Thanks for reading this. I needed to talk to somebody about it.

The Kansas City Star had a short article about this, but didn't say anything about Ivie's condition. It preyed upon my mind - was she in a coma, is she a human vegetable? Then it occurred to me to search the Springfield news for more details.

The Kansas City paper said she had been thrown off the bridge while tied to a tire. I think that must have been wrong.

If I had to place a bet on what is wrong with Kerns, I would choose a a one-word answer - methamphetamine. Missouri has one of the worst meth problems in the world.

Recently I saw an article in the Kansas City Star which said that law enforcement and social services are trying to co-ordinate their efforts for children who have been dwelling in meth labs. Sometimes they have burned lungs from the chemicals. The article quoted a rural Kansas sheriff who said something like, "I'm glad they're working with us. We never thought about this before."   (!)

Don't believe anybody who tells you this is "a child-centered nation."