Sexual assault in religious Florida day care center...exempt from state scrutiny

madfloridian

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Fri Jul-11-08 10:49 PM
Original message

Sexual assault in religious Florida day care center...exempt from state scrutiny

because it is a religious facility. Public tax money goes to some of these institutions, but they are not held accountable. Another unfortunate incident in a state with more than its share.

Lakeland Day Care Shut Down In Sexual Assault Inquiry

THE NEW BIRTH INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES building is at 412 N. Massachusetts Ave. in Lakeland. The day care it operated has been shut down.

LAKELAND | A day care operated by New Birth International Ministries has been shut down in the wake of an investigation into an alleged sexual battery of a 5-year-old boy by a male teenager.

Police say the incident took place Monday in the basement of the church at 412 N. Massachusetts Ave. near downtown Lakeland, and it was discovered hours later by the 5-year-old's mother, who was informed by her 8-year-old son who reportedly witnessed the battery.

As a church day care, New Birth operated beyond the scrutiny of state child welfare officials through a religious exemption to Florida's day-care laws.

As such, New Birth's day care operated under the auspices of a private, religious accrediting agency called Narrow Door Pentecostal Council of God in Haines City, one of 24 such agencies approved by the state.

These credentialing organizations operate independent of state day-care regulations, which are governed by the Florida Department of Children & Families

The school was licensed for 133 students, but only seven were present that day. Something else odd...

Sophia Austin is director of the church's day care, and she said "she was shocked to learn of the assault, but said she was not at the church on Monday and could not answer how the 5-year-old victim wound up unsupervised."

If you can't keep up with 7, how can you handle 133 of them.

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Maddy McCall

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Fri Jul-11-08 10:51 PM
Response to Original message

1. God, that makes my guts hurt for that child.

:cry:

K/R

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sasquatch

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Fri Jul-11-08 10:54 PM
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2. Should we invade and occupy Florida now?

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islandmkl

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Fri Jul-11-08 10:56 PM
Response to Original message

3. as a florida resident, i can only say..

you people have no idea what the local news is like around here...you want to know why joeeverybodysinterndieseventually acts like he does...visit inland florida, any part of the state...and i don't mean to insult anyone, but the yahoo factor runs slightly higher than most any other part of the country...

and that, obviously, is saying a lot...

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LiberalFighter

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Fri Jul-11-08 11:30 PM
Response to Reply #3

4. Too much sun on the brain?

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Tandalayo_Scheisskopf

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Sat Jul-12-08 12:50 AM
Response to Reply #4

7. I lived in Gainesville back in the 70's.

I think it is because of three things: Too many people ate too many 'shrooms back then, the sun, and the fact that a lot of Florida was never meant for human habitation on any scale greater than what it was back in 1000 AD.

The interior is one strange area.

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LiberalFighter

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Sat Jul-12-08 04:16 PM
Response to Reply #7

12. Ate or inhale the 'shrooms? :/

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FloridaJudy

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Sat Jul-12-08 12:49 AM
Response to Reply #3

6. Seconded.

With the exception of Gainesville, which is that teeny blue dot in them middle of the Red Sea. As a general rule, expect any Florida town with "Lake" in its name to be over-run with born-again protohominids: they not only don't believe in evolution, they don't practice it either.

Cuing the Deliverance banjo music...

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LiberalFighter

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Fri Jul-11-08 11:31 PM
Response to Original message

5. If the Florida Supreme Court had any brains they would rule the law unconstitutional.

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FloridaJudy

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Sat Jul-12-08 12:56 AM
Response to Reply #5

8. Florida Supreme Court

..and brains constitutes an oxymoron. Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey do not make this shit up.

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madfloridian

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Sat Jul-12-08 11:49 AM
Response to Original message

9. How do you lose a 5 yr old when you only have 7 kids present?

Inquiring minds want to know.

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lpbk2713

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Sat Jul-12-08 12:00 PM
Response to Reply #9

11. All depends on the TV scheduling ...

It may have been time for Jerry Springer, or Maury, or .......

:shrug:

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PassingFair

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Sat Jul-12-08 11:55 AM
Response to Original message

10. "Narrow Door Pentecostal Council of God"

You could not make this shit up.

Seriously Dickensian territory here.

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