RENO, Nev. (AP) - A couple who authorities say were so obsessed with the Internet and video games that they left their babies starving and suffering other health problems have pleaded guilty to child neglect.
The children of Michael and Iana Straw, a boy age 22 months and a girl age 11 months, were severely malnourished and near death last month when doctors saw them after social workers took them to a hospital, authorities said. Both children are doing well and gaining weight in foster care, prosecutor Kelli Ann Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Michael Straw, 25, and Iana Straw, 23, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts each of child neglect. Each faces a maximum 12-year prison sentence.
Viloria said the Reno couple were too distracted by online video games, mainly the fantasy role-playing "Dungeons & Dragons" series, to give their children proper care.
"They had food; they just chose not to give it to their kids because they were too busy playing video games," Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Police said hospital staff had to shave the head of the girl because her hair was matted with cat urine. The 10-pound girl also had a mouth infection, dry skin and severe dehydration.
Her brother had to be treated for starvation and a genital infection. His lack of muscle development caused him difficulty in walking, investigators said.
The Straws have been given public defenders. Jeremy Bosler, head of the county public defender's office, declined to comment to The Associated Press on Saturday.
Michael Straw is an unemployed cashier, and his wife worked for a temporary staffing agency doing warehouse work, according to court records. He received a $50,000 inheritance that he spent on computer equipment and a large plasma television, authorities said.
While child abuse because of drug addiction is common, abuse rooted in video game addiction is rare, Viloria said.
Last month, experts at an American Medical Association meeting backed away from a proposal to designate video game addiction as a mental disorder, saying it had to be studied further. Some said the issue is like alcoholism, while others said there was no concrete evidence it's a psychological disease.
Patrick Killen, spokesman for Nevada Child Abuse Prevention, said video game addiction's correlation to child abuse is "a new spin on an old problem."
"As we become more technologically advanced, there's more distractions," Killen said. "It's easy for someone to get addicted to something and neglect their children. Whether it's video games or meth, it's a serious issue, and (we) need to become more aware of it."
Does anyone have one of these yet? Apparently it's the most fun ever. All the tech kids who work for me keep calling in sick this week to stay home and play it.
Second, have you actually seen a store that had one in stock?
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Bob Barker is heading toward his last showcase, his final "Come on down." The silver-haired daytime-TV icon is retiring in June, he told The Associated Press Tuesday....
I think the guy standing up is the one who did it, but I wouldn't want to be in a dark alley with the guy sitting down either.
A suicide note in the pocket of a man who jumped off the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel late Tuesday led police to the grisly scene of his girlfriend’s murder, where they found her charred head in a pot on the stove, her legs and feet baked in the oven and the rest of her dismembered body in trash bag in the refrigerator, according to police and the couple’s landlord.
...
Shortly after Oct. 1, the couple had rented an apartment together at 826 N. Rampart Street above a voodoo shop, said their landlord, Leo Watermeier, who recently ran a campaign for mayor.
The couple seemed happy at first, he said, though that would soon break down.
“He may have in retrospect seemed a little troubled,” Watermeier said in an interview early Wednesday morning, shortly after he led investigators to the gruesome scene inside the apartment.
I've posted the Mary's events calendar onto , which also makes the events available as XML, ICAL, and regular old HTML.
I'm not exactly sure what all this stuff is for either, but it seemed like a good idea since the a Google public calendar is searchable via Google, which should add some hits.
Mary's won Creative Loafing's Best of 2006 Reader's Choice for Best Karaoke and Best Gay Bar this year! We've gotten best karaoke several times before, but never best gay bar.
Thanks to everyone who voted, and if you haven't already, how about voting for Mary's on the Citysearch</> poll?
I can only imagine how bad I'm going to be when I am truly old, and not just middle aged as I am now. I recently got very pissed off when I went to Boneheads at Atlantic Station and complained via email. I received the following reply over the weekend:
Dear Mr. Overall,
I am so very sorry about your poor experience. There is absolutely no excuse for it. I assure you that we take your feedback VERY seriously.
At Boneheads, our policy has always been that we will serve guests that come to our restaurant not only right up until the posted closing time but even people that show up 5 or 10 minutes later. It's obvious that the employees and even manager of the Atlantic Station location need a very strong reminder of our policy.
I have forwarded your email to the owner of that location so that he and his team can address it with the management and staff to ensure that no other guests get the same poor service and treatment that you and other did on Thursday night.
Please accept my most sincere apology and please allow me to send you a couple of free entrée cards that you can use at Atlantic Station or any other Boneheads in the city. Please send me your address so I can send the cards out to you.
Thank you for taking the time to let us know about this and thank you for your business.
I know most people that come to Mary's probably don't remember The Electric Company, but I absolutely loved that show. This is my homage to the closing credits.
It'll be on the hard drive this week as "Mary's - Electric Closing Credits" for DJs or bartenders to use to run people out the door after last call. It looks much better than this YouTube version.
PS - Umm, just to be clear, this is for when we are closing for the night. We aren't closing shop. Ever. I will be 75 years old and in Mary's worrying.
It's 2:00p on a weekday, what the hell do you think I'm doing? Working. You should try it.
LM:
Oh my god! (unintelligible) Oh lord! (unintelligible) ... stick in in. (unintelligible)
Me:
Well, uh...
LM:
You are so fucking weird! (unintelligible) Russell (unintelligible) need to get Ben to (unintelligible) LA!
Me:
What?
LM:
(unintelligible)
Me:
I. Can't Understand. What. You. Are. Saying.
LM:
(unintelligible)!!!
Me:
OK, well, I'm working...
LM:
OK. (click)
I've had this exact same conversation three times a day for at least two years. And since I couldn't understand much else, I've decided to think about the statement that am "so fucking weird". Here's a list of things I've done (or will do) today that some might consider odd:
Awoken by alarm clock at 6:45a even though both me and the alarm clock know that I will be hitting the snooze button every 7 minutes until 7:30a.
Driven to work and to lunch and never took a left turn where there is not a traffic light with the left-turn green arrow.
Faked that I was trying to open the door for a latecomer to the elevator even though I was actually pressing the "DOOR CLOSE" button.
Visited the Consumer Product Safety Commission web site to see if any products have caused bizarre, creepy mutilations recently, and also to contemplate if any of my friends might own one of these products and if they deserve to be mutilated or not.
Got seriously creeped out in the stairwell when I heard someone very close behind me but still exactly one flight away so I couldn't see who it was.
Threw up in mouth a little when I ate a piece of hard candy that I failed to notice was labeled 'Tutti Fruiti'.
Drank an entire bottle of water at once to try to erase that taste.
Googled for 'tutti fruiti' to find out exactly what the hell that taste is supposed to be and was disappointed that no one had gone to the trouble to write a Wikipedia article about it.
Just acted like I'm so busy to avoid a co-worker who interrupted me writing this LJ post.
Will be leaving work exactly 4 minutes after my boss has left.
Will refer to my dog as "Maggie Pants" when I get home. Maggie is her name. I'm not sure where the "Pants" parts comes from.
Will wait to leave the house until after 8p to go get on the hateful gym machine so that I can have at least one empty one between me and the other people there.
Will actually be glad about the commercials on the gym TV since every one represents 1/60th of the time I have to be on the machine.
Will constantly be converting time remaining on the machine into fractions to attempt to fool myself that I'm almost done.
Will wash a load of clothes but won't fold them.
Will attempt to tell my cat a knock-knock joke and the accuse him of having no sense of humor when runs aways and sulks.
Will make sure every door that leads into/out of my bedroom is completely shut before I go to sleep.
Loyalty Cards I am tired of having to drag stupid cards around for every place I eat or shop. I keep a Kroger card just because go there so much, but I hate it and I do not want a Border's card or a CVS card or any others. I hate having to keep up with that crap.
Speaking of, CVS just how hard is it to deactivate that inventory control tag when you sell me something so I don't set off the alarm when I try to walk out. Don't give me attitude either, and I expect an apology when you see you were wrong not a, "you're OK." I know I'm OK, I didn't steal shit.
While we are at, add crystal meth manufacturers to the list for making me having to formally request Sudafed from the suspicious pharmacists on duty. When I am buying Afrin and Sudafed and sound like I am standing at the bottom of the drainpipe when I'm talking there's really no need to explain why I'm buying it.
Boogers since I've never been given a satisfactory explanation for what biological purpose they serve.
Gay Pride Celebrations, which meant I was forced to stand under a tent all Sunday afternoon in the rain with a smoking grill which made me get sick in the first place.
The Atlanta 2006 gay pride theme live. love. be. was beyond stupid.
I hate Kenneth Cole for the same reason.
Georgia Power for still not fixing the outdoor lights at Mary's. I sent them an online message telling them that I hope the next person who gets mugged in the parking lots sues them. They still haven't called me back.
The Bossman for interrupting my web site reading to ask about when projects are going to be done.
Papa John's for substituting Diet Coke for real Coke last night because they were "out" and thinking I'm asshole for bitching them out about it. How can a pizza place 10 blocks from the global headquarters for Coca-Cola be "out" of Coke?
Lil' Mike for not having me on his top 8 MySpace friends when I'm positively the only person who answers the phone when he calls.
I feel for this kid--I was just like him. And I hate the new music.
3-Year-Old's Birthday Party Theme: 'NewsHour'
(WCCO) When a young St. Paul boy got to pick the theme for his third birthday party, he didn't pick Nemo or the Wiggles or Dora the Explorer. He didn't even pick his favorite sports team.
Henry Schally picked "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer".
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