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Mother
told to stop baby-sitting neighbors' kids
Each day before the
school bus comes to pick up the neighborhood's children, Lisa Snyder did a favor for three of her fellow moms, welcoming their
children into her home for about an hour before they left for school.
Regulators who oversee child care, however, don't see it as charity. Days after the start of the new school year,
Snyder received a letter from theMichigan Department of Human Services warning her that if she continued, she'd be violating a law aimed at
the operators of unlicensed day care centers.
"I
was freaked out. I was blown away," she said. "I got on the phone immediately, called my husband, then I called all the girls"
— that is, the mothers whose kids she watches — "every one of them."
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World War II Veteran Fights Homeowner's
Association
Colonel
Van Barfoot's homeowner's association has ordered him to remove the flagpole from his yard.
90 year-old
Colonel Van Barfoot has until Friday to remove the flagpole from his yard.
Since this saga began, it's been played
out on the radio from Washington D.C. to Boston, but many believe what is happening to this true American hero is tarnishing
the image of Richmond.
Barfoot lives in the Sussex Square community in western Henrico County. He moved there in July,
and was ordered to remove the flagpole from his front lawn when he flew the flag on Labor Day, and again on Veterans Day.
The
homeowner's association doesn't explicitly forbid flagpoles but they must be "aesthetically appropriate". Short flags are
allowed on porches, but Barfoot says that's not the way he was raised to respect the flag.
"First of all, it's not
dignified, and it shows you got it in the half mast position... you can walk around here and I'll bet you the American flag
is hanging out in the rain, nobody ever checks it", says Barfoot.
Family members say he's the most decorated American
combat veteran alive. Barfoot has been awared more than 20 medals, including the Medal of Honor, The Silver Star, the Legion
of Merit, The Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts.
Wounded in combat three times, Barfoot fought in World War II and
in Vietnam.
And he has the support of a lot of people, including Senator Mark Warner. Warner says he's outraged Barfoot's
neighborhood association wants him to remove the flagpole from his yard.
Barfoot says he will take it to court.
Meanwhile,
the Sussex Square Homeowner's Association issued a statement saying in part, "This is not about the American flag. This is
about a flagpole... We are a neighborhood of patriotic Americans, many of whom have served our country in the military as
Col. Barfoot has done.."
The homeowner's association also says Barfoot knew from the beginning that he wasn't supposed
to have a flagpole without permission.
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CHILDREN PROHIBITED FROM WALKING OR BIKING TO SCHOOL
Seventh-grader Adam Marino is getting a firsthand lesson in civil
disobedience.
The 12-year-old and his mother, Janette Kaddo Marino, are defying
Saratoga Springs school policy by biking to Maple Avenue Middle School on Route 9. The Jackson Street residents pedal more
than four miles together each way to the middle school on nice days despite being told not to by school officials and police.
"I guess you can say that we continue to do what we feel is our right,"
Kaddo Marino said recently. "We feel strongly we have a right to get to school by a mode of transportation we deem appropriate."
Their methods may be unconventional, but the Marinos are part of a
growing number of Americans challenging the sedentary habits of today's youths and what they view as overanxious "helicopter"
parenting. As fewer children walk and bike to school nationwide, parents have started groups like the "Walking School Bus,"
which promotes physical activity and fitness in youth by having them walk to school with adults.
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