BALTIMORE —  A toddler whose remains were found inside a suitcase in Philadelphia this spring was starved to death by members of a religious cult, including his mother, in part because he refused to say "amen" after meals, police said.

Ria Ramkissoon, the mother of Javon Thompson, was charged Sunday with first-degree murder in the boy's death, and Baltimore police said Monday that three other members of a group called 1 Mind Ministries have also been charged with first-degree murder. Police and Ramkissoon's family say the group is a cult.

Members did not seek medical care for Javon when he stopped breathing, and the boy died in his mother's arms, according to court documents that described police interviews with a confidential informant and two children. He would have been about 19 months old when police say adults stopped feeding him in December 2006.

Ramkissoon, 21, was being held Monday in the psychiatric ward of Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Center, and a bail review was postponed until Tuesday. Her public defender declined comment.

The three other people charged in Javon's death — Queen Antoinette, 40, also known as Toni Ellsberry or Toni Sloan; Marcus Cobbs, 21; and Trevia Williams, who turns 21 Tuesday — were already in custody. They were arrested in May in New York City on warrants charging them with failure to appear in court in Baltimore. Those charges stemmed from a scuffle with police in a child custody dispute.

No one answered the phone Monday afternoon in the office of a public defender assigned to Antoinette, Cobbs and Williams.

A fifth alleged cult member, Steven Bynum, has been charged in a warrant with first-degree murder and remains at large, police said Monday. He was believed to be in New York.

Ramkissoon's family said she should not be held responsible for her son's death.

"She had no control over that situation at all," her stepfather, Craig Newton, said Monday.

Ramkissoon's mother, Seeta Khadan-Newton, told The (Baltimore) Sun on Sunday that it wasn't her daughter's decision not to feed the boy.

"My daughter was a victim, just like my grandson," Khadan-Newton said. "Somebody made that decision to not feed that child, and my daughter had to follow instructions."

Members of 1 Mind Ministries wore all white, swore off medical care and referred to some members with titles including queen and princess, according to court documents. The group was also accused of insisting that a pregnant woman give birth without access to doctors.

Ramkissoon joined 1 Mind Ministries after Javon was born. Ramkissoon's mother last saw her in April 2006; she later sued for custody of her grandson, writing in a letter to a judge that "the cult leaders" were preventing her from contacting her daughter.

The documents show police interviewed two school-age children who had been part of the group but were taken away from members by Philadelphia police. The children told investigators that members stopped feeding Javon in December 2006, in part because the boy refused to say "amen" after dinner. Members also viewed Javon as "a demon."

Another unnamed informant told police that after Javon died, Antoinette left the boy's body in a room for more than a week, claiming "God was going to raise Javon from the dead," the documents show.

Afterward, Antoinette burned the boy's clothing and a mattress and placed his body in a green suitcase, which she would periodically open and spray with disinfectant to mask the odor, police claim in the court documents.

In early 2007, the group members left Baltimore for Philadelphia. They left the green suitcase and other luggage inside a shed belonging to a man they befriended while there, police said, and then relocated to Brooklyn, N.Y.

Police recovered the suitcase in April after they got a tip from the confidential informant. The remains of a small child were inside. DNA tests are pending to confirm the boy's identity.

Some reasons why teenagers take drugs

Listed below are some reasons why teenagers take drugs. As you look through them, mentally check off whether they might apply in your situation, and think of ways to discuss them with your teenager.

Kids who take drugs regularly do it for exactly the same reasons that adults do. Addiction or drug misuse in teenagers does not come about as a result of accidental or experimental exposure to drugs. Drug problems are usually part of a much larger problem, like not fitting in at school, problems at home, not knowing how to approach people they're attracted to and so on. An obliterating drug experience like those produced by alcohol, tranquillisers or amphetamines (speed) serves as a blindfold to shut out a frightening environment.

A teenager who is communicating well with parents, and is given the chance to overcome difficulties themselves, will stand a better chance of coping with life than the teenager who is overly protected, or the teenager who is left to drift without any guidance.

This is a video done by the Parents who run the methproject.  I actually went through something like this with my oldest son when he was at his worst in his addiction to meth.....I had to call the police.  He was gone by the time they showed up. 

Please, if your child ever becomes addicted to meth, or any other drug....get them help:

 

You have a teenager (oh God!), you probably hear a lot about teen hormones, teen mood swings, and teen problems. Teenage anger is a normal part of growing. Besides, anger is a normal emotion for everybody — little kids, teens, and adults. While anger often gets a bad rap, it isn’t bad to get angry. 

This article is for your teen....

Anger is just another emotion like love, hate, joy, and sorrow. The trick to anger management, like any other emotion, is how you express it. If something makes you happy, depending on what it is and who did it, you might express your happiness with a smile, a hug, or a kiss. Expressing anger is the same. Anger works for you when you choose how to express it. Choosing how to express your anger is anger management.

Anger is a signal that something’s not right. It actually can help you get through a dangerous situation or give you courage to stand up for your rights when you’ve been wronged. The problem with anger is that it’s fueled with adrenaline and it’s easy to let that rush take control, making you feel overwhelmed, powerless, and out of control.

Many things in life can stir up your anger. You can get angry over a lost game, a cancelled concert, or people who may do things that don’t “sit right” with you. At times, you’ve probably even been angry with yourself for wearing the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing, or doing the wrong thing. Even just growing can make you angry. (“I hate being so short, so fat so thin, so tall…!”)

Temper Tools
Although anger is a normal, healthy emotion it’s also a powerful emotion that can get in the way of what you want. Learning to channel your anger helps you to get from point “A” to point “B” without destroying everything in your path. It takes both time and practice to develop good anger management skills. By the time you’re a teen, you have the tools you need to manage your anger. The challenge is learning how to use them to get the best results.

The most valuable tool you have for managing anger is self-control. Fortunately, it’s a tool that you’ve been sharpening for years. Self-control keeps you from telling your Mom that her roast beef is crummy or your best friend that her new bedroom wallpaper looks stupid. It keeps you from cutting class just because you forgot about the test.

Luckily, when you begin to get angry, your body gives you physical signals. You begin to feel warm and flushed, your heart starts to pound, and your skin feels “tight” or tingly. It’s time to step back, take a deep breath, and put the self-control in gear.

Using self-control when you’re angry can keep you from saying or doing something that makes you look foolish. It can make the difference between stumbling over a chair, kicking it and really hurting your foot or just moving the chair out of your way. It can make the difference between saying or doing something now that you’ll need to apologize for later or even worse, something that an apology won’t fix.

One way to imprint the benefits of anger management is to look at the ways you react to anger. How do you feel after you’ve vented your anger? We rarely are rewarded for reacting to anger; instead, we usually end up paying the consequences.

Look at past situations and examine what you could have done differently to arrive at a better outcome. Would a better response to anger have earned you more respect from others or more self-respect? Did your actions result in positive change, negative change, or no change at all?

Managing Anger

1. Tune in to your feelings. Note what makes you angry and why. Don’t settle for pat explanations like “It’s not fair.” Ask yourself why you feel it’s not fair, what needs to be done to make it fair, and what the best way is to bring about that change.
2. Step back and think when you begin to feel angry. Turn on the self-control. Take a minute to define what’s making you angry and what you can do to solve the problem.
3. Practice damage control. Choose the solution that gives you the most benefit with the least damage.
4. Although anger often makes mountains out of molehills, sometimes the mountains are really mountains. Some problems are just too big for anyone to handle alone. When that’s the case, seek help from a parent, counselor, or other trusted adult to help you find the resolution to your anger.

Consider getting anger management help when:

1. You get into physical fights.
2. You find yourself arguing heatedly and often with no resolution.
3. You can’t get over a past situation or occurrence.
4. You’re in a bad mood more often than a good one.
5. Your anger makes you want to “get back” at something or someone.
6. Your anger makes you want to hurt someone else or yourself.

Always remember: You can either react to angry feelings (kick that chair) or respond to them. Responding to anger takes practice, but keeping the benefits of anger management in mind makes it a lot easier to practice.

It’s not bad to feel angry. When expressed constructively it can increase your self-respect as well as others respect for you. Anger management can be a tool you can use to solve problems and make positive change during tough teenage years and it’s a tool that lasts a lifetime!

This story happened in Bakersfield, CA....my hometown.  I find this disgusting, but I also thought that you all may find this interesting:

When five children — some as young as 13 — were accused of viciously, and fatally, beating an 81-year-old man in an alley at 5 a.m., many residents voiced the same question: Where were the parents?

If their criminal records are any indication, the parents may have been frequently absent from their children’s lives. Most of the parents have felony criminal records.

There’s no clear-cut explanation as to why the juveniles allegedly killed Ezequiel Jimenez Perez on June 14. But it’s possible the behavior of their parents gradually led them down the wrong path.

Their parents have more than a dozen felony convictions on their criminal records and most have spent at least a year in prison. Most of the convictions involved using or selling drugs, but there are also indications that some of them were either gang members or were connected to gangs.

Perhaps the most glaring example is William Wandick Jr., the father of William Wandick III. He alone has several felony convictions listed in Superior Court records.

Wandick Jr. was fatally shot in June 2006 in the 1600 block of Quincy Street. Deputies believe the shooting was gang-related.

That kind of criminal background can have a profound impact on children, according to a 2000 state report.

Dr. Charlene Wear Simmons of the California Research Bureau suggests in the report that children whose parents have been behind bars may suffer from multiple psychological problems and react through truancy, drug and alcohol abuse and aggression.

PROBLEMS LOCALLY

Elizabeth B. Gong, Kern County’s probation division director of juvenile services, has a job that puts her in regular contact with teens with unstable home lives, including parents in prison.

Gong says she’s seen multiple generations come through her door. Not surprisingly, she says children raised in those kinds of families are likely to visit the probation department again and again. “In some cases there’s not a lot of positive feedback for (juveniles) to act good,” Gong said.

There are about 6,000 children currently on probation right now. The probation department has programs to help both teens and parents.

Susan D. Lerude, probation division director of juvenile programs, said parents need to be willing to make an effort to help their children. In one of their programs, families with at-risk children ended up becoming friends and making plans to help each other through the tough times.

Providing services to children at an early age is the best chance of stopping the cycle of crime seen in many families, Lerude said.

GANG INFLUENCE

Each of the juveniles charged with the beating death are alleged to have gang ties.

Of the children currently on juvenile probation, about 2,000 are involved in gangs, Gong said.

It’s not uncommon to find that juveniles in gangs also have parents with gang ties.

Supervising Deputy District Attorney Michael J. Vendrasco estimated he’s seen that situation in about 75 percent of the gang cases he’s handled.

Sometimes it takes some time in custody to get a teen to change his ways, Vendrasco said. Some teens don’t change and go on to be criminals as adults.

“When there’s a stiff sentence handed down in juvenile court, that sometimes wakes the kids up, so to speak,” Vendrasco said.

“Parents often make excuses for their children’s behavior when they should be cracking down on them and instilling moral value,” he added.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Maniord, who works in the gang unit, often comes across juvenile gangsters with parents who are also in gangs. He said that, typically, the children are raised in that environment and it becomes their lifestyle as they grow older.

“Is it common? Yes,” he said.

Maniord has seen pictures where fathers are teaching their toddlers how to flash gang signs. The sheriff’s gang unit is even investigating a case where a father and son, both gangsters, were shot by rival gang members.

ACCOUNTABILITY

The behavior of parents certainly has an impact on children, but it doesn’t necessarily determine that the child is going to be a criminal, police Sgt. Greg Terry said.

He’s seen children of parents with criminal records get arrested themselves, but he’s also seen children who went in the opposite direction and didn’t get in trouble.

“Parents have an impact both for the good and the bad, but ultimately people need to take responsibility for themselves,” Terry said.

Maniord also said there’s no common set of factors that will make a child become a criminal. There have been cases where parents who have done serious prison time have children who grow up to live a completely different crime-free life.

Three of the juveniles charged with the fatal beating of Perez could possibly face adult charges and a life sentence. The two 13-year-olds can’t be charged as adults under law and could only be held until they’re 25 if convicted.

A hearing for Jones was scheduled for July 15 and hearings for the others were scheduled for July 22.

Both Gong and Lerude said the case was among the worst they’ve come across.

“It’s just a sad day,” Lerude said. “There are no winners.”

I seem to not have any food in the house again....I'm frequently going to the store to replenish my refrigerator.  Something is going on.  This seems to have happened to me a few times in my life.  By now you think I would know what was going on again, since it has happened before.  My son is 13 now.  That's what's wrong.  Plus the fact that I live with my boyfriend and his teenage son.....My boyfriend doesn't eat a lot, but his son sure does!  Wow.....

What is it with boys and their stomachs?  Seems once they turn into teenagers they become eating monsters never stopping until they get old.  Old men don't eat so much.  In fact the older we get the less we eat.  It's one of the things that I look forward to as an old lady.  Along with being able to say and do what I want because people will always just blame it on, "oh she's just old"!

Anywho....

I went through this with my two other boys and now with this one.  It's not that he eats all day, but when he eats he inhales and doesn't swallow, then when that meal is done he says to me that he is still hungry.  I just tell him, wait 20 minutes and you won't be hungry any more.  This usually works a lot of the time. 

I give him credit though, he has been eating less because he is at that age where he is getting interested in girls....Plus he wants to "look good" for when we go to Mexico at the end of August.  Oh God, another girl crazy son.....I can handle it.  I've been through this before.

Wish me luck!

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up.  Then he saw an envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to 'Dad'.  With the worst premonition, he opened the envelope with trembling hands and read the letter.

Dear Dad:

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you.  I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you.  I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice.  But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercing, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is 25 years older than I am. 

But it's not only the passion...Dad, she's pregnant.  Stacy said that we will be very happy.  She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter!  We share a dream of having many more children.  Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone.  We'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy.  In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better.  She deserves it.

Don't worry, Dad.  I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself.  Someday I'm sure that we will be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren.

Love,

Your Son Jeff

P.S. Dad, none of the above is true.  I'm over at Tommy's house.  Just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the report card that is in my center desk drawer.

Call me when it's safe to come home.

It turns out your mother was right: angst-ridden teenagers really do have something wrong with their heads.

Researchers have found that teens that regularly get into fights with their parents have significantly different brain structures than their more laid-back peers.

Eat, Drink, & Be Merry!  Oh, and don't blow anything up!

But in the meantime, I know that I wrote about the whole boot camp thing last post, but I just wanted you all to check out the blog I am doing on the day to day progress of the whole thing.

I could use all of your support through this.

One of my goals for myself, is that by my next birthday, (my 40th), I will be in the best shape that I have ever been in, in my entire adult life.  This is just the start of it....

Thanks for your support!

http://4weeksinbootcamp.blogspot.com/