Returning to Lincoln with Tails Tucked Under

By: Mr. Wilson on October 30, 2008
Contrary to assurances that Nebraska's unique "safe haven" law "would avoid all the pitfalls of ... more complicated legislation", Nebraska has become a national laughingstock as the number of non-infant children abandoned at state hospitals approaches two dozen. Funny, it's almost like somebody should have seen this coming. Perhaps Governor Heineman should have listened to his gut. Or to Senator Ernie Chambers, since he was the only person to vote against the bill. (Seven others are in the record as "excused and not voting".) State Senators will return to Lincoln on November 14 for a special session to amend the law.

Comments

See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.

Fletch
October 30, 2008 at 4:24AM

They need to do something better than just reducing it to the first 72 hours.

Jeff R
October 30, 2008 at 2:19PM

Agreed.  Personally, I think it should be 72 hours, no questions asked, or within 30 days of birth with a verifiable birth certificate.

But really, the bigger issue at hand here is what do we do with the teenagers who would have been dropped off after the law is amended?  Just because they aren’t newborns/infants doesn’t mean that they don’t need help.  We need to make this help more accessible to teens and their parents.

Dave K
October 30, 2008 at 3:05PM

I think we need to start a pool for how many kids will be dropped off between now and November 14th. I’ve got 17.

beerorkid
October 30, 2008 at 3:17PM

Special session goes till the 21st.  The schedule was sent out to us Legislative employees yesterday.  Should go pretty smooth.  “Tuesday and Wednesday will last as long as necessary to complete our work”

My fave thing about this is the comments from the LJS readers.

“the senators should not get paid for the special session”
- ummm they gat a $12K salary

“it should be longer for mothers who have a C-section”
-  ummm they are already at the hospital

Gene
October 30, 2008 at 3:57PM

Should we differentiate between number of dropoffs and number of kids dropped off? That might put people in quite the quandary. If someone drives here from NY, they might be tempted to just drop all of their kids since they came all this way, even though only one or two of the kids created the need for the trip.

CS
October 30, 2008 at 4:07PM

Here is one of my favorites:

” Is this a matter that has reached across the state? As I recall, Lincoln and Omaha have the majority of the incidents. Why then are senators from across the state going to determine the social mandates and processes for precincts that hardly affect them? ” Ummm…..because its a state law, maybe?

Fletch
October 30, 2008 at 6:46PM

LJS readers never cease to amaze me. Many are so dim, I’m amazed they’ve figured out how to get online, find the articles, and actually comment.

Dave K
October 30, 2008 at 8:59PM

I stopped reading the comments a long time ago.  Even the people on ‘my side’ managed to make themselves sounds like idiots.

CP
October 31, 2008 at 1:59PM

Amen. That’s why I’m here. Quality of dialogue.

Gene
October 31, 2008 at 5:48PM

Amen.

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