State Harasses Mother of Overweight Boy

Columbus, NC (TLS). Joyce Painter, a resident of Polk County, North Carolina, in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, finds herself in a nightmare with the state concerning her 10-year-old son. Painter, who has multiple health problems and is in a wheelchair, is under the threat of losing her son unless he 'loses weight.'

I kid you not.

The Department of Human Services of the State of North Carolina sent a social worker to investigate Painter after an anonymous source tipped them off due to the excessive weight of Painter's son.

The young boy weights 250 pounds.

But rather than investigate a possible physical malady that has led the boy to gain such weight, the state sends out its Gestapo to harass the mother instead.

I am very familiar with this part of the country, having spent part of my formative years in these mountains, particularly in nearby Saluda. This area is truly the garden spot of the earth and home to the finest human beings one can find anywhere on the planet. This is a very unlikely place to find the long tentacles of the food police who work for government entities that are as intrusive into the private lives of citizens as the KGB and the Gestapo.

Yet right here in God's country, the jackbooted government thugs are busy at work attempting to build a case of child abuse against Joyce Painter--all because her son weighs too much.

Painter has taken her son to numerous physicians seeking help. He has been placed on various and sundry eating programs designed to help him. So far, nothing has worked. Therefore, according to the state of North Carolina and their commie-nazis, the problem must be the mother who is obviously slipping the child treats, candies, and snacks he isn't supposed to have.

News sources report that the N.C. Department of Human Services sent an investigator to the local Ingle's Supermarket where Painter buys groceries. According to store employees, the investigator inquired as to whether or not Painter had bought candy, junk food, and other treats.

When Painter was informed of the investigator's visit to her supermarket, she stated that she felt like she has been tried and found guilty by social workers before her side of the story is adequately checked out. It was then that Painter called a local TV news station, WSPA-TV in Spartanburg, SC.

WSPA sent a reporter and news cameras to the Painter home in order to be present for a meeting Painter was supposed to have with a DHS Social Worker. When the state official arrived, she stated that she could not conduct the meeting with a camera crew present 'due to confidentiality.'

Yet DHS investigators paid no attention to Painter's 'confidentiality' when they approached her local grocery store and asked for information about her buying habits.

WSPA-TV reports that an employee of Ingle's Supermarket contacted them about the investigation, and stated that the DHS officials were not at all concerned about the boy or his mother, but were obviously attempting to build a case against Mrs. Painter.

The employee went further to describe the entire state-initiated witch-hunt as an 'outrage.'

We need a witch-hunt, alright. And it should start with the N.C. state government, particularly DHS.

This case is a perfect example of government power at work. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and those who have been brainwashed into thinking that government is the ultimate watch-dog over citizens obviously believe that it is entirely reasonable to harass, threaten, investigate, and even potentially remove a child from his mother, all because of the boy's weight.

The Liberty Sphere has warned time and again about the creeping crawl of government power. This is but one nightmarish result. The very same people who tell us we cannot buy and use handguns tell us we cannot smoke in public or eat at restaurants that serve up too much fat. But it never stops there. The food police are now part of the massive government surveillance of individual citizens who have no record of illegal activity.

Do you have an overweight child? Better be careful if you live in North Carolina. You could lose your child and be thrown in jail.

Let's get down to the nitty gritty, shall we? The social workers involved in the harassment of Joyce Painter should be immediately fired, period, end. An investigation should ensue into government corruption in the Department of Human Services. Heads need to roll over this one.

Just as we have seen with the massive corruption in the judicial system in North Carolina, apparently it does not end there. The poisonous tentacles of collectivism are reaching deep into the lives of private citizens with no end in sight, unless we stand up and put a stop it it NOW.

This outrageous behavior on the part of government elitists is ample proof that Jefferson was right about government. The smaller the better. And even then it is to be feared and kept in check.

Duncan Hunter Stumps in South Carolina

Washington, DC (TLS). U.S. House Representative Duncan Hunter, R-CA, has apparently found a receptive audience in the state of South Carolina. As a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, Hunter has been to the state twice in the last month, first to announce his candidacy, and then to campaign in the state on Friday of this week.

Hunter addressed a breakfast meeting at the luxurious Spartanburg Marriott Hotel at Renaissance Park Friday morning. Attendees at the breakfast included Spartanburg textile mogul Roger Milliken, who has endorsed Hunter.

The breakfast was sponsored by 'FreedomWorks,' a Washington-based issues-oriented group founded by former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-TX. FreedomWorks has a strong presence in 10 states and employs a full-time staff in each of these states. The group's website states that the organization has over 800,000 members nationwide.

According to the organization's founding principles, FreedomWorks' objective is to support smaller government and lower taxes. Rep. Hunter fits the bill of the type of candidate FreedomWorks supports.

During the breakfast in Spartanburg, Hunter took questions from local citizens who attended the meeting. He reiterated his support for consistent, firm enforcement of the nation's immigration laws--a growing sore spot among a significant portion of the American population. In the wake of a near-20-year lack of attention to immigration law, resulting in the onslaught of millions of illegal aliens on American society, Hunter believes that it is essential to the nation's survival that we make a clear distinction between legal immigration and illegal entry into the country. Illegal aliens are law-breakers and not 'immigrants.' Hunter would stop the influx of illegals into the country by re-enforcing the security of the nation's borders, bolstering the strength of the Border Patrol, and strictly enforcing the immigration laws already on the books--laws that have been virtually ignored by both the Bush and Clinton administrations.

In addition, Hunter stressed the need for fair trade policies in order to protect the U.S. from unfair practices of nations such as China, who use current law to their benefit at America's expense.

Perhaps the most attractive quality exhibited by the candidate at Friday's breakfast is his insistence that no 'image consultants' be used in his campaign. Hunter believes in a 'what-you-see-is-what-you-get' approach to campaigning. Many at Friday's breakfast lauded Hunter for his stand, as the nation has been forced to endure a barrage of politicians in both Parties that appear to be more concerned with 'image' than genuineness.

Hunter is the genuine article--the real deal. The candidate quipped, 'I don't have to spend any money on image consultants. I already know what I stand for, and I just need to tell the people.'

It cannot be stressed enough that Duncan Hunter is one of only a handful of politicians in Washington who rates a grade of A+ from Gun Owners of America.

That sounds good to us.