WMAL AM630 Washington, DC broadcaster host (linked) Chris Core spent the 7pm - 8pm hour of his show tonite discussing a topic that recently hit the Washington, DC area news. Apparently there had been recent updates to the story. I wish I had details to share, but the basics are in the clipped story below.
Headline is linked:
Mother Who Smoked Near Family Gets Jail
Va. Woman in Custody Fight Defied Court
By Sue Anne Pressley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 13, 2004; Page B01
A Virginia mother was sentenced yesterday to 10 days in jail for defying a court order not to smoke in front of her children.
Tamara Silvius, 44, who has said she smokes about a pack of cigarettes a day, was led from a Caroline County courtroom in handcuffs. But the judge allowed her to post a $500 bond to stay out of jail while she appeals the ruling.
"It should never have come to this," Silvius said in a telephone interview, after spending four hours in jail before being released. ". . . I hope and pray my two little kids don't think they had their mama sent to jail."
The sentence is the latest development in a bitter and long-running battle between Silvius and her ex-husband, Steven Silvius, over custody of their children, ages 10 and 8. But the restriction on smoking, especially in a tobacco-friendly state, has captured far greater attention.
"It is within the court's powers to jail somebody for criminal contempt, but she's not happy about getting 10 days," said her attorney, Tucker Henley of Richmond. "Virginia is such a big tobacco state, it's kind of surprising. I've never heard of a case where you restrict behavior this way."
But her ex-husband's attorney, Mark A. Murphy of Fredericksburg, said the measure was necessary to protect the health of the children, who live with their father and often visit their mother on weekends. The Silviuses have joint custody.
"With the history of tobacco in this area, people are more understanding about people's right to smoke," Murphy said yesterday. "But any judge who cares about children is going to step in to protect them when a case like this is presented to them."
Tamara Silvius, a waitress at an Interstate 95 truck stop, has been smoking since she was 16, she said. The smoking habit, as well as her drinking, became an issue several years ago as the Silviuses ended their 13-year marriage.
As part of the custody arrangement, a court order last August barred Tamara Silvius from smoking around her children. She appealed that order to Caroline Circuit Court, where it was upheld, and has filed another appeal with the Virginia Court of Appeals.
"She's free to smoke every other day," Murphy said. "It's only when the children are there that the court is asking her to prioritize her children over her smoking."
... more at linked article
A possible udpate to the info is contained at this (linked) site
Bad influence
An American woman was sentenced to 10 days in jail for defying a court order not to smoke around her children.
Tamara Silvius was banned last year from smoking around the youths, now ages eight and 10, as part of a custody arrangement with her ex-husband. She allegedly violated the order during a trip to South Carolina for Thanksgiving. For that, Silvius was fined $500 US and was given a 10-day suspended sentence on
the condition she not do it again.
But Silvius was back in court Thursday for violating the order a second time in June. Silvius, a pack-a-day smoker, claims the restriction violates her rights.
A judge upheld the order in January, citing medical evidence of the effects of second-hand smoke on children. Silvius has appealed to the Virginia Court of Appeals.
Seems a mother’s not always the best person to have around!
I'm thinking that there must have been udpated information in order for the time to be spent on the program. What parts of the program I caught seemed to show general indignation at the idea that a judge would take the children away from this mother.
I've said before in other threads that I'm not a smoker, and prefer a clean, smoke-free workplace, smoke free restaurants, etc., but yet again, this case seems to show a judge that has gone too far.
While I despise the idea of woman that is pregnant running around smoking while a child is growing inside her, it's not my place, or society's in general to force that woman to give up smoking. Encourage her to give it up, yes, but enforce it no.
Again, it seems that judges can't control themselves, all in the name of controlling others.
