FAMILY TRAVELS CROSS-COUNTRY TO JOIN SEARCH FOR MISSING DAUGHTER

 

The family of 22-year-old Abigael Bellows arrived in Oregon Friday as the search for the woman, who disappeared under the waters near Clearwater Park, entered its fourth day.

Posted: Jul 25, 2020 5:47 PM

Updated: Jul 26, 2020 8:59 AM

Posted By: Jacob Roberts 

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – The family of 22-year-old Abigael Bellows arrived in Oregon Friday as the search for the woman, who disappeared under the waters near Clearwater Park, entered its fourth day.

Tressa Bellows, Abigael’s mother, said her daughter was swimming with friends along the Middle Fork Willamette River near Clearwater Park on Wednesday when witnesses saw her disappear underwater without a lifejacket. Bellows said search crews responded immediately to the scene, but were unable to locate her daughter.

RELATED: SEARCH CONTINUES FOR SWIMMER MISSING NEAR CLEARWATER PARK

Crews with Lane County Search and Rescue have combed the area every day since Abigael disappeared, but with no luck. Bellows said searchers have been using boats, divers, dogs and drones during their searches.

“We are hoping and praying that the river releases her, and search and rescue is able to bring her back to us,” Bellows said.

Abigael’s family, who live in Pennsylvania, arrived Friday night in time to join searchers Saturday morning.

Bellows said her daughter has lived in Eugene for the past two years and moved here after falling in love with the area while visiting.

“She is incredibly beautiful. She is smart. She is loving. She is full of hope and positivity. And her energy – it’s too big for this world,” Bellows said.

Bellows said Abigael was a successful student at Duquesne University, but left to pursue interests in the environment and was passionate about sustainable food.

“She came out to the west coast and she fell in love with the lifestyle here,” Bellows said. “She wanted to forge her own path. She wanted to make her own mark in the world.”

Longtime parkgoers said that the

Child Safety: Keeping Your Home Safe for Your Baby

If you have a baby in your house, you need to make sure he or she stays safe. Children don’t understand danger. And as they grow, babies become curious. Because of these things, you may need to change some things in your house to make sure he or she doesn’t get hurt.

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Path to improved health

Go into each room in your house and look for dangers to your child. Here’s a list of some items that may need your attention.

In the bedroom

Remove any cords that could get around your baby’s neck. Tie up electric cords, drape cords, or curtain cords so they are less than 6 inches long and out of your child’s reach. Mobiles and hanging crib toys should also be kept out of your baby’s reach. Remove strings on crib toys and pacifiers.

The crib is the main piece of furniture in the bedroom. Choose a crib with bars no more than 2 3/8 inches apart. If the space between the bars is too wide, your baby could slip through and strangle between the bars. Use a ruler to check the width of the space between the bars. Weave a cloth between the bars if they are too far apart.

When setting up the crib, place it away from all items with cords.

The crib should not have corner posts that stick up. Corner posts are an area of the crib that can catch on items that may be wrapped around a child’s neck or catch on clothing worn by the child. Unscrew the corner posts or saw them off.

The mattress should fit snugly against the sides of the crib. An infant can suffocate if its head or body becomes wedged between the mattress and the sides of the crib. No more than 2 fingers should fit between the mattress and the side of the crib. Place rolled towels between the mattress and the crib if the mattress is too small.

When your baby can push up, you should remove bumpers, pillows, and toys from the crib, including toys that are strung across the crib or a playpen. Your baby can step on these things or use them to climb out of the crib and fall.

Note: In 2011, a new U.S. crib safety standard did away with the option of having one side of the crib drop down, because this drop-side “feature” was responsible for infant deaths. If you buy a new crib, this will not be an issue, but a crib manufactured before 2012 may have the drop-side “feature” risk built in. You can defeat the risk in an older crib if you can use screws that permanently attach the drop side into the end posts (or otherwise modify the crib) in a way that the drop-side can no longer drop down.

Toys

• Choose carefully when shopping for toys. Look for toys that are well made and appropriate for your child’s age.
• Watch out for toys that have sharp edges, small parts, or sharp points.
• Young children pull, prod, and twist toys. Look for toys with tightly secured parts.
• Look for safety information on the toy or label such as “Not recommended for children under 3 years of age,” or “non-toxic” on toys likely to end up in a child’s mouth. Look for “washable/hygienic materials” on stuffed toys and dolls.
• Avoid marbles, balls, games with balls, and other toys that have parts smaller than 1 3/4 inches in diameter or smaller than 2 inches long. These products can choke young children if swallowed.
• Keep toys meant for older children away from babies and toddlers.

In the bathroom

Since children can drown in very little water, you should always stay with your child when he or she is in the bathtub. NEVER leave your child alone or with an older child in the bathroom or tub – not even for a minute. If you have to answer the phone or door, take your child with you.

Always test the water before putting your child in the tub. Young children have tender skin and are easily burned if the water in the sink or bathtub is too hot. Set your water heater to 120°F or less. To check the temperature of the hot water from the faucet, run the water over a meat or candy thermometer for 3 minutes.

Add non-skid rubber mats or decals to the bottom of your bathtub to reduce the risk of your child slipping while in the tub. Make sure your child sits during a bath. Encourage this by giving him or her water-safe toys to play with.

Add a lock to the lid of your toilet to prevent drowning.

Keep electrical items such as hair dryers away from the water. Unplug them when you aren’t using them. They can cause an electric shock if they fall into the sink or bathtub while they’re plugged in.

Encourage your child to never run in the bathroom. Your child or the floor can be wet. Running on a wet surface may make your child fall.

In the kitchen

• Turn pot handles toward the back of the stove.
• Use the back burners on the stove for cooking.
• Keep hot foods and drinks out of reach and away from the edge of a counter or table.
• Keep knives and other sharp objects out of reach or in locked or “childproof” drawers or cabinets.
• Wind up appliance cords and keep them out of reach.
• Put latches on cabinet drawers to keep your child from opening and closing them. This will help prevent your child from smashing his or her fingers between the drawer and cabinet when closing it.

Throughout the house

Keep medicines, vitamins, cleaning supplies, and other poisons in locked cabinets. Children can’t tell the difference between medicine and candy.

If your child swallows something he or she shouldn’t, call a poison control center right away. Keep the telephone number by your phone. The national poison control hotline number is 1-800-222-1222.

Houseplants should be placed out of your child’s reach. Some houseplants are poisonous. Call your local poison control center to find out if your plants are poisonous.

Use toddler gates at the top and bottom of stairs. Do not use gates with big spaces between the slats – children can get trapped in the openings.

Place door knob covers on doors that lead to the garage, basement, attic, or outdoors. This will help prevent your child from going where he or she shouldn’t go.

Keep children away from windows to prevent falls. Screens are made to keep bugs out – not to keep children in. Use window guards to keep children from falling. Keep chairs and other furniture away from windows so children can’t climb up. If possible, open windows from the top, not the bottom.

Anchor furniture to walls. This will prevent it from tipping over if your child climbs on it. All large furniture, such as bookcases, dressers, and TVs not mounted on the wall, should be anchored. Visit your local hardware store for safety-strap kits. If you purchase new furniture that comes with safety straps, install them right away.

Other helpful tips:

• Use plastic inserts to cover electric outlet openings that are not being used.
• Keep guns and other firearms out of the house. If guns are in the house, unload them, put them in a locked place, and keep the keys out of your child’s reach. Store the gun in a separate place from the bullets.
• When your baby is placed on anything above the ground, like a changing table, always stand close with your hand on your baby.

Things to consider

• Don’t keep toys on the upper shelf of a bookcase or on top of a tall dresser. Your child may climb the furniture to get the item and fall.
• Don’t use a tablecloth on your table. Your child may pull on the cloth and fall. Also, items from the table then may fall onto your child.
• Keep alcohol and cigarettes out of reach.
• Keep plastic bags and deflated or burst balloons away from young children.
• Lock matches and lighters in a cabinet that is higher than your shoulders.

Questions for your doctor

• Why do babies put things in their mouths?
• Where can I take an infant CPR class?
• How can I keep my baby safe when outdoors?
• How can I keep my baby safe in the car?

Resources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Information on Safety in the Home & Community for Parents with Infants & Toddlers (Ages 0-3)

Citations

Adapted with permission from a booklet produced by the Injury Subcommittee of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition.

SEASONAL SAFETY Parent’s Guide to Child Safety - Thanksgiving

Child Safety on Thanksgiving Day

The Thanksgiving holiday does not get a lot of attention over child safety matters, especially compared to holidays like Christmas or the Fourth of July. Yet turkey day does come with a few significant safety hazards that could spoil your family's fun. Here are some tips that will help ensure you have a happy and safe thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving safety risks:

1. On Thanksgiving day there is an increase in child accidents of all types, particularly poisoning.

2. Thanksgiving presents an increased risk of fire dangers and burns from cooking.

3. There is the potential for food poisoning

4. Drunk driving deaths spike around the Thanksgiving holiday.

Keeping children and family safe on Thanksgiving day:

1. Focus on child supervision. The biggest threat to kids on Thanksgiving day is that you often get a combination of visiting family members (which means preoccupied adults) and children who are left to their own devices, frequently in the strange and new environment of a relative’s home. Add to this mix the hustle and bustle of adults preparing extravagant meals, and you get a recipe for accidents. So don't let supervision lapse on Thanksgiving day. If possible, assign a particular set of adults to monitor the children. This ensures others don't presume that someone else is watching them, only to have it turn out that everybody thought someone else was watching them. Also employ older kids to help monitor the younger ones, and make sure they know what safety risks to watch out for. (Read them our safety book for kids: What Bigger Kids Can Do)

2. Child poisonings tend to spike on Thanksgiving, since relatives tend to be visiting or children are staying over at a relatives house, where childproofing is often lax. Medication carried in purses or suitcases is often a source. So if you have relatives over, ask them at the door if they have any medication with them, and store it in a locked cabinet. If visiting a relatives house, ask them where any poisonous items are kept so that you can steer your children away.

3. A hidden source of danger on Thanksgiving comes from those who cook their turkey by deep frying it. Every year, firefighters respond to several thousand house fires caused by families deep-frying their turkey. So if you decide to cook your turkey this way, do so safely: Do it outside whenever possible, and have a grease-fire rated fire extinguisher on hand to put out a fire should one start. (Remember that water will make a grease fire bigger, not put it out)

4. Monitor the drinking of all your guests, and do not let anyone get behind the wheel while intoxicated. Keep alcoholic beverages in a separate area from kids drinks, so that kids don't accidentally grab the wrong one.

How to safely cook a holiday Turkey

To ensure that your Thanksgiving feast does not turn into a nightmare of regret a few days later, follow these simple steps for safely cooking your holiday turkey:

1. The safest way to thaw your turkey is in the refrigerator. Putting it in a sink with cold water can give any bacteria that may exist a chance to grow. Give your turkey plenty of time to thaw - frozen turkeys are a common source of food borne illness, since they may result in uneven cooking that leaves raw spots where bacteria can survive.

2. Cooking the turkey thoroughly is the only way to destroy potentially harmful bacteria. The oven should be set to a minimum temperature of 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Simmering a turkey overnight at lower temperatures may result in food-borne illness.

3. You should cook a whole turkey to the point that a food thermometer registers at least 180 degrees Fahrenheit in the innermost part of the thigh. Don't rely solely on a "pop-up" temperature indicator that came with the turkey. Double check it with a food thermometer in several places.

4. If cooking a stuffed turkey, check the temperature of both the stuffing and the turkey. Remember that the raw juices of the turkey have leached into the stuffing, making it a potential source of food poisoning, too. So check the temperature of the stuffing and don't remove the turkey from the oven until the stuffing reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Or simply cook the stuffing in a separate casserole tray, which is safest.


5. When it's time to pack up the leftovers, de-bone the turkey and separate it from the stuffing. Refrigerate them both in shallow containers. The safe storage time on leftover turkey kept in the fridge is around 4 days. Beyond that, you're taking your chances with it.

It's the law: Protecting children from abuse falls on all of us

By STEPHEN D. HALL, Esq.

Q. I am worried about my neighbor’s children. We live in adjoining apartments. I have often heard my neighbor’s boyfriend yelling (sometimes very angrily) at her children, and the children start crying abruptly. I fear that he might be hitting them, especially because the children always seem to have lots of bruises, but I have no absolute proof. I’ve tried talking to the mother, but she doesn’t seem to want to listen. Since I don’t have proof, could they sue me for reporting him?

A. Protecting children from abuse and neglect falls squarely on all of us, and not just because of social norms or moral obligations. Idaho law has long required anyone having reason to believe that a child has been abused, abandoned or neglected to report it to law enforcement or to Child Protection. The report must be made within 24 hours. Failure to report is a misdemeanor.

When you make a report, your identity must be kept confidential. The law also gives you immunity from civil and criminal liability for reporting. To be eligible for that immunity you only need reason to believe that a child has been abused, abandoned or neglected, and you must make the report in good faith. Honest, reasonable concern for a child’s health and safety is certainly good faith.

To determine whether you have “reason to believe,” you need to know the legal definitions of the terms abused, neglected and abandoned.

“Abused” means that a child has been a victim of physical abuse or sexual conduct. Emotional abuse alone, such as yelling, is not “abuse” under this law. Physical abuse means conduct or omission resulting in skin bruising, bleeding, malnutrition, burns, fracture of any bone, soft tissue swelling, subdural hematoma, failure to thrive or death, where that condition is not justifiably explained. Sexual conduct includes rape, molestation, incest, prostitution, obscene or pornographic photographing and other sexual exploitation.

“Neglected” means most situations where a child is without proper parental care and control.

“Abandoned” means situations where a parent fails to maintain a normal parental relationship with a child, including reasonable support and regular personal contact, for an extended time.

You should carefully consider all that you have seen and all you have heard to determine whether, in your best judgment, you have reason to believe that the children have been physically abused. You do not need proof positive. You only need a reasonable belief, that is, a belief grounded in evidence rather than mere suspicion. In this case, the existence of persistent bruising on more than one child is particularly telling. You do not need to try to find out the explanation for the bruises. Law enforcement or Child Protection Services will do the required investigation.

Stephen D. Hall is an attorney practicing in Idaho Falls. This column is provided by the 7th District Bar Association as a public service. Submit questions to “It’s the Law,” PO Box 50130, Idaho Falls, ID 83405, or by email to rfarnam@holdenlegal.com. This column is for general information. Readers with specific legal questions should consult an attorney. A lawyer referral service is provided by calling the Idaho State Bar Association in Boise at 208-334-4500.

Children Won’t Say They Have Anxiety, They Say ‘My Stomach Hurts!’

By Debi Allison

As children grow and develop, they experience a number of emotional reactions that they know are different or even negative feelings, but they haven’t the experience to understand what they are dealing with. However, they will let us know when something is wrong even when they aren’t entirely sure of what it is.

While children may look at things differently than we do, giving them a deeper insight into another outlook on any given situation- they aren’t as educated or self-aware as an adult. To them, their feelings that are constantly changing and evolving can be confusing, and putting a definite prognosis on their health isn’t likely. Instead, they will tell us their symptoms, awaiting our experience and wisdom for help.

However, up until recently, most adults were completely unaware of the prominence of childhood mental disorders, other than ADHD and the other run of the mill behavioral issues experienced by children. And even in adulthood, it seems that anxiety isn’t taken as seriously as it should be, because most people think that anxiety is simply the occurrence of a normal fear taking hold of us.

But anxiety is much more than that and can be quite consuming for the person dealing with it.

What child doesn’t have a moment in which they cower behind their parents because it is dark outside, or because they heard a loud noise? In these situations, the child is anxious, but rightfully so, leaving no cause for concern. But, in some cases, children can develop an anxiety disorder which will affect their relationships, their education, and their overall quality of life.

Recent statistics have shown us that at least 1 out of every 8 children develops an anxiety disorder. If left untreated, the initial anxiety disorder can transpire into difficulty maintaining and developing connections with their peers, severe sleep disturbance, and substance dependency.

Sadly untreated anxiety can leave your child feeling as though they are worthless, and in turn they may not excel academically, leaving them short of reaching their full potential. Depression is often a result of an untreated childhood anxiety disorder as well. So, how can we make a difference in the outcome of this often tragic scenario?

Learn to pay attention to your child’s cry for help. Sometimes, their expression of anxiety will be much different than you would expect, so it helps to stay in tune with their triggers.

Look For These Signs:

-Constant stomach aches during stressful situations

– Agitation

– Restless behavior

– Avoiding people/situations that could even slightly stress them out

– Meltdowns over slight issues

– Difficulty transitioning

– Extreme perfectionism

– Strange coping mechanisms that could be considered as self-harm (biting, scratching, pinching or even the pulling of their own hair)

If you notice your child is constantly stressing, to the point of it intervening in their day to day activities, seek the help of a trusted therapist. Catching the symptoms early can mean a better probability for therapeutic intervention, meaning medicine may not even be necessary. Above all- listen to your child, within reason. Use your better judgment and stay tuned into your child’s normal behaviors and habits. Doing these simple things can make all the difference in the world.

Father who worked as Santa arrested after bodies of 2 kids found in yard

Three other family members have also been charged

Wednesday, December 26th 2018, 10:51 AM EST

GUYTON, Ga. — A Georgia father and three other family members have been arrested and charged in connection with the deaths of two children who were found buried in the man’s backyard.

Siblings Mary Crocker and Elwyn Crocker Jr. were both discovered Dec. 20 after someone called authorities with concerns about the wellbeing of Mary, according to the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office.

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The 14-year-old had not been seen in weeks and her older brother had not been seen since November 2016 when he was 14 years old, Time reported. Neither teen had ever been reported missing.

Their father, Elwyn Crocker, along with the children’s stepmother, Candice Crocker, step-grandmother, Kim Wright, and her boyfriend, Roy Anthony Prater, were charged with concealing a death and cruelty to children.

“I’ve been doing this 41 years, and a while ago I almost broke down in tears,” Jimmy McDuffie, Effingham County sheriff, said during a press conference. “It’s that bad. I cannot understand how you do children like this. It’s horrible.”

Crocker reportedly led authorities to the children’s graves. He worked as a Santa Claus at Walmart until recently, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Neighbors told WTOC-TV the children seemed to mostly stay inside the home. Mary was often seen doing yard work.

“Other kids said at school they could tell stuff was wrong with her hands. They were red,” said Gary Bennett. “Kids would see her and ask what was wrong, and she wouldn’t ever say anything. She wouldn’t open up to anybody.”

A third child who lived at the home and has special needs was taken into custody.

Original Article