ATTALLA, Ala. (AP) — Roger Simpson said he looked down the road and saw a little girl running outside her home but didn’t give it another thought. Police, however, said the man witnessed a murder in progress.

Authorities say 9-year-old Savannah Hardin died after being forced to run for three hours as punishment for having lied to her grandmother about eating candy bars. Severely dehydrated, the girl had a seizure and died days later. Now, her grandmother and stepmother who police say meted out the punishment were taken to jail Wednesday and face murder charges.

Witnesses told deputies Savannah was told to run and not allowed to stop for three hours on Friday, an Etowah County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said. The girl’s stepmother, 27-year-old Jessica Mae Hardin, called police at 6:45 p.m., telling them Savannah was having a seizure and was unresponsive.

Simpson said he saw a little girl running at around 4 p.m., but didn’t see anybody chasing or coercing her.

“I saw her running down there, that’s what I told the detectives,” Simpson said from his home on a hill overlooking the Hardins. “But I don’t see how that would kill her.”

Authorities are still trying to determine whether Savannah was forced to run by physical coercion or by verbal commands. Deputies were told the girl was made to run after lying to her grandmother, 46-year-old Joyce Hardin Garrard, about having eaten the candy, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Natalie Barton said.

Savannah Hardin died Monday at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s release said an autopsy report showed the girl was extremely dehydrated and had a very low sodium level. A state pathologist ruled it a homicide.

The sheriff’s office received calls from concerned citizens who witnessed the girl running. No other details were released, but an official with the local volunteer fire department said rescuers thought something seemed odd when they responded to a call about the child.

“One of the ones who were down there said he didn’t feel like everything was right,” said Ruby Ward, vice president of the Mountainboro Volunteer Fire Department.

Gail Denny and her husband Phil, live just up a dirt road from the home. They’ve known the family since they moved to the area in northeastern Alabama seven years ago.

The couple said they were used to seeing Savannah and other neighborhood children out waiting on the school bus in the morning. Gail Denny said her grandson had a crush on Savannah.

“My grandson asked her to be his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day, and she said ‘yes,’” she said before dissolving into tears. She left a candle and stuffed animal outside the girl’s home Wednesday night, saying a prayer as she paused beside the road.

The trailer where Savannah lived was surrounded by a wooden fence, playground equipment and toys. Neighbors say they never saw children playing in the yard.

They told The Associated Press that Garrard owned a lot of property along the road and much of her family lived in homes on that property.

“It seems like a very happy extended family around here,” Denny said. “There are mothers, grandmothers, kids. It sounds like a punishment that got out of hand.”

Garrard and Jessica Mae Hardin are being held in the Etowah County Detention Center,

 

By Emil Protalinski | February 18, 2012, 2:15pm PST

Summary: A federal judge has struck down a Louisiana law meant to keep registered sex offenders from Facebooking with minors because it encompasses too many types of websites.

Chief Judge Brian Jackson has thrown out a state law banning sex offenders from using Facebook and other social networks saying it was unreasonable and unconstitutional. In the Middle District of Louisiana, Jackson ruled that the law, which took effect in August, was too broad, as it encompassed many commonly read news websites, as well as social networks. During a hearing a few months before his ruling, Jackson noted the statute’s definition of “chat room” meant that the court’s own federal website could be included. He did, however, hint at the possibility of approving a more narrowly-defined law.

“Although the Act is intended to promote the legitimate and compelling state interest of protecting minors from internet predators, the near total ban on internet access imposed by the Act unreasonable restricts many ordinary activities that have become important to everyday life in today’s world,” Jackson wrote in his 17-page ruling (embedded above), according to CBS Houston. “The sweeping restrictions on the use of internet for purposes completely unrelated to the activities sought to be banned by the Act imposed severe and unwarranted restraints on constitutionally protected speech. More focused restrictions that are narrowly tailored to address the specific conduct sought to be proscribed should be pursued.”

“We take the safety and security of our users, especially the many young people on Facebook, very seriously,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “We have consistently supported bills that criminalize usage of social networking sites by registered sex offenders. Our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities already bars these individuals from using Facebook and we would welcome the potential of criminal penalties to strengthen these provisions.”

The ACLU of Louisiana filed the lawsuit challenging the law in August on behalf of two sex offenders, identified only as John Doe and James Doe in court filings. The organization argued the terms used in the law barred sex offenders from browsing any website that allows users to create profiles about themselves or that has chat rooms, instant messaging, and e-mail.

The attorney general’s office meanwhile defended the statute, and said it would appeal Jackson’s ruling. Lawmakers, backed by Governor Bobby Jindal, insisted said the law was designed to keep sex offenders from preying on children in online forums, including Facebook.

“Louisiana families should have the comfort of knowing their children are able to go online without the threat of sex predators,” Jindal said in a statement. “It’s offensive that the Court would rule that the rights of sex predators are more important than the rights of innocent children. As the father of three young kids, I will do everything in our power to protect Louisiana families and that includes appealing to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and bringing legislation this upcoming session to fortify and strengthen the law. The Internet is the virtual playground where sex offenders are trying to strike and prey on our kids. We must have the tools to crack down on monsters that are preying on our kids. If these predators want to search the internet for a victim, they won’t be able to do it in the State of Louisiana.”

More than 16 million children now live in poverty in the United States, the highest number since 1962. In all, 19.8 percent of school children were living in poverty in 2010, and childhood poverty rates increased significantly in one of every five U.S. counties between 2007 and 2010, according to a Census Bureau report released today.

And in places like Seminole County, Fla., where the construction industry crumbled during the recession, more than 1,100 homeless students traverse the public schools.

In a heart-wrenching follow-up to a report from eight months ago on the newly homeless in Florida, CBS’s 60 Minutes aired a report Sunday that profiles the families who have reached the point where they can’t even make ends meet in motels — and have resorted to living out of their cars.

Arielle Metzger, 15, and her brother Austin, 13, are two of Seminole County’s homeless students. They’ve been living in a truck with their father for five months, but call it “an adventure.”

CBS’s Scott Pelley asks the two how they respond to their peers when asked about where they live.

“When they see the truck, they ask me if I live in it, and when I hesitate, they kind of realize,” Austin tells Pelley. “And they say they won’t tell anybody.”

“Yeah, it’s not really that much an embarrassment,” Arielle says. “I mean, it’s only life. You do what you need to do, right?”

The Metzgers wash up and get ready for school in gas stations, and when they get to class, they’re just like the other students.

For the report, Pelley also spoke to 15 other students in the district who were living out of cars and profiled families that were earning their motel stays by painting guest rooms or who had witnessed family members being robbed of the few dollars they had in the car.

These students also face an uphill battle. A recent Pew Economic Mobility Project report reveals that poor American children of poorly educated parents do a lot worse — academically and socioeconomically — than their counterparts in other countries.

Income mobility just within the U.S. has significantly declined since the mid-90s, according to a report this month by the Boston Federal Reserve. In recent years, families were more likely to stay within their income class than before — the rich are staying rich, and the poor and middle-class are struggling to move up the economic ladder.

The National Center for Education Statistics also reported in October that the high school dropout rate for poor students is disproportionately high: low-income students dropped out at a rate five times greater than their high-income counterparts – 7.4 percent compared with 1.4 percent.

Still, the rock-bottom lifestyle has instilled in some of Florida’s children a rekindled determination and renewal of the American dream. When Pelley asks what education means to her and her brother, Austin responds, “It’s everything.”

“It’s everything to us. I plan to be a child defense lawyer,” Arielle adds. “If I focus on my studies, I have that opportunity.”

Seminole County Public Schools’ organization, Families in Transition, is a social services agency that helps homeless students in the area.

To hear the Metzgers’ story and the strife of other families in Seminole County, watch the full 60 minutes segment above, or visit CBS for the full transcript.

CERES, Calif. (AP) — Police say a pregnant teenager was held captive nine days in a California home, where she was bound with tape and beaten by a jealous boyfriend.

Investigators say the 18-year-old victim was allowed to leave the San Joaquin Valley home on Saturday and she called police.

She says 21-year-old Richard Garibay became enraged when he found a text message from another man on her cellphone.

Investigators say Garibay beat her and used tape to bind her arms and legs while threatening her with a handgun in the Ceres home south of Modesto.

Police say Garibay’s friend, 20-year-old Armando Osegueda, helped restrain the pregnant teenager.

The Modesto Bee (http://bit.ly/wvldZ4) says Garibay was arrested on Tuesday.

Osegueda is also in jail as an accessory.

Incidents of a parent killing his or her child or children in a custody dispute include:

— December 2011: In Gargatha, Va., five people, including two children, were found dead in a mobile home. Police believe the father of the children was involved in a custody hearing with the mother and shot the others and then himself.

— December 2009: A woman who died with her two young daughters and her mother from gunshot wounds in a murder-suicide had just learned she’d temporarily lost custody of her children. The home was in an upscale neighborhood in San Clemente, Calif.

— May 2009: In Bardstown, Ky., a father fatally shot his 21-month-old son and then himself. He had been involved in a custody dispute with the child’s mother for months, a relative said.

— March 30, 2008: In Baltimore, Md., a father drowned his three young children, ages 2, 4 and 6, at a hotel room, then called the front desk to report their deaths. An online search of state court records showed he and his wife were involved in a child custody dispute.

— March 18, 2008: Employees of Fort Stevens State Park in Warrenton, Ore., found a 10-year-old boy with his father in a murder-suicide from carbon monoxide poisoning in the father’s van. Police said the father had been in a custody battle with his wife.

— Thanksgiving 2007: A Frederick, Md., man fatally shot his ex-wife, their three children, ages 6, 10 and 12, and then himself during a custody hand-off in a small town park.

— September 2007: A Wausau, Wis., mother fatally shot her 11-year-old son, then took her own life. The police were present, trying to resolve a custody dispute with her husband.

———

Compiled by Associated Press news researcher Rhonda Shafner.

Read more: http://www.thetelegraph.com/articles/death-65652-morgan-police.html#ixzz1lkIAwIzt