In order to win, you had to write an essay that would describe why you & your friends were unique. The winner, a 6 year old girl from Texas was announced. The opening line in her essay was: "My daddy died this year in Iraq." The problem is, that was a lie.
I'm not sure where this child's daddy really is as he is not mentioned in the news reports, but imagine lying about a father's death. Imagine being so casual about the death of a daddy. The mother & daughter live in the Dallas area, shouting distance from Ft Hood, where thousands of children have seen their daddies and other family members go off to war. These children live in fear every moment their parents are deployed. The death of their daddy is something they think every day and nothing they take casually.
I'm not sure who's idea it was to make this false claim, the mother's or the child's. The whole incident is disturbing on so many levels.
We did whatever we could do to win? How special is Priscilla Ceballos to teach her child to lie in order to win a silly contest? To lie, in itself is bad, but to lie about a daddy's death in war in a time of war is disrespectful to children who have to figure out what it means how to live without their daddy, and to live with that truth for the rest of their lives. It is also disrespectful of and offensive to all Gold Star families, who have lost a loved one in this war and who number more than 3900 at this time. It is heard enough to lose a son in this war, as I have, but I cannot imagine losing a parent.The girl's mother had told Club Libby Lu officials that the girl's father died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq, company spokeswoman Robyn Caulfield said. But the mother, Priscilla Ceballos, admitted later Friday that the essay and the military information she provided about her daughter's father were untrue.
"We did the essay and that's what we did to win. We did whatever we could do to win," Ceballos.
At least Club Libby Lu had the good sense to post a statement on their website regarding the "untrue" essay that was submitted by the 6 year old girl.
The appropriate resolution was to name another winner, who remained nameless.Club Libby Lu has learned the essay submitted under the name Alexis M. in the Club Libby Lu "Hannah Montana Rock Your Holidays Essay Contest" is untrue. We are reviewing the facts in the matter so that we may determine an appropriate resolution to the situation.
Club Libby Lu had no knowledge of the inaccuracies in the essay until 2:45 this afternoon - Friday, December 28. We regret that the original intent of the contest, which was to make a little girl's holiday extra special, has not been realized in the way we anticipated.
For all this, I award Priscilla Ceballos of Texas the 2007 Mother of the Year Hall of Shame.
2 comments:
Whoa, not so fast there, pardner. Priscilla Ceballos needs vilification, I agree. But the trophy for No. 1 still needs to belong to Lori Drew. Lying to win a contest is one thing; lying to kill a child is another. Make Ceballos the runner up in this contest exactly the way she should have been in the other one.
Anon-
Okay, Lori Drew can have first place; she is quite the prize isn't she?
I think of the lifetime of emotional damage to those children who have lost a daddy and how their families have to explain why someone told *that* lie.
It is still beyond me how Ceballos found any justification to tell *that* lie.
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