No excuse

to abandon

a child

July 1, 2007

Frontiersman Editorial

It's upsetting to read in Friday's Frontiersman that a Wasilla man has been accused of leaving a 6-week-old baby alone in an unlocked vehicle. While the child was alone, the man was allegedly in a store shoplifting cold medicine.

The threshold between upsetting and alarming comes later when we learn that local law enforcement responds to numerous call of leaving infants and young children alone in vehicles. Fortunately, regarding the incident outlined in Friday's story, the temperature outside was in the 50s and the infant was neither hurt nor abducted. Had this incident happened the previous week when the Mat-Su Valley was sweating through the 80s, we may have been forced to report a truly tragic story.

We're living in a time when more and more Amber alerts are issued to be on the lookout for missing children. New surveillance video footage is available almost daily showing parking lots across the United States and kidnappers stealing children out of vehicles. That any adult, regardless of age, would leave a 6-week-old alone in a car for any amount of time is outrageous. That this apparently is not an isolated incident in the Valley is shocking.

If a child's parent or guardian may be in too much of a hurry to hassle with the kid, we can't be. After reporting, wait for authorities or the harried errand-runner to return. For the safety of our communities, immediately report when you witness children too young to be left in vehicles.

Most wouldn't leave a wallet, purse, iPod or other valuables alone in a locked or unlocked vehicle, yet have no qualms about leaving the most precious of all valuables - their young kids. Give your children at least as much consideration as you would your wallet. Don't leave them alone in the car.

Mat Maid not all milked out

We're also disappointed to learn how Matanuska Maid Dairy has spurred efforts from local organizations to purchase its milk.

One of the reasons the state-owned dairy cooperative gave when announcing its original decision to close Mat Maid was a lack of support from local and state businesses and agencies. We support buying local, and state and state-funded agencies should be counted on to buy from Alaska's only organized dairy concern. At the same time, Mat Maid has to be responsive and open when they do.

Frontiersman reporter Will Elliott has reported on several businesses and government agencies that have tried unsuccessfully to buy Mat Maid products.

Now under the leadership of an entirely new state Agriculture and Conservation Board, we hope Mat Maid will stop operating as if closure is inevitable. It may happen, but as long as area farmers, the ag board and Gov. Sarah Palin are still dedicated to milking Mat Maid for all its worth the dairy needs to work equally hard to rustle up as much business as possible.