September 30th, 2009 by admin
Wyoming has the fewest people of any state in the union. Seems like it also has the fewest laws. State Rep. Keith Gingery, chair of the legislature’s judiciary committee, didn’t know for sure, but said “that may actually be true.”
“Many states use a specificity type of criminal code (meaning a crime for every conceivable violation), Wyoming uses a general approach, where more general statutes are created that encompass a myriad of crimes within.”
Having fewer laws is fine by me. I think of Wyoming residents as self-reliant, independent and mostly with enough common sense to not need a bunch of legislation micromanaging their every move.
Don’t like what your neighbor is doing? Don’t watch. It’s a big state, just move along. Nothing to see here.
With that said, I have gotten perhaps a bit too comfortable leaving my child alone inside the car.
Before you dial 911, let me explain.
I’m a trusting person. I routinely leave keys in the vehicle, house unlocked, purse on a chair in the coffee shop. Add that naivete to the setting. Jackson is a tranquil town where people know one another and most crimes are related to belligerent drunks or kids stealing CDs.
When Desi was an infant, cuddled in her car seat, I always hauled her out of the truck and with me into every establishment.
When she was 8 weeks old, Desi and I waltzed into a saloon in Carefree, Ariz., because it was the only place to eat dinner that weeknight at the resort where we were staying. While there, I sang karaoke with her snoozing in a sling. I had no problem bringing my baby into a smoke-free bar.
But when best friend Melanie Harrice went out to dinner with us the next night, she asked if we should just leave sleeping Desi in the car, with it running, as we ate a leisurely meal. “Like Hazard,” her poodle, she said. I laughed so hard that I couldn’t answer her as I grabbed the car seat.
But now that Desi has graduated to a fixed toddler car seat, it’s hard not to wake the 23-pound monster when dragging her in and out. Thank goodness for the Mug Shot, a drive-through coffee shack.
On Saturdays, Desi and I have a yard sale habit. Often I just drive by if nothing looks appealing. When I do stop, I pull Desi out with me to peruse baby clothes, toys and her latest obsession, wooden spoons. I have, on occasion, made her a play mat out of the seller’s blanket, pie pans and spoons.
After an hour of browsing, or a cross-town drive, she usually nods off. So I breach yard-sale etiquette of street parking and bust up into the seller’s driveway, a few yards away from the sale. I crack both windows, lock the door and pop out to shop.
I can’t imagine doing it a different way. Interrupt her sleep each time? Mean. Or am I just being self-centered by not wanting a cranky baby?
Twice in the past month, I’ve questioned my judgment after leaving her in the car.
The first time, I left her locked in the truck outside the liquor store for three minutes as I ran inside. As I emerged with a case of PBR for a friend’s wedding photo session, Desi was crying and several passers-by were talking on their cell phones. Were they calling the police?
The next time, Desi was asleep as we drove to Schwabacher’s Landing in Grand Teton National Park for her first modeling gig. I left her with the door open as I hauled her props and wardrobe a few yards down the trail. But the photo crew was farther down than I thought. Out of sight of the truck, still no set. What seemed like a quarter-mile away, I saw a local artist and asked his help replacing the lid on the clothing tub. A grandfather himself, he was alarmed when I told him the baby was in the car and told me “they’ll throw you in jail.”
Even more anxious, I hustled down the trail a few more yards, dumped my load and hightailed it for the car. I ran in my flip-flops. When I got there, Desi was awake and fine, but I was about to hyperventilate.
Police Chief Todd Smith says that all parents are probably “guilty of having used poor judgment at one time or another,” but in Wyoming, there’s not a specific statute that prohibits leaving a child unattended in the car.
“But there are obviously laws that cover child endangerment,” Smith said. Parents should always consider temperature inside the car and out, he said, and the age of the child. He suggests infants never be left alone in a vehicle, but “as the child gets older and conditions warrant, it’s obviously not a crime to do that.”
On a regular basis, Jackson Hole law enforcement officers get called by parents who accidentally locked their child in a car.
Enter the hide-a-key, I say.
Smith cautions parents not to be lulled into a false sense of security because they live in a rural area.
“Your ZIP code doesn’t dictate the safety of your child,” Smith said. “Parents should take all precautions to keep your children safe, not just from the weather, but from someone who may want to harm your child.”
Want to worry yourself sick? Just Google “kid alone car” or some such phrase.
According to Jannette Fennel at www.kidsandcars.org, people “leave children alone in automobiles every day for a variety of reasons, but primarily because they are unaware of the dangers associated with leaving them alone.”
Children have died from electrical fires, strangling on their car seats, in power windows, poisoned by carbon monoxide, by playing with a loaded gun that you just happened to have in the car. Children have been stolen. The car they’re sitting in has been stolen. Children throw the car into gear and careen into other people, killing them.
According to Harrisonshope.org, 15 states have laws prohibiting leaving children alone in motor vehicles; nine more have legislation proposed. Wyoming isn’t one.
So should you leave your child alone in a car? That’s up to you.
From conception, I’ve made carefully reasoned decisions about my child that alarmists insist are not OK. I sat in the hot tub (while guzzling ice water). I drank a glass of wine on several special occasions. We’ve always covered her with a blanket at night (suffocation! SIDS! Arrest me now!).
I figure you should treat your child at least as carefully as your wallet – pretend there’s lots of cash in it. You wouldn’t leave your wallet sitting in the seat of your unlocked car while you had dinner with friends, or on Town Square while you try on shoes.
But if you’re going to leave your child in the car, perhaps rip that cute “Baby on Board” sign out of your rear window. No sense incriminating yourself.
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A version of this column was published in the Jackson Hole News&Guide, Sept. 30, 2009
