Saturday, August 22,



I am going to tell you a true story that I heard today from a friend of mine, I asked permission to tell her story however I have chosen to leave her name out of the story for her own protection.

While eating breakfast this morning in one or our usual restaurants, my husband and I got engaged in a conversation with our usual waitress. Holding her emotions back the best she could she shared her story with me. I found both heartbreaking and captivating.

Unsure how to write this story down in order to emphasize my point I decided to divide it up into 4 sections not including this one.

The first section I’m going to give you the skinny of the story.

The second section I am going to tell you what The News said and others heard.

The third will be a test on the story to see what you got out of it.

You may choose to take it out of your own curiosity or skip it.

When taking the test do the best you can with what you got in the story, there is no grade.

It’s just a serious of questions based on the story nothing more.

At this point before moving on I would like to ask that you take time to develop an opinion based only on what you already read. All of the information given to you from the previous sections are true and correct to the best of my ability with the information I have obtained. . After you have developed the opinion than move onto the 4th section you will understand why when you have finished. .

The 4^th session Answers to the Questions, - I am asking that you don’t assume you got them correct as this section may surprise you. If you haven t gotten all the answers to the 3rd section don’t worry you will have a better understanding after you read the 4^th section.

I do keep in mind that you’re opinion may differ than that of the natural world but I think you will still get the point of the story.

The woman in this story is now a 40 year old waitress at a local family restaurant. The event told happen when she was 19 so it’s approximately 21 years ago, laws have changed sense then.

1^st section of story, The Skinny-

19 year old single working Mom, hired a baby sitter to watch over her infant son.

That babysitter had beaten the infant son to death.

The court had sentenced the babysitter to10 years in prison.


2^nd section- The News- what people seen or heard on the news or other outside sources.

19 year old single working Mom, worked at a strip club hired a friend to babysit her infant son. Her friend beat the infant son to death and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Notice -19 year old single mom worked at strip club had been continually pointed out in the news.

Infant Son beaten to death by babysitter, the mother age 19 worked in a strip club.

19 year old unwed Mom worked in strip club- infant son beaten to death by babysitter, Babysitter sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Strip Club employee infant son beaten to death by babysitter.

Unwed Mom strip club employee’s infant child was beaten to death by babysitter.

The infant son of a 19 year old unwed mother employed by a local strip club had been beaten to death by the babysitter. Baby sitter was given a 10 year prison sentence.

Etcetera

I know I wrote the same thing over an over again in a different way I did that to get the point across.

If you would like to test yourself on what you picked up here get a piece of paper and pin and answer these questions.



3^rd Section Test or Questions.

1. What was the news clip about?

2. Who got beaten to death?

3. Who was the Mother?

4. Where did the Mother work?

5. What did the Mother do for a living?

6. Who beat the poor baby to death?

7 Who was the Babysitter?

8. Where did the Baby sitter Work?

9. What did the Baby Sitter do for a living?

10. How long did the babysitter go to prison?

Now you may want to check your answers by looking up the story before you go onto the next session. When you think you got the answers move onto the next session if you can’t find the answers don’t hurt yourself looking just move on.

4^th section- The Answers with Missing Information (The Whole Story)

You probably already know that the 19 year old Mother is now my 40 year old waitress friend.

Question 1. - What was the news clip about?

You could say an infant child murdered by a babysitter, or an infant child whose mother worked in a strip club murdered by a babysitter. Whatever you got out of it- how about injustice, or judgment, why would it even matter where the Mother worked, or what she did for a living? Yet “The News” placed lot of emphases onto the mother’s place of employment. Maybe it’s about how “The News” will tell stories to slant it towards certain humanistic traits in order to make the story “News Worthy” What do you think it’s about?

A 19 year old mother came home to one of the worst possible scenarios a mother can come home too. I couldn’t even imagine the pain and grief my friend must have felt when she came home to find her “infant son” “brutally beaten to death”. This horrible monstrous act done by what she thought was a loyal friend. Could you imagine the guilt and pain she felt knowing that she trusted the care of her most precious child too this murderous friend. Only to have the News focus more on the place she “The Mother Worked at. To add insult to injury they tagged her with the title “Unwed Mother” instead of a more respectable title of “Single Mom”.

How about - Hard working single mom entrusted her son in the care of a friend only to come home to the tiny lifeless body of her infant son. To her horror she discovered the friend she trusted brutally beaten this innocent precious gift to death.

Question Number two already answered who was beaten to death? - An Innocent Infant Boy, Son of a loving Mother.

Question 3. Who was the Mother? -The 19 year old unwed girl who is now a 40 year old waitress at a local family restaurant?

Question 4. Where did the Mother work? -At a local strip club.

Question 5. What did the Mother do for a living? Look all you want, you won’t find the answer in the story. Why because it wasn’t newsworthy. The Mother worked as a “WAITRESS” at a local strip club.

Question 6. Who beat the baby to death? ��" The Babysitter.

Question 7. Who was the babysitter? ��" All you can find in the story about the babysitter is that she was a friend of the Mother. The answer to the next two questions will give you a better idea.

Question 8. Where did the Babysitter Work- Look at the story long and hard it does not tell of any additional employment of the babysitter. For all you know the babysitters only job was babysitting. You don’t know that the babysitting is just additional income for her. She had a job, At “Texas Interments”. Oh yeah a highly respected Texas company that doesn’t hire just anyone. When someone tells you that they work at Texas Interments that’s impressive you know they either knew someone or had real good credentials. These people get paid good money, especially back then; they did not get that job easily.

Question 9 what did the babysitter do for a living? - With limited information I can not say for sure what position she held. I know it had something to do with Technical Designing; a Highly Respected Position.

Of course back then the news could not announce that the one who actually beat the baby to death worked a highly respected position in a highly respected company.

All they could reveal was that she was a friend of the 19 year old unwed mother employed at a local strip club.

Question 10. How long did the babysitter go to prison? - How many of you answered 10 years? If you did you got the answer wrong that was a trick question.

The court sentenced her to 10 years in prison for this murder. The court date had not been set until a year after the murder. At that time in Texas you only had to serve 10% of your sentencing that included time spent. The court considered letting the Murderer off on parole. However the unwed mother who worked at a local strip club fought to keep this woman in prison. Due only to the undying efforts of the deceased baby’s mother the Murderer spend a total 4 YEARS in prison.

My friend told me her heartbreaking story today. I held her in my arms to comfort her.

Yes the laws have changed sense then; yes some improvements have been made. However the point remains the same.

The focus made my friend look like she herself committed the crime. At that time she didn’t need to be looked at as a murderer. She needed people to see her as a single hardworking loving mother who lost an infant child to a horrible death at the hands of a friend she thought she could trust. She needed to be comforted, loved, respected, she needed genuine friends to hold her let her mourn for her loss. She needed prayer understanding and compassion.

The friend, “The Murderer” didn’t get much focus at all.

If only “The News” would show more compassion but that’s not newsworthy. The news told all truths, an infant child had been murdered by the babysitter. The babysitter had been a friend of the mother. The mother did work at a local strip club.

Although true, those tiny bits of information mislead people from the whole truth and lead you away from the basic truth.



When listing to the news or to someone else it’s important to remember that no matter how accurate the information given, without all the information it makes it difficult to get the accurate story. Remember there are two sides to every story. This also gives us something to think about when it comes to being judgmental. Even with what facts we do know we don’t know all the facts.

Keep in mind the reason “The News” did not deem such vital information as “News Worthy”.

This story spoke to me; I wonder how many of you who took the test will be honest with yourselves on your first impressions of the story. What did you really think the answers to the questions were? What are your thoughts on the story?

One more question.- What do you think the reason is that “The News” did not deem the edited information as “News Worthy” Sincerely Reverend Penny.

The story leaves many things to be pondered and thought about.

Thank you Rev Penny

Rev Jeff

I thought so too. However I made the story long enough so I figured others would add too it.

You had me at Injustice. I answered the questions honestly and even giving the girl the benefit of the doubt - based on my preconceived notion of your conversation with her some 20 years later. That it was presumed that the news was going to twist the story somehow, I defended her position whilst reading.. yet I missed the purest point you made.

I was confident that News would twist the info and discounted it all.. but only to the extent of filtering. I ignored what she did for a living - but still concluded a single working mom - missing the point of 'how does it matter whether she is a working Mom single or not either."

Your story makes a bold swipe at allowing ALL of us to realize that know matter how open minded we may think we are - our minds have been 'trained' to only hear what we think we must, not what is true.

Well done.

I will discuss this in a sermon forthcoming.

Thank You for your honesty, There still is a bit of information not mention because of the news attempt to make my innocent friend look guilty or with bad caricature even though she didn’t commit any crime.

The News did not mention my friend being an honor student in school. Nor did they mention at that time my friend previously lost her mother. But being an honor student would have damaged the image The News tried to give of her. (That image only works when they need her to look good)

I failed to put in the story that the News also repeat Single Teen-Age Mother employed at a strip club. However by the time I got the news and was able to write it down it made it difficult to remember everything. I had planed to write it right away but I am having problems with my computer.

It might also interest you all to know that I talked to my friend today and double checking my information. She informed me that the respectable Job her murderess friend had at Texas Interments needed pentagon clearance. It had something to do with designing & missiles. (I really need to start getting in the habit of carrying paper and pin with me) So her murderess friend had backing. My question then becomes with a cushion job like her friend had why would she need to babysit for extra money?

My friend worked two places at first; she worked at respectable store and as a waitress at a strip club. She made the same amount of money in one day at a strip club as “A Waitress” than all week at the Store. With a baby to take care of needing more time and money for the baby she made the best logical financial choice. To bad others later condemned her for that choice over someone else’s actions.

Sincerely Reverend Penny…. PS So you know the reason we got into that conversation to begin with. I told her I once waitress for the same family restaurant she now works for but different location and at a different time I also waitress at a strip club.

NEWS FLASH...

Single Stripping Female Online Minister takes up cause of low-income waitresses.

Sorry I couldn't pass it up.

LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL... Good thing I'm not really a striper, that would be more of a comandy act.

But that is always the key! Smile...laugh...combine those with love and faith in the Creator ( whomever you believe he/she to be ) and it will always work out. Doing what you have to do, to support you and your family, as long as it is not illegal, is what it is. If people were not hiding it, or neglecting to mention it...far more than you realize might well have worked their way through 'strip clubs'. They may have waitressed or DJ'd and bounced ( like Lisa and I did), or maybe even was a dancer.

Smile, Laugh and remember love.

Rev Jeff

Or, you can remind them of the words of Jesus, "He that is wthout sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." John 8:7....God's Peace....To`na Wanagi