Another case of dead baby
captures public attention
             

The third case of a dead baby in just a few days has captured the attention of Costa Ricans.

The latest case involves the parents of a 13 month old as suspects. Prosecutors in Nicoya are handling the case and are seeking confinement for a man with the last names of Fajardo Obando and a woman with the last names of Díaz Chavarría.

The parents told rescue workers that the child died from a fall, but an autopsy showed a severe head wound, broken bones in the back and broken limbs, said investigators. The parents were detained Tuesday in their home in Nicoya Centro.

Monday neighbors found the body of 3-year-old Yudith Ariel Blandón Orozco near her home in Tesalia de Ciudad Quesada. A subsequent examination showed that she died from having her throat cut. This is the case where a man gave a woman and her daughter a ride and then turned on the woman, threw her from the vehicle and ran over her. It appears the man, who is in custody, drove just a short way before killing the girl. There was no motive established, and the individuals were not acquainted, agents said.

The man has been remanded for a psychological examination. The mother survives.

Sunday a maid at a La Sabana hotel found the body of a 16-month-old girl who had had her mouth and nose taped shut to kill her. Agents detained the father and a 3 year old as they walked in La Sabana park. The motive for that crime is said to be revenge. Agents said that the man was separated from the mother who lives in Cartago. He took the children for an outing Saturday but never returned them. Instead he went to San José.


Saints have their days


St. Joseph stands for gallo pinto, and St. Patrick stands for . . . well, you know.

The two saints have their days soon. St. Joseph is remembered March 19. And St. Patrick's Day is Wednesday.

St. Joseph is the patron of San José, and the festival will be this weekend with the traditional giant gallo pinto festival Sunday on Paseo Colón. The event, endorsed by the municipality, is sponsored by Tío Pelón, the rice and bean company. Last year 90,000 plates were served.

There are no governmental events for St. Patrick's Day but the informal ones are many.


Helmet law is misguided
and stifles rider's freedom

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

In Costa Rica's rush to catch up to perceived "first" world status by emulating the "golden land of bounty" of it's once wealthy big brother to the north, an example of the misguided wholesale buy-in, to all things "first worldish" is the helmet law.

Just as big oil, big chemical, big pharma, the AMA, and big banks/insurance, have taken over things in the U.S. and Europe by enslaving the populace in the form of disguised tax increases, such as the outrageous fine just adapted here, the equivalent of $363 for motorcyclists not wearing a helmet.

Just who makes out in this type of silliness? Big government, and big business.

The oil/chemical companies get to keep drilling, manufacturing and selling oil-based polluting products like those big bulky life-stifling plastic helmets they want us riders to all buy and wear.
 
The average Joe, freedom from unreasonable, and unjustified taxation, and continued assault on liberty makes us all the losers, and oh, also, a  little thing like the environment, and the future are at stake, as well.
 
So Costa "once" Rica, is now buckling under the tide, as well.

Of course no one wants to have to clean up after the occasional head that got splattered all over the pavement after a fatal motorcycle accident. But just as the false sense of security one gets being enclosed within a steel chassised automobile of which there are 10 times more crippling head injuries than moto accidents, those big, bulky helmets can also give a similar false sense of safety.
 
The hundreds of thousands of helmeted drivers are paying the heavier price, along with the rest of us for all the heretofore hidden costs these helmets burden us with.