Infant Left in Oven Overnight, Dad Blames Drugs & Booze

Buckle your seat belts for this one!


A Kentucky dad is in jail for putting his five-week-old son in the oven, leaving him there overnight. (The oven door was open slightly, and the oven was not on.)

Larry Long says he was high on marijuana and drunk on whiskey. He apparently got high at work and went home to share a fifth of whiskey with the baby's mother. According to police reports, Long finished off the bottle as the mom went to bed. When she woke up the next morning, she heard the baby crying ... the cries were coming from the oven.

Sometime that night, Long called a mental health crisis line and told them what he had done. They alerted police. The baby was taken to the hospital, and he was okay.

Long isn't taking responsibility for his actions. Get this: He believes the marijuana he was smoking at work was laced with a hallucinatory.

What the hell?

I just thank God the oven wasn't on and the baby wasn't hurt. Larry Long needs to spend time in rehab and several years in jail. Blaming the pot you're smoking isn't a good enough excuse! How about you lay off the drugs and booze, and actually try taking care of your kid!

His only saving grace is that he did finally realize what he did and called that crisis line. It's just too little, too late. I do hope he gets the help he needs and may one day be a father to this poor baby.

The baby was removed from the home and is now being cared for by family members.

Mardi Gras Mumbo

A look at tonight's Mardi Gras coverage on WAFB!

Still blaming the fatty?

I'm getting sucked into this whole Kevin Smith vs. Southwest Airlines fiasco. Sadly. They should just call the whole thing Fatgate! I'm interested in the whole, 'was Kevin Smith too fat to fly' controversy. But what I find more interesting is how Kevin Smith (I feel like I have to use his first and last name) is using the almighty and powerful social media to battle the big, powerful airliner.

He's using his blog and twitter to make his case. He has virtually ignored the eager/starving media conglomerates and their request for interviews. I've seen CNN and Good Morning America tweet Smith (even asking their followers to try tweeting him) for interview requests. Smith has stayed mum ... except for using his very controlled social media outlets.

In case you haven't heard: Kevin Smith was told he couldn't board a flight over the weekend after the airliner claimed he was too big to fit in the seat and buckle himself. Smith admits that he normally buys two seats while flying. He actually did buy two seats for his flight home, but switched to an earlier flight ... where only one seat was available. Smith claims he was able to fit in the seat (with both armrests down) and buckle himself in.

Southwest countered their claim, taking to their blog (cleverly titling it "Not So Silent Bob")about the incident saying, "Our employees explained why the decision is made, accommodated Mr. Smith on a later flight, and issued him a $100 Southwest voucher for his inconvenience."

Kevin Smith is starting to get the hint that he may have been too fat to fly ... "Lots of folks still telling me to stop crying and lose weight - as if that's what this was all about. ... Once again: I know I'm fat. The point of all this? I'm not too fat for Southwest Air, yet someone deemed me so. *sigh*"

But Kevin Smith really just wants Southwest to admit they were wrong and that he could fit in one seat. From Southwests' last blog ... he could be waiting for a while. In a blog titled "My Conversation with Kevin Smith," Linda Rutherford (a Southwest employee) says ... "Southwest, like most carriers, has a policy to assist passengers who need two seats onboard an aircraft. The policy is an important one for the comfort and safety of all passengers aboard a plane, and we stand by that 25-year-old policy. This has our attention, and we will be reviewing how and when this delicate policy is implemented."

According to that blog, Southwests' only mistake was boarding him on standby and then asking him to leave.

I think this is going to die down in the mainstream media, but it could be a while before it dies down in the world of social media.


-daniel

Oh, Canada!

The Winter Olympics have arrived, and I'm a little surprised at just how many people are watching. NBC is dominating the ratings race with the Vancouver Olympics. 97 million people tuned into NBC for the first two days of the Vancouver games. That's a 13% increase over four years ago when the Olympics were held in Torino.

I give credit to NBC for putting so much money into new technology to cover the Olympics. The camera angels have never been better, and watching the games in HD is breathtaking (for lack of a better word). But I'm interested to see if the numbers stay up for NBC. Will people keep watching?

I credit the luge tragedy for the increase on Friday and Saturday. People are so interested in what happened during practice on Friday ... that in a sick and twisted way ... I wonder if they are watching to see something similar happen again.

On Friday's evening news (CBS, NBC, ABC) I was a little upset at how each network covered the tragedy. To break it down, CBS loses. They not only repeatedly showed the tragedy again and again, but they slowed it down and also had still images of the aftermath. NBC (who is broadcasting the Olympic games) showed the accident repeatedly, but did not got to the extreme like CBS. ABC wins for their coverage for just being tasteful. They showed the accident once ... and that was it.

It's moments like this that make people hate TV news and question our role in today's society. I am against showing the video of this tragedy. Someone died. I don't think news outlets are getting ahead by showing the video. CBS, whom I respect as a news agency, lost a lot of credibility with me Friday night. They not only showed the tragic accident again and again and again, but they also started their show with a cold open.

Sadly, I can't totally blame the media outlets. They know their audience. As sick as it is, people want to see this video. Just checking out YouTube video postings of the crash, more than 100,000 people have logged on to look. This was just one posting! Nevertheless ... it doesn't make it right.

I've been talking to a lot of my media friends about the coverage. I'm surprised at the differing opinions. Arguments about how it is newsworthy. Arguments about how the media would be wrong to not show the video. I honestly can't pretend to agree with them. It's upsetting at how people tune in to see tragedy. Hopefully this mentality changes...

-daniel