club, which is fighting for the legalization of medical marijuana in the 49th state. But there was a bit of a conflict of interest when it was revealed that the journalist wasn't simply a marijuana advocate -- she was a major leader in the movement as prez of the Club!

Faced with a choice, I'm guessing Greene decided the only way she could sleep well at night was by taking a stand for what she felt strongly about -- something she can't obviously do in her role as a reporter who strives for objectivity.

But it's one thing to tell your boss in private that you can no longer perform your duties for personal reasons, and quite another to announce it on air. And curse. And make your colleague feel very uncomfortable, as you'll see happens in this video.

When asked why she made her business the stuff of legends, Greene said she pretty much knew broadcasting her resignation would raise awareness for her group and cause.

Mission accomplished.

Check it out:

See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.

Do you think this reporter took things too far or do you admire her for what she did?

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I am all for trying to be a "cool mom," but one parent may have taken her need to be her daughter's BFF entirely too far. A Michigan woman is accused of helping her teen and another student carry out a prank that caused $20,000 in damageto the school's football field. Not only that, school officials say the stunt wasn't just costly, it was disturbingly vulgar.

According to reports, the trio used grass killer to burn a huge image of a penis into the turf. They got the idea from seeing a similar prank in online. How they convinced the 50-year-old mother to participate is unclear, but our children certainly aren't the only ones to cave to pressure to join in.

Sometimes in a desperate attempt to appear cool or be liked by our children, we let them get away with things we know they shouldn't. However, for most of us, that means letting them stay up past curfew or allowing them to wear a skirt that's much shorter than usual. This mom took it the extra mile by allegedly helping them draw a 100-foot rendering of genitalia. They are also accused of making two smaller, 30-foot penises, and the number 2016.

I am sure when they were concocting the plan, it sounded like a bit of harmless fun but police say that due to the amount of damage, it's a felony. She also faces a misdemeanor charge for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.  The mother has since been arrested, charged, and arraigned. For her part, this parent says that she never stepped onto the field and that she nor her daughter took part in the prank. Still, police have also charged the minor and placed her in a juvenile detention center. No one's laughing now.

Do you think school officials and police are overreacting?

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Most of us don't think of baseball as being one of the most dangerous sports our children play, but turns out, it can be. A Long Island, New York Little League coach died after being hit in the head with a ball during batting practice.

Richard Becher was pitching balls to his son and the other kids he coaches when the horrible accident occurred. He had even been throwing balls from behind a protective screen when the ball hit him, but it did little to stop the tragedy.

It's truly shocking. There are so many sports that we think of as potentially lethal. How many reports have we heard about football players suffering brain or spine injuries? Even soccer, with it's many hits to the head, carries certain risks. But baseball -- especially during the years of Little League - has always seemed like such a safe, relatively low risk activity. That's not to say this should prevent us from letting our kids participate. An accident like this is rare. However, it's just a possibility we should be aware of.

The players were ushered off the field as emergency responders tried to save his life, so fortunately his son didn't witness his father dying. Still, the shock must be overwhelming. By all accounts, Becher was a devoted dad, taking part in everything that his kids enjoyed. “He died doing something he totally loved,” his brother-in-law said. “Being involved in his kid’s life.”

Have you ever heard of someone getting serious or deadly injury during Little League?

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Some people just have no business raising children. You know the type I'm referring to: parents who beat their children viciously or stand by and watch it occur. That is what appears to have happened to 2-year-old Peyton Graham. The toddler was allegedly beaten to death by her dad, a soldier in the military, because she soiled her diaper. But if found guilty, he certainly isn't the only one to blame.

According to police, there was a witness to the beating. Dartarious Graham became upset after Peyton did what all toddlers do -- she went to the bathroom in her diaper. Also in the apartment at the time was his 19-year-old cousin Robert Franklin, who saw the child being beaten with a belt and did nothing to help her. He did absolutely nothing to stop it. In fact, he walked out of the room.

When the father emerged with the child, he says the child went limp and he called 911 for help. It was too little too late. Peyton's mother Elizabeth Graham was not home but police say that there was a history of her husband beating the child and she did nothing to stop or report the abuse. The proof -- the body of poor little Peyton was riddled with wounds.

Now all three of these adults face criminal charges: Dartarious Graham was booked on Capital Murder. Elizabeth Graham and Robert Franklin were booked on Injury to a Child by Omission -  and rightfully so as far as I'm concerned. Standing by as a child is brutally abused is not just wrong, it's criminal.

Do you think the cousin and mother should be charged too?

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Gloria Rodriguez and Hector Ortiz's 5-year-old with special needs has had a rough start to the school year. After missing the first week and a half of school because they didn't "feel comfortable" accepting him without an action plan (which his mom tried to square away before the year started), the little guy managed to run away from his classroom.

A police officer spotted him about two blocks away from the Buffalo school, where the administration had already gone into action trying to locate him. When his mom got a call about the incident, she says she was told that her child was going to be suspended for leaving school without permission.

The kindergartner attends Early Childhood Center School 82, six miles from his home, because it's one of the few that had an opening in a special-education classroom with a 12-to-1 student ratio. In addition to the teacher, there's also an assistant to help manage the children.

He made his escape when the assistant had left the room to pick up the lunches for the kids, and the teacher was busy with another student. To complicate matters even further, the kiddo has life-threatening food allergies. Several school staff members, including the school nurse with an epi-pen, began searching for him before he was returned by a police officer who found him wandering on the side of the road.

The real trauma occurred later, when his parents were notified that he was to be suspended for leaving the school without permission.

Gloria Rodriguez recounted that Principal Denise Segars-McPhatter "waved suspension papers in front of them," stood up, said, "I cannot deal with this. I have to fax these papers." She said they were at the school for an hour trying to sort things out, and didn't see Segars-McPhatter until the end, when she informed them that she had changed her mind about the suspension.

Rodriguez said that the assistant principal, Margaret Wantuck, was very apologetic, and other staffers expressed their sympathy as well, but they were not told that the boy could return to school, and they've been unable to receive a school incident report.

assistant principal, Margaret Wantuck, showed up and was very apologetic about the whole situation.

Other staffers also expressed some sympathy and tried to provide information to the family, though the parents asked for a school incident report but were never given one.

"We need answers," Rodriguez said. "What is my son's standing in school right now? He's already behind. What will they do to keep this from happening again? What are going to be the changes? How are they going to be able to assure my son's safe?"

It's absolutely heartbreaking that these parents are having to deal with a situation like this, at a school that's supposedly used to dealing with special needs kids. Yes, they need more supervision. Yes, they need extra care. But they have a right to an education too.

Would you be horrified if your child was disciplined because of his school's failure to provide adequate supervision?

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A man has been charged withlocking his girlfriend's five children in a bedroomwithout access to food, water, or a bathroom for at least 24 hours. And mom is just fine with that. The man, Joshua Steinbronn, is accused of locking the children, who range in age from 3 to 9, in the bedroom for long periods. But mom says he was just disciplining her kids who are, according to her, "uncontrollable."

Deputies responded to a domestic call in Iowa City, Iowa and heard several children shouting from a window for help. Investigators found the kids locked in a bedroom that locked from the outside. One girl told them she had injured her leg trying to escape.

The children reportedly told authorities that they had to urinate in cups, clothing and baby diapers since they would not be let out of the room under any circumstances.

However, the kids' mom, Jonya Smith, sides with her boyfriend and says he was just disciplining her "uncontrollable" kids and that they were never in the room for more than 24 hours.

Well, this should be an easy enough case to prove. Is there urine all over the room? Then the kids were in there for far too long.

Unfortunately, too many moms do side with their boyfriends when they should be siding with the children.

As for the kids being "uncontrollable," I would imagine five young kids are a mighty handful. Perhaps even uncontrollable. But I fail to see how locking all five of them in a room together helps the situation. In fact, they should probably be separated if they're causing trouble.

Locking kids inside a room for extended periods of time and not letting them use a bathroom or eat is not discipline, it's abuse.

Do you thinking locking kids in a room is ever proper punishment?

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A Rutgers University senior who went on a hiking trip with four friends in New Jersey was reportedly attacked and killed by a black bear in an incident that officials say is the first of its kind to happen in more than 150 years.

Darsh Patel, 22, was found dead in the Apshawa Preserve on Sunday after police say he and his friends noticed the bear approaching them and ran off in different directions to get away from him. Two hours after they split up, Patel's friends contacted police because they couldn't find him. Authorities were shocked to discover that, despite how they tried to scare the 300-pound animal away by throwing sticks and stones at him and making loud noises, he refused to leave the scene and continued to walk around in a circle about 30 yards away from the student's body.

Police shot the bear with rifles and killed him. After examining the animal, who they believed was hungry, they determined he had probably never had any interaction with people prior to this incident. This horrible attack marked the second time in New Jersey history that a bear killed a person -- the first was in 1852.

Although they say the students didn't provoke the bear, running from him likely caused more harm than good, officials say. Apparently, the best way to handle a bear is to walk slowly and not look him in the eye -- but I can't imagine how difficult that would be to do when you're actually in a situation in which you come face to face with a frightening and deadly predator. An autopsy report will determine whether the bear had a disease that caused it to attack the man.

More from The Stir: Mountain Lion Attacks 6-Year-Old Boy & Nearly Drags Him Away From Family

A spokesman for the State Department of Environmental Protection says the black bear population has "grown out of control" recently, particularly in northern New Jersey. The state called for a black bear hunting season in 2009, which has been successful in lowering the population, but numerous bear attacks have still been reported in the area.

This is, of course, a horrific and sad incident and a young man with his entire life ahead of him should not have suffered this fate. Our hearts go out to Patel's family.

What precautions do you take before you go hiking or engage in outdoor activities?

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You never know how a proposal is going to go. Will she say yes? No? Scream in horror? Faint? Look bored? It takes a lot of nerve to work up a proposal, but Shane thought he had it all sussed out. He decided to pop the question while out on a paddle boat in the Wisconsin River. He and his girlfriend, Cheri, and some of their friends were having a leisurely paddle when Shane thought it would be the perfect time to spring the proposal on his lady love. That's when things went horribly wrong.

A camera-wielding friend was there to capture the moment Shane asked his girlfriend to look toward the shore, where four friends were holding signs reading, "Will you marry me?"

We can't see Cheri's reaction, as her back is to the camera, but she playfully smacks him, and then suddenly, there is a little splash and Shane looks horrified. "Oh, my God!" he repeatedly frets as he looks toward the water.

Cheri bursts into tears and the video stops.

So, yep, that happened. Check it out:

See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.

A friend, Elias Eitsert, told the New York Daily News that the couple are indeed still engaged -- but the ring was never found.

Naturally, some viewers are calling out the video as a fake, but Shane's reaction -- especially the look in his eyes when he realized the ring first dove head first in the water -- seems pretty genuine to me. If they're faking, they're very good actors!

I can't even blame Shane for this one. It's not like he prepared some daredevil high-risk stunt that you just know wasn't going to end well. He didn't propose while skydiving, or while on the jagged edge of a cliff. It was a calm, serene boat ride.

Hopefully, that wasn't a harbinger of things to come. Wonder if Shane is on the hook for buying another ring? Since the girl was at least 50 percent responsible for the ring flying overboard, I hope she doesn't insist on another one.

More from The Stir: Pilot Fakes Plane Crash Before Proposing to Terrified Girlfriend (VIDEO)

Perhaps they can wait until their 20th anniversary for an "upgrade" and that this time the ring is presented on dry land.

Do you think he should buy another one?

Image via Swilk 16/YouTube

I confess I sometimes get flustered when it's time to send in snacks for the classroom -- so many dietary restrictions! So hard to find healthy options that can be stored in the class but aren't made entirely of pencil shavings and high fructose corn syrup! -- but I have to say, I've never been tempted to send in a platter of vagina cookies.

Yes. You read that right: vagina cookies. According to a Reddit user's friend who is a teacher, that is exactly what a parent did when it was her turn to bring snacks for the class. The class of second graders, by the way. The mom brought a platter of sugar cookies decorated like vaginas, then pitched a complete fit when the teacher wouldn't hand them out to the confused students.

You guys, there are SCREEN SHOTS that capture the utter insanity that went down over these cootchies cookies. Are you ready for this?

Okay, according to the Reddit user who posted the story from her teacher friend's first-person perspective, here's what happened after she agreed to let the volunteer parent bring in baked treats for a class reward:

So Friday rolls around and the kids are excited. [Mom] comes into the classroom with a pan full of treats and brings them to me and says with a smile "I decided you can use these to teach the kids about the woman's vagina today". Baffled and completely caught off guard I slowly peel the aluminum foil off the pan to behold a plethora of sugar cookie and frosting vaginas. Not just any old vagina, but ALL KINDS OF VAGINAS. There were small, puffy, white, brown, shaved, bald, and even a fire crotch with beef curtains. perplexed I give the parent the most professional look I can muster and quietly reply "I'm sorry, but I can't give these to my students. This just isn't appropriate."

FIRE CROTCH WITH BEEF CURTAINS. I just died. I am typing this from beyond the grave. Fatal abdominal rupture due to extreme laughter. Oh Mylanta.

The story doesn't end there, though. After the teacher told the mom she couldn't hand out her baked anatomy examples, the woman started yelling that the teacher should be proud of her vagina and not settle for "a woman's role in life." She then stormed off, but not before shouting "vagina" enough times that the teacher got a flurry of emails that night from parents wondering just what exactly the day's lesson had been.

That's when the best email of all rolled in. From VAGINA MOM:

Holy crap. I thought it was kooky to start with (WE SHOULD INFORM SECOND GRADERS HOW TO PLEASE THE VAGINA), but after reading the final sentence, I'm pretty sure this woman is a few hairs short of a full bush, you know what I mean?

Thankfully for the teacher, the child was moved to a different school, no action was taken against the teacher, and the parent is no longer allowed on district property. Also, in case you were wondering, while there sadly is no photo documentation of the cookies, they were "actually pretty good."

In conclusion, I'm glad the scary vagina cookie mom has moved on, but I'm afraid for whatever school her child is going to now. What culinary treat WILL she bring in next, in order to celebrate the vagina? I'm thinking steamed clams.

Okay show of hands: who would be okay with their second grader being served a vagina cookie? Or a penis cookie, for that matter? I'm thinking this would be my reaction:

Image via rachelkramerbusseldotcom/Flickr