Just When You Thought You Heard It All News (2-7-2014)

BEAVER DAM, Wisconsin 

A Beaver Dam police officer says he's quite certain he's never responded to a call like the one he handled recently at a McDonald's restaurant.

Officer Rich Dahl responded to an anonymous complaint about a woman who brought a kangaroo into McDonald's. Dahl said Tuesday the woman had the baby kangaroo wrapped in a blanket and tucked in an infant car seat. Dahl says when he confronted the woman she explained the kangaroo was a service animal to help her cope with emotional distress and she produced a letter from a doctor. The officer says the woman was upset at first, but then agreed to leave the restaurant. The three month old kangaroo's owner, Diana Moyer, tells 27 News it was "...no big deal" to be forced to leave McDonald's with the pet named "Jimmy."

It's a good thing she didn't need an elephant to cope with her emotional distress. But then again she probably would have rode him through the drive through.

httan-with-kangaroo-asked-to-leave-

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This story gives the phrase "falling in love" a whole new meaning.

A vacationer in Ibiza died when she fell off a cliff while celebrating her engagement.

Dimitrina Dimitrova, 29, suffered a heart attack brought on by injuries after falling 65 feet from a cliff on Ibiza's west coast. Dimitrova had just accepted her boyfriend's marriage proposal and was jumping up and down in excitement when she lost her balance and fell.

The incident occurred on last Tuesday around lunchtime. Local authorities are calling the woman's death "the result of a tragic freak accident." Dimitrova had arrived two days earlier to visit her boyfriend and look for work.

Let this be lesson to you. Never jump up and down anywhere near a cliff. That should go without saying. But apparantly...... 

One word......LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!

Never has a single haircut caused such a fuss.

Some call it the "Benjamin Button Special;" others the "old man" cut.

In either case, it's supposed to be the cure for a misbehaving boy. A little bit of shame to get him back on track.

"So you wana act grown...well now you can look grown too," Russell Fredrick posted on the Facebook page for his A-1 Kutz barbershop in Snellville, Georgia, near Atlanta.

 Hands raised as if in church, YES!!!

The mother of a 10-year-old took Fredrick up on his offer. The 'after' photos show a boy who looks like a little old man with a pronounced bald spot.

Fredrick's post has gone viral on Facebook and Instagram, generating worldwide media coverage both cheers and jeers.

"If my kid's grades fell, I'd do this to him, too," said a Facebook post by Marla-Eyvette Massie.

But Samuel Thomas Duncan was not amused. "I'd rather punish a child at home and keep it a private matter than let someone else humiliate that child publicly," he said. 

If there is one thing I can't stand, it's a PUNK parent! Especially a FATHER!!!

Fredrick said he's not surprised by all the attention the new coif is getting.

"Because a lot of people are at a loss of how to discipline kids, you can't whup 'em anymore, like we used to, as children," the barber said. "It works."

The inspiration came from Fredrick's own life, when he was having trouble last year with his 12-year-old son.

The frustrated dad told him to quit acting up in school "like an old foolish man."

Fredrick shaved his son's head bald and then showed him a picture of an old bald man, like the character in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

"I showed him and I told him, this is your next one if you keep it up," Fredrick told him. "He didn't want it, so he got his act together."

Learning a lesson?

Not familiar with the plot of "Benjamin Button?" Benjamin begins life as an old man and ages in reverse.

A-1 Kutz offers the "Benjamin Button Special" for free, but usually it doesn't come to that. One look at the picture of the first recipient of the "old man" cut is enough to do the trick.

As for the young man who got "the special," he says he's learned his lesson, according to Fredrick, and has a nice new cut to go with his new attitude.

PR

He Helped Him Roll!

Okay, I promise. Today is FRIDAY! No bad news today. At least, not from me!

A few days ago in Detroit, James Robertson couldn't afford a car to drive to work. His job is more than 20 miles away from his home. But fortunately today, because of the kindness and benevolence of a Good Samaritan he can afford a small fleet.

After the Detroit Free Press told of Robertson's arduous 21-mile trek to and from his suburban factory job, the story inspired thousands of donations from across the nation. A day later, the soft-spoken machine operator got to meet the computer student from Wayne State University who launched an Internet crowd-funding site to gather more than $230,000  a figure expected to continue to climb today.. I have 

At Mr. B's Food & Spirits bar in downtown Rochester, the two hugged and were interviewed Monday night for national television shows and People magazine. The weathered factory guy, munching on pizza and wearing heavy work boots in which he's made countless walks to work, sat beside Evan Leedy, 19, of Macomb Township, a fresh-scrubbed techie who conceived the cash-churning GoFundMe web page in support of Robertson.

"I'm always going to be in your debt — I will never forget this," Robertson told Leedy, as the younger man in a sweater-hoodie shook his hand.

"I want to show you all the comments people are saying about you," Leedy replied, as the two bent over the teen's cellphone. Leedy read aloud samples of more than 3,700 posts whose writers made donations from $1 to hundreds of dollars to give to Robertson. His initial goal was $5,000.

Many of those who saw the Free Press story were so impressed with Robertson's work ethic — he has a perfect attendance record in years of factory work — "that they say you earned this money," Leedy told Robertson, 56. Another crowd-funding effort, launched by 31-year-old Chrysler-Fiat communications manager Jiyan Cadiz, raised nearly $6,000 before GoFundMe administrators asked Cadiz to redirect future donors to Leedy's page, Cadiz said in a text Monday night.

Robertson said he was only half surprised by the outpouring of aid because, "I gotta say, this is Detroit, this is how people are in Detroit. They say Los Angeles is the city of angels. That's wrong. Detroit is the real city of angels."

The meeting and interviews were arranged by banker Blake Pollock, 47, of Rochester, who brought Robertson's story to the Free Press after seeing the intrepid walker trudge by in every sort of weather, mile after mile, through areas in Troy and Rochester Hills that no metro Detroit bus serves.

Robertson starts his daily commute by riding a SMART bus from Woodward near Holbrook in Detroit to a bus stop near Somerset Collection, an upscale mall in Troy. From there he walks about 7 miles — regardless of the weather — to the factory. At the end of his 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. shift, he foots it back to the mall and catches the last bus in to Detroit, taking him to the State Fairground at the city's border. From there he walks home in the dark, about 5 miles.

His story has sparked conversations in the Detroit region about the challenges low-income workers face in getting to work in a region that has spotty public transportation and some of the highest automobile insurance in the nation.

His story also touched Leedy and thousands of others who have commented on the Free Press' Facebook page, called the newspaper or sent e-mails. People such as Gene Bowen of Las Vegas, who wrote: "Dedication and pride obviously drives this man to do what most everyone else would simply conclude was not worth $400 before taxes a week. He is a very special human being."

“I'm a Ford fan. I remember the Taurus. They look comfortable, nothing fancy. They're simple on the outside, strong on the inside — like me.”

James Robertson

Referring to Robertson and Leedy, Pollock said: "I thought these guys should meet because this (fund-raising) is really going to change James' life." The UBS banker's commuting route in Oakland County overlaps with Robertson's commute, and so the banker has given Robertson lifts dozens of times this winter, ferrying the older man to his job at a plastic molding plant 23 miles from Robertson's home in central Detroit.

Now, Pollock is assembling a board of advisers to take charge of the rapidly mounting donations earmarked for Robertson, including offers of new and used cars. Robertson is not in a rush to receive any money because "he sees the need to manage this," Pollock said. Robertson is single but has a girlfriend, as well as sisters and other relatives in Detroit, some of whom had been out of touch until the flurry of publicity, the lifelong Detroiter said.

The board will set much of Robertson's windfall aside for future expenses, including auto insurance, gasoline, maintenance, and some of the cash likely will help him with medical and dental care, Pollock said.

A big step is deciding what kind of car would be best, Pollock said. Through the Free Press, dealers, including Rodgers Chevrolet, have offered free new cars.

Robertson's last car was an aging Honda that he told the Free Press quit in 2005, after which he couldn't afford a car on his hourly wage, now $10.55. With donations piling up, Robertson sounded ready to visit Ford country.

"I'm a Ford fan. I remember the Taurus. They look comfortable, nothing fancy. They're simple on the outside, strong on the inside — like me," he declared.

"I'm 6-foot and I think the Mustang's a little tight," he added, explaining that "I got in quite a few cars" during his annual visit last month to the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Center.

"I mostly stay with Americans cars — Lincoln, Fords, GM, Dodge."

With the business-suited banker and hip-styled college junior looking on, Robertson peered calmly into the television lights of a cameraman filming for "Good Morning America" show and put his sudden abundance and celebrity into perspective.

"I have to be careful how I act about this. The same God who brings you all these blessings can take them away," he said.

"Hopefully, I'm ready for what happens."

PR

Forced Sterilization?

When I came across this story this morning, it disturbed me. Although it did not take place in the country, the very idea of government over stepping outs bounds can have a profound effect world wide.

The UK government may soon be all set to forcibly sterilize a mother of six with learning disabilities, according to shocking news reports. But don't worry, they say it's for her own good.

Social Services have requested that a judge approve of them forcibly entering her home, dragging her to the hospital, and sterilizing her. Sounds like a scene out of a horror movie or Nazi Germany. But they say it has nothing to do with eugenics.

Eugenics is the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits. 

But according to social services, no It's nothing like that.

Health and social services officials want the judge to declare:

" the woman lacks capacity to make decisions under the terms of mental capacity legislation; a "therapeutic" sterilisation is in her best interests – and authorise medics to sterilise her; to authorise her removal from her home to a hospital; to authorise deprivation of her liberty; and to authorise the use of forced entry and "necessary restraint". Mr Justice Cobb was told the woman and her partner had repeatedly refused to co-operate or engage with medical and social services staff and a legal representative."

She had said she wanted to be "left alone". The judge has seen evidence from psychiatrists, an obstetrician and gynaecologist plus social workers. Details of a number of gynaecological problems the woman had were detailed in the report. Specialists have said the issues would pose a grave risk to her health if she became pregnant again. The judge was also told professionals had faced difficulties in trying to persuade the woman to use contraception and in administering contraception. Barrister Michael Horne, who is representing the interests of the woman, said the issues raised had nothing to do with "eugenics". He said sterilisation was "therapeutic" and the most effective way of mitigating "grave risks" to the woman's health and life

This is just flat out dangerous. And the reports I've read say things like "the woman has health problems that could be exacerbated by another pregnancy."

I don't know the particulars of this case but I know how people react to a woman who've had many pregnancies. Many people have a passionate disdain for them because these woman always seem to be receiving some kind of assistance at tax payers expense.

 The woman in this case has resisted advice from "professionals" to use contraception. Well, that solves it, as for as UK social services is concerned.  She needs to be sterilized. After all, what kind of nutcase refuses contraception? 

In all honesty this woman is not a runner up for the mother of the year award. That's for sure. And perhaps she has some health issues. And mental issues. But do we really want a government sterilizing those it believes require contraception? The question we must ask ourselves constantly is, if it starts there where does it end? The truth is it won't. Don't think that just because this story takes place in the UK that it can't happen here.

PR

$3.9 Million For His Life

The family of slain Bronx, N.Y., teen Ramarley Graham agreed Friday to accept $3.9 million from the City to settle their wrongful lawsuit.

“This was a tragic case,” City Law Department spokesman Nick Paolucci said “This was a tragic case. After evaluating all the facts, and consulting with key stakeholders such as the NYPD, it was determined that settling the matter was in the best interest of the city.” 

It was really the best way for the NYPD to admit culpability without admitting guilt.

New York City Police Officer Richard Haste, who fired the fatal shot after chasing Graham, 18, from the street into his home, was initially indicted by a Bronx grand jury on a charge of manslaughter, but a judge threw out the case on a legal technicality, the News writes. A second grand jury declined to indict the officer, who said he fired because he thought the teen had a gun.

The settlement arrives in the midst of an ongoing investigation by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, into possible civil rights violations against the NYPD officers involved in the Feb. 2, 2012, shooting, the report says.

The suit accused the department of trying to cover up the shooting, failing to properly train officers and engaging in racial discrimination through the stop-and-frisk policy.

The teen’s estate will receive $2.95 million; his brother will receive $500,000 and his grandmother $450,000 because they were in the home at the time of the shooting, sources said, according to the report. Graham’s mother, Constance Malcolm, will receive $40,000, the sources told the News.

Graham’s death sparked numerous protests in the Bronx and other parts of the city by demonstrators calling for justice. But is it enough? Is it ever enough?

PR

Do You Know Where Your Children Are Or Who They Are?

When I was growing up, at 10 pm every night before the news came on, a ticking clock would show up on the screen and an announcer would say "It's 10 o'clock, do you know where you children are?" I'd  think to myself, who doesn't know where their children are? At the age of 11 or 12, I was naive and pretty well cared for, so being the child of careless parents was inconceivable to me. But the question, "Do you know where your children are?", has a much deeper meaning than the physical where abouts of your child. Do you know where your children are mentally? Do you know where your children are emotionally? Another question we might want to ask ourselves is, do we know who our children are?

A Wake County District Court judge here in Raleigh refused to lower a $75,000 bond for a 16-year-old girl accused of robbing twin sisters at a bus stop, saying she could face more charges.

Raleigh police arrested Jade Paulina Brown Thursday on serious charges, robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Investigators are looking for possibly three other people in the alleged crime, which happened shortly after 2:30 p.m. Wednesday near the North Hills area of north Raleigh.

Twin sisters, age 15, reported they had just gotten off a school bus at the intersection of Hardimont Road and Sara Lawrence Court when three girls around their age approached them after getting out of a small dark car and robbed them of one of their cellphones.

An arrest warrant alleges that someone used a stun gun on one of the sisters and that another one pointed a gun at her before "the victims were ordered to 'give what you got.'"

"Jade's a nice girl, a sweet girl," her mother, Mansah Thompson, said, following her daughter's first court appearance Friday afternoon. "I don't know what happened, maybe the wrong crowd, but my daughter is a nice girl." Thompson obviously has no idea who her daughter is, and it's always easier to blame the ever popular "wrong crowd" when somebody acts like a fool. 

According to court records, police arrested Brown Jan. 7 at Knightdale High School on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, resisting an officer and having a weapon on school grounds.  

A warrant in that case accuses the teen of pulling away from a police officer during an argument in the school cafeteria then having a box cutter and small can of pepper spray. 

Yep, she sure sounds like a sweet girl to me!

Brown was expected back in court yesterday on the misdemeanor charges. Although I have a tendency to be somewhat sarcastic, this story is really quite sad, for both the victims and Jade Brown because until her mother acknowledges that she's done something wrong and gets her the help she needs she will continue on a downward spiral. In a state like North Carolina in which the criminal justice system considers 15 to be the age of adulthood, a child's opportunities to mature and develop into a productive citizen are limited unless their parents quickly recognize that there is an issue at the first sign of trouble, and does whatever they have to do to save their children from both the system and themselves.

PR

28 Days All Year Long.

February is Black History month. The one and only month   in the year in which Black people as a collective, remember, reflect on, and acknowledge where we have come from. While this month is the designated time for us to observe and honor who we are and where we've come from, it is important to remember that there can be no American history without Black history. Trying to separate one from the other is like trying to separate water from rain. But because most school curriculum abridges Black history to include only minute details about slavery and The Reverand Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it is more than necessary for us to take time to both acknowledge, and in some cases expose the triumphs, victories, and accomplishments of Black people in America. 

PR

Just When You Thought You Heard It All News (1-31-2015)

When I read this story I automatically thought, PLEASE DON'T BE BLACK!!

But it looks like I was wrong!!!!! AHHHH!!!

Someone in Jacksonville, Florida may be getting ready to throw a Super Bowl bash for the ages -- at the expense of a local barbecue restaurant.

Last Wednesday, a robber broke into Jerome Brown BBQ and stole $4,000 worth of ribs, chicken, wings and fries from the restaurant, News4Jax.com reports.

The rib-loving robber gained entry by prying open a side door and also took away an empty cash register before winging it out the door.

Surveillance video caught the BBQ burglar in the act, but the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office have yet to track down a suspect.

The JSO noted on its facebook page that the saucy suspect "may be getting ready to throw a Super Bowl Party!"

Ericka Morris, the manager of Jerome Brown BBQ, is making no bones about her desire to nab the thief.

"The incident that happens hurts everybody."  Morris told ABC News. “It hurts employees, managers and the business owners. We wish whoever knows something about it, just turn them in. A close friend might know him. Just turn him in, because it’s hurting everybody.”

...........These two IDIOTS.............

These two dumb thieves were arrested by Houston Police after they allegedly uploaded selfies taken with a stolen iPad to the owner's iCloud account.

Dorian Walker-Gaines, 20, and Dillian Thompson, 22 were arrested on Jan. 21 for felony theft.

They stole the iPad, $5,000 and other items from an unlocked car on Jan. 8, according to an arrest report obtained by the Smoking Gun.

The report said the victim of the theft, Stewart Schaefer, noticed the incriminating photos were uploaded just hours after he reported his cash and iPad stolen.

He was also soon alerted to a YouTube video clip featuring Walker-Gaines and Thompson fanning out $100 bills and declaring themselves members of the "money team."

“This, my good people, is what we get from a good night’s hustle,” Walker-Gaines says in the video.

Schaefer told that he had the "Find my iPad" app, but it was turned off shortly after the device was stolen. 

When officials at an elementary school in Gustine, Texas, kept finding poop on the gym floor, they decided to get to the bottom of the matter.....

......................LITERALLY.........................

But their method of investigation has parents and students raising a stink.

On Monday, officials at Gustine Elementary rounded up 24 students, and divided them up by gender. Then the kids were ordered to pull down their pants far enough so educators could see if there were any tell-tale fecal stains.

Eliza Medina, 11, was embarrassed by the "poop inspection."

"I felt uncomfortable, and I didn't want to do it," Eliza Medina, 11, told WFAA TV. "I felt like they violated my privacy."

Eliza's mom, Marina Medina, said that she understands how frustrating fences on the floor can be, but it isn't any excuse to partially strip search students.

"I was furious... I mean, I was furious," Medina said, according to KHOU TV. "If you can't do your job or you don't know what you're doing, you need to be fired. You shouldn't be here."

Gustine Independent School District Superintendent Ken Baugh is investigating the matter in hopes of getting the story straight. He said his understanding was that children were told to lower their pants just a little.

Eliza Medina said the "poop inspection" went further. "Like... to where your butt is," is how she phrased it, according to the Washington Times.

Baugh hopes to have the investigation wrapped up by Thursday's school board meeting, where some angry parents are expected to give officials a lot of crap.

PR

The New Judas.......

It never fails! Every now and then some Judas raises his head, enjoys his 15 seconds of fame, and then he disappears back into the pit from wince he came.

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who happens to be black, is a true patriot who is tired of President Barack Obama’s racial politics. Watch (above) as he explains – without “sugar-coating things” – why Attorney General Eric Holder should be held in contempt and why professional race agitator Al Sharpton should be prosecuted.

Sheriff Clarke is furious at all of the unnecessary exploitation of racial tensions in Ferguson, Missouri:

I sat up and watched, as events unfolded in Ferguson, Missouri–unfortunate situation, obviously. Anytime a law enforcement officer uses force that takes a life, it deserves a thorough, transparent vetting–investigation. We all agree with that. But then some groups began to converge on the small town of Ferguson, Missouri, like vultures on a roadside carcass… people like Al Sharpton.”

“To come and exploit that situation, and instead of coming into help and restore calm, poured gas on that fire with some of their inflammatory and irresponsible rhetoric.. [Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Senator Claire McCaskill, both Democrats] threw law enforcement under the bus for political expediency”…

“I expected that from Governor Nixon. I expected that from Claire McCaskell. Those are nothing but two-bit politicians… but I did not expect that from Eric Holder, who calls himself a law enforcement officer”…

And

“Wait a minute. Mr. Attorney General, if you felt those officers had violated your Fourth Amendment, and you’re a federal prosecutor, and you didn’t say anything at the time? On behalf of everybody in the United States, you could have done something if you felt that. You could have made a complaint–because all of us kind of realize in law enforcement, right, we testify–what do they say in court? If you didn’t write it down, if you didn’t report it, it didn’t happen.”

“Really, Mr. Attorney General? You didn’t report it then. You didn’t write it down. But you’re telling us some 10-15 years later for self-serving purposes. I thought, ‘Why did you do that?’ You insulted every law enforcement officer, every man and woman who puts on that badge and uniform everyday, risks their lives in service to their community.”

These bold, conservative statements from a tough talking Sheriff are what America needs to hear. This is not the 1950s, and Ferguson is not the Jim Crow south. Instead, this was an isolated incident of a young street thug robbing a store who started an altercation with a police officer. Then, race hustlers used the optics of this story to incite riots and profit.

PR

He Wanted To Be A Girl........

As Christians we are extremely judgemental. We get saved, sanctified, Holy Ghost filled, fire baptized and we forget that we were once sinners. But perhaps the worst part is the fact that we categorize one sin as being worse than another. We have been socially conditioned to measure everything because it allows us to categorize, well, everything. Sin included. But in the eyes of God, the lyer is just as bad as the murderer. God's ways are not our ways. 

Man attempts to separate sin to validate his actions, and in doing so we condemn those who sin "differently", and the consequences can often be fatal. This young man called himself "transgender". Whether you agree with his choice or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is the fact that he should have been embraced, prayed for and saved from himsel.

When Josh Alcorn voiced a desire to live as a girl, the Ohio teenager's parents said they wouldn't stand for it.

"We don't support that, religiously," Alcorn's mother said, her voice breaking. "But we told him that we loved him unconditionally. We loved him no matter what. I loved my son. People need to know that I loved him. He was a good kid, a good boy."

Crossing out the name "Josh," the 17-year-old signed the name "Leelah" in a suicide note posted to Tumblr.

The note was programmed to publish after Alcorn's death. The teenager was struck by a tractor-trailer on Interstate 71 about 2:15 a.m., about four miles from home in the tiny town of Kings Mills, northeast of Cincinnati.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating the death as a suicide.

"Please don't be sad, it's for the better. The life I would've lived isn't worth living in ... because I'm transgender," the note said. "I could go into detail explaining why I feel that way, but this note is probably going to be lengthy enough as it is. To put it simply, I feel like a girl trapped in a boy's body, and I've felt that way ever since I was 4. I never knew there was a word for that feeling, nor was it possible for a boy to become a girl, so I never told anyone and I just continued to do traditionally 'boyish' things to try to fit in."

The teenager's death has ignited intensely emotional reactions across social media. The hashtag #LeelahAlcorn is carrying messages of support for all transgender people. Many posts are hateful and vengeful notes directed at the teen's parents. But the fact of the matter is, his parents had a right to take a stand.

In an interview Carla Alcorn referred to her child as her son and used male pronouns.

After the death, a Facebook post apparently from Carla Alcorn said her child "went home to heaven this morning. He was out for an early morning walk and was hit by a truck. Thank you for the messages and kindness and concern you have sent our way. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts."

Some on social media have seized on that post and reposted her message, crossing out the male pronouns and the name Josh and replacing them with female pronouns and the name Leelah.

In Leelah's note, she explains that when she was 14, she first understood what transgender meant and "cried of happiness."

"After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was. I immediately told my mom, and she reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn't make mistakes, that I am wrong. If you are reading this, parents, please don't tell this to your kids," the note says. "Even if you are Christian or are against transgender people don't ever say that to someone, especially your kid. That won't do anything but make them hate them self. That's exactly what it did to me."

"He just quit talking about (being transgender)," she said.Carla Alcorn says that her child was depressed and that counselors and a psychiatrist gave the teenager medication.

She worried Wednesday that hateful messages directed toward her and her husband are making them out to be "horrible people," she said. She has other children, she said, and they are incredibly sad about losing a sibling.

She said that there has not been a service for the teen because people have threatened to protest.

Her child came to her only once to talk about being transgender, Carla Alcorn insisted.

The first time she heard the name Leelah was on the teen's suicide note.

"He never said that name before," she said.

Leelah's suicide note, however, says she struggled for a long time to gain her parents' acceptance as a transgender teen.

"My mom started taking me to a therapist, but would only take me to christian therapists, (who were all very biased) so I never actually got the therapy I needed to cure me of my depression. I only got more christians telling me that I was selfish and wrong and that I should look to God for help."

At 16, she wrote that she realized her "parents would never come around" and that she would have to wait until she was 18 to start any kind of medical treatment to transition to being a female.

That, she said, "absolutely broke my heart. ... I felt hopeless, that I was just going to look like a man in drag for the rest of my life."

Carla Alcorn recalled her teen asking for transition surgery.

She told her child no, she said, because "we didn't have the money for anything like that."

In her suicide note, Leelah said she cried herself to sleep that night.

Leelah told her friends she was transgender.

She came out as gay at school, a move that was supported by friends but made her parents angry, she wrote.

"They wanted me to be their perfect little straight christian boy, and that's obviously not what I wanted."

Carla Alcorn said that she took away her child's access to social media because the teen was looking at "inappropriate" things on the Internet but would not say what those things were.

Leelah describes what it was like to not have social media to connect with friends: "This was probably the part of my life when I was the most depressed, and I'm surprised I didn't kill myself. I was completely alone for 5 months. No friends, no support, no love. Just my parents' disappointment and the cruelty of loneliness."

It all began to feel like too much weight to the teenager, she wrote. Convinced she had few friends, and feeling the pressure of saving enough money to move out of her home, keep her grades up and face people at church who she felt had only judgment for her, she decided to end her life.

"I'm never going to find a man who loves me," he wrote. "I'm never going to be happy."

Give all of his things and money to the transgender civil rights movement and to transgender support groups, Leelah instructed.

"The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren't treated the way I was, they're treated like humans, with valid feelings and human rights. Gender needs to be taught about in schools, the earlier the better. My death needs to mean something. My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. ... Fix society. Please."

Two days after the teen's death, grieving in that stomach-punch way that only parents who have to bury a child understand, Carla Alcorn kept repeating that she loved her child.

"He was an amazing musician and artist," she said. "He was an amazing 

Not far from where the Alcorns live, Shane Morgan was thinking a lot about Leelah.

The executive director of the Columbus-based advocacy group TransOhio said the teen's suicide evoked memories of what it was like 15 years ago when he struggled with telling friends and family he was transgender.

"I came out as gay. ... I didn't understand what gender identity was at that time," he said.

As Morgan got older and met different people and had new experiences, he gained confidence and courage.

He wrote a letter to his family and friends, telling them he was transgender. With the exception of his father and brother, he said, everyone was loving.

Morgan said he understands the anger some people feel toward Leelah's parents, but "there's no excuse for threats to the family."

Since Leelah's death, parents of transgender children have sent TransOhio photos and letters saying how much the tragedy has shaken them and that they love and accept their children no matter what.

Their greatest fear is that their child will feel unloved. And statistics show that that can lead to suicides like Leelah's.

A 2011 study by the National Center for Transgender Equality found that 41% of 6,450 responding transgender and gender nonconforming people had attempted suicide.

If he could have talked to Leelah, Morgan would have said that he understood how tough it is and how awful it feels. He would have told her that when she got a little bit older, she would be freer to adopt another kind of family -- one of friends who would accept and cherish her.

"I wouldn't have told her that it gets better, but it changes," he said. "There are people she could have met. I don't know if she ever met a transgender person. But she could have seen something else. She could have been given some hope."

Aidan Key also knows well what it's like to endure a transgender adolescence. The founder of the family education and support organization Gender Diversity in Washington grew up in a fundamentalist Christian household and now works with families with deep religious beliefs to help them understand what being transgender means.

He considers himself lucky to have a mother and twin sister who adored him regardless of his gender identity.

"My compassion is there for the parents. All any parent wants is love for their children, for their children to live good lives. Transgender is such a new thing in society, and we've not faced it or discussed it as a society. We've kept it in a dark corner where some people still think it's some deviant sexual behavior," said Key.

"If the parents would have reached out for more information or said 'This is a lot. We need some time,' or if they had access to a group that would welcome them to talk, that might have made the difference for Leelah."

PR

Mom On Strike!!

Are your teenagers driving you crazy? Not listening, not paying attention, and you know, by just being teenagers. This Mom has decided to strike. I mean literally.

Teen daughters who are not as nice as they should be to their mother? Unfortunately this is old news. But that is exactly what a single North Carolina mom is claiming, and she’s not taking it sitting down, so to speak.

Naasira Muhammad, of Winston-Salem, made a “Mom on Strike!” sign and began marching up and down the sidewalk in front of her house about a week ago after, she says, one of the teens keyed her new minivan. I am amazed at the fact that Muhammed did not strangle one of them!

“I’m to the point where I’m just so frustrated, so to keep my hands off my kids or to keep me from doing something crazy, I just decided to go on strike,” Muhammad said.  “I walk up and down the sidewalk until my knees hurt, and then I sit down.”

Before launching the strike, the frustrated mother called police to report that her van had been keyed by one of her daughters, whose names and ages were not released. But officers told Muhammad that they couldn’t do anything without eyewitnesses, the report says.

“My children have everything that they could possibly want and need, but yet still, they are disrespectful,” Muhammad said. “They are rude. They think that I’m the meanest mom in the world. They think they can survive without me, so I said, you know what? That’s fine. This mom is going on strike.”

As for the daughters, their aunt forced them to make "gratitude signs" and march alongside their mother, according to local media sources.

One girl’s sign read, “Thank you mom for providing for me, caring for me, and loving me,” the report says.

It was unclear whether talks were under way to end the strike. ABC news contacted Muhammad last week but she declined to comment.

Not listening and or being disobedient is one thing. But keying your mothers car?! That's one violent thing that deserves much more than a strike. At least not the one where you stop doing anything. 

Okay, I'll say it. QUICK!, SOMEBODY GET ME A SWITCH!!!!! A BELT, A FRYING PAN, SOMETHING!!!!

PR