commentary by Patrick H. Moore
We’ve all heard the old saying, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts,” and some of us may even know the story of Odysseus and the Trojan Horse, but many of us may not be privy to a particularly nasty practice that was a convenient way to keep the population down (and I’m not talking about abortion) in ancient Greece. When an unwanted child (usually a girl) was born, the general practice was to take the poor little tyke out into the forest where she was abandoned to die. If the child was lucky, a passing stranger might spot her and take her home. By law, anyone could more or less instantly adopt a found child. Of course, it was often no bed of roses for the “rescued” child – as an adoptee she (or in some cases he) could be designated a slave for life .
It appears that Charlotte County, Florida meth heads, Michael and Sarah Butcher, may have been improving their minds burning up the Internet reading up on their Greek history while tweaking one night. Either that, or they’re just naturally mean and crazy or meth has made them mean and crazy.
Michael and Sarah are both 30 years of age – a time in life when folks should be well on their way to growing up. This pair, however, is de-evolving rapidly due to their drug addiction. Last Friday, they abandoned their three young children in the woods and then drove to the Water’s Edge resort on Florida’s Gulf Coast and started yelling, banging on doors and “acting strange,” according to what residents told WZVN-TV.
When asked to leave, the raucous couple insisted on sticking around the private park which led to the security guard calling the cops.
“He was high, he was on something, that’s for sure,” the security guard told the TV station.
Although in theory this lively young couple could have been on bath salts or synthetic marijuana or some other awful excuse for a drug, they were not. They were on meth like much of the rest of the country.
The responding officers found meth and syringes and a burnt spoon inside the couple’s truck, according to the arrest report. They were booked on drug charges. At the jail, the officers found more meth in Michael Butcher’s pocket, according to WZVN.
A meth head generally likes to keep several stashes handy at all times. That way if you start tweaking excessively and lose one stash, you’ve got the others for back-up.
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Injecting methamphetamine is serious business — one of the more problematic practices known to mankind and – in may cases — a recipe for disaster because the user keeps re-injecting and re-injecting and re-in… If the first time don’t get you, the 100th time will.
When our hero and heroine were arrested, they neglected to mention that they had dumped their three youngsters in the Big Woods. What they did do, however, which is downright odd, when they were taken to jail, they repeatedly claimed to be brother and sister. In fact, allegedly there’s a picture somewhere on the Internet in which Brudda Michael and Sister Sarah are smooching while being taken into custody.
Once Michael and Sarah were safely behind bars, I imagine the officers breathed a sigh of relief. Either that or they’re so used to this kind of grievous behavior in the Gunshine State that it doesn’t even phase them.
What happened next, though, had to come as quite a surprise. The police received a call that three children were found walking in the woods, “very dirty, hungry, and cold,” according to the report.
The children — ages 10, 8, and 6 – told the police that they had walked nearly two miles through the woodland before they were found. They also told the authorities that their parents were named Brudda Michael and Sister Sarah.
The children explained that their “benefactors” had driven them to a wooded area where they often went camping. While they were playing in the woods, Michael and Sarah drove off in their truck, leaving only Michael’s shoes behind.
According to the authorities, the children were sent to Florida’s Department of Children and Families.
The couple is being held without bond. Debbie Bowe, a spokesman for the Charlotte County Sherriff’s office, would not divulge whether the couple confessed to abandoning their children.