Dateline Dayton — Realizing I have written often about child abuse, and some may feel too much, however, I believe, we must keep everyone aware of this serious problem in our society.

Since last week, three items have come to my attention.

The first is parents of a three-month-old boy who were arrested when the infant was found unresponsive on a bed by emergency personnel. This happened in Lebanon, 20 miles south of Dayton.

Their arrests came after investigators said they removed suspected illegal drugs from the couple’s basement apartment, a residence belonging to the father’s parents. If his parents live in the house, they surely knew what was going on. They should have interceded for the child. Were they also using drugs? Or didn’t they care?

The male has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, child endangering, two counts of possession of dangerous drugs, felony drug abuse, possession of drug paraphernalia and misdemeanor drug abuse.

He also was charged with another felony count of drug abuse after police said they found suspicious items while he was being booked.

The female was arrested for a possible probation violation stemming from a felony drug conviction in Florida.

Here is just a perfect example of two people who should never have been entrusted with an infant. When is our society going to wakeup?

How Inhumane

The second matter involves a couple in Cincinnati, 50 miles south of Dayton. The male, 30, and the female, 28, were sentenced to 15 years to life for starving a baby. This child weight more at birth then when she died

Being their age, they obviously weren’t teenagers. This couple was old enough to accept the responsibility of raising a child. Instead, they chose not to feed the child while keeping her in a car seat. Just goes to show that age isn’t a judge of maturity.

I’ve saved the best for last. A couple left their infant in a car while they were in a strip club. When police arrived. they found both parents drunk. Fortunately, the little boy was only hot and sweaty.

Now for the good parts, the male was wearing an ankle bracelet. He should not even have been out of the house. En route to the police station, he complained that the cruiser was hot. I hope they turned the heater on high.

Here is another example of a couple of real winners. They were given the responsibility of raising a child and weren’t ready.

We must do a better job of protecting infants from stupidity.

Mr. Hennessey may be contacted at pmhenn@sbcglobal.net