The Red Queen’s Race

This past week, a case showed up on my Expedited docket; someone wanted me to consider a new Information Disclosure Statement, and to approve minor amendments to an allowed application. I dealt with this. Also, I was able to post an Office Action in one of the cases on my Amended docket, since my supervisor and another supervisor signed the Examiner’s Answer I had written in response to an Appeal Brief, and returned it to me. So I’m sure fly down to two cases on my Amended docket, and zero on my Expedited docket.

And I finished an Office Action on one of my Regular New cases Saturday evening, the last day of the third quarter. In consequence, my production for the third quarter should be jus5 acceptable, and I will be able to continue racing with the Red Queen.

Persecution of Parents

There are several articles in Reason by the estimable Lenore Skenazy which I recommend reading. In one case, after a car hit and killed their seven year old son, his parents are being charged for letting him walk to the store. When I was five years old, I walked to first grade at Easterly Parkway Elementary School, which involved crossing a street. This was normal and accepted at the time. I wasn’t supposed to cross the slightly wider and busier street on which I lived, but one day, caught up in conversation with a couple of friends, I crossed along them. While they headed to their homes, I faced a dilemma. Being a generally good and cautious little boy, I didn’t want to cross the street without someone to cross me, but I could hardly stay on the wrong side forever, so I looked carefully in all directions, and crossed the street on my own. If, somehow, I had failed to spot a car, or dashed out in front of one, it would have been tragic, but I really do not think that my parents would have been prosecuted for letting me walk home on my own.

In another case, a mother has been arrested, and is facing five years in prison for leaving her eight and ten year old boys at home. This article includes a link to contribute to the woman’s legal defense, through Parents USA.

This kind of thing didn’t use to be criminal. I remember that when I was about ten, my parents left me at home in charge of my younger siblings, and promised me a dollar for doing so. The blond brats behaved badly, and I ostentatiously swallowed my first adult aspirin. My father refused to pay me the dollar, which I resented; he held me responsible for my younger brother acting out, although he had not given me the authority to discipline the nasty little twerp. All this was just a little family drama, though, not grounds for a criminal prosecution.