Not many people think of going to prison as a vacation, but the Texas Prison Museum is hoping to change your mind.  The city of Huntsville, Texas is famous for its local prisons (there are 6 of them), and so it turned the lawlessness of the city into an attraction.  The museum features exhibits that give you a look at life in the prison — what is was like to be an inmate at the prison, as well as what it was like to work there, two obviously differing points of view.
The most popular exhibit is Old Sparky, an old …read more

Behind my house are woods. And behind those woods is a creek that runs 56 miles along two of the three largest counties in my state. It winds through six major urban areas and spills out into the Cahaba River. We expect to see the ring-neck snake in our flowerbed and the mighty population of lizards that live under each footstep and the red fox who appears on our front porch in the wee hours. What we didn’t expect is the pony-tailed, shirtless man in khakis and the redheaded, blue-eyed girl who bashed in a police car and sped off …read more

We used to have deep philosophical conversations in my high school Peer Leadership class. Sometimes, the teacher, Mr. Vaniman, would give a group of us a question to ponder and discuss. One of my favorites was, “How far would you be willing to go for a loved one?” Which meant, would you be willing to break the law, go against your morals or even turn against everyone you know to stand up for someone you love? It seems like an easy question, but there are so many situations in life that could possibly occur that the answers vary from one …read more

When a child commits a misdemeanor in your home, do you resort to using the same punishment every time, or do you tailor it to fit the crime? Do you skip the “punishment” in favor of a lecture lesson?
My son made the mistake of writing on the wall, yesterday. It was pretty obvious who did it. Yet, the guilty party was reluctant to admit his guilt. After he confessed, his dad and I convened in the bedroom to choose the appropriate sentence. In this case, it was the chore of washing walls and a talk about the importance of truth. We …read more

I can’t even fathom what it must be like to actually go through the trouble of interviewing, hiring and trusting a nanny with your children and have them do this….
A nanny has been arrested after the parents of a 2-year-old boy recorded her molesting the tot, authorities said yesterday.
The parents, who live on Long Island, were first alerted to a possible problem by an official at their boy’s preschool, who said Carol Clarke, 45, of Queens, was routinely rough with him.
They set up a secret recording device in their home early last year and viewed four instances of sexual abuse, …read more