Misc News You Need to READ PUBLIC SAFETY

**AJE** · 03-20-2007, 07:02 AM

PLEASE READ!!

:arrow: McDonalds, Chuck E Cheese, Discovery Zone... All
places with ball pits in the children's play area.
One of my sons lost his watch, and was very upset. We dug and
dug in those balls, trying to find his watch.

Instead, we found vomit, food, feces, and other
stuff I do not want to discuss.

I went to the manager and raised hell. Come to find
out, the ball pit is only cleaned out once a month.
I have doubts that it is even done that often. My kids will
never play in another ball pit.

Some of you might not be parents, but you may have
nieces, nephews, grandchildren, or friends with
children.

This will pertain to you too. As I read the
following, my heart sank. I urge each and every one of
you to pass this on to as any people as you can. I
cannot stress how important this is!

:arrow: Hi. My name is Lauren Archer, my son Kevin and I Lived in Midland,TN.

On October 2nd, 1999 I took my only son to
McDonald's for his 3rd birthday.

After he finished lunch, I allowed him to play in the ball pit.

When he started whining later on, I asked him
what was wrong, he pointed to the back of his
pull-up and simply said "Mommy, it hurts." I couldn't
find anything wrong with him at that time.

I bathed him when we got home, and it was at that
point when I found a welt on his left buttock.

Upon investigating, it seemed as if there was
something like a splinter under the welt. I made an
appointment to see the doctor the next day, but soon
he started vomiting and shaking, then his eyes rolled
back into his head.

From there, we went to the emergency room. He died
later that night. It turned out that the welt on his buttock
was the tip of a hypodermic needle that had broken off inside.

The autopsy revealed that Kevin had died from a
heroine overdose. The next week, the police removed
the balls from the ball pit. There was rotten food,
several hypodermic needles: some full, some used;
knives, half-eaten candy, diapers, feces, and the
stench of urine.

:arrow: (You can find the article on Kevin Archer in the
October 10,1999 >issue of the Midland Chronicle.)

Don't think it's just McDonald's either. A little
boy had been playing in a ball pit @ a Burger King &
started complaining of his legs hurting.

He later died too. He was found to have snake bites
all over his legs & buttocks. When they cleaned the
ball pit they found that there was a copperhead's nest in the
ball pit. He had suffered numerous bites from a very
poisonous snake.

Repost this if it scares you!!

If a child is not safe in a child's play area then where??

AND FYI:

:arrow: In Florida and other places on the East Coast a
group of people are putting HIV/AIDS infected and
filled needles underneath gas pump handles, so when
someone reaches to pick it up and put gas in their
car, they get stabbed with it. 16 people have been a
victim of this crime so far and 10 tested HIV
positive. Instead of posting that stupid crap about
how your love life will suck for years to come of you
don't re-post, post this. It's important to inform
people, even if you don't drive, a family member
might, and what if they were next?

CHECK UNDER THE HANDLE BEFORE YOU GRAB IT!! IT MIGHT
SAVE YOUR LIFE!!

ToesInTheSand · 03-20-2007, 07:59 AM

Yes, what IS true is that those ball pits have been found with accumulated "dirt", i.e., vomit, feces, etc.

The stories following though are of a long list of urban ledgends that have been circulating since the mid-late 90's.

www.snopes.com

Also, Google "Kevin Archer's" name....ha ha ha! This "little boy" has submitted this "story" from different locations all across the U.S.

The hypodermic needle on the gas tank handle is one of the oldest email scams, I remember getting that one forwarded to me almost 10 years ago.

But I do agree about those balls pits not being cleaned often enough. I don't have young children, and those play areas weren't even around when my kids were little, but I do remember thinking "Yuck! What COULD be lurking in there?" There's a definite gross-out factor involved.

Now forward this post to 10 of your friends within 5 minutes, you won't believe what pops up on your screen! If you don't, you will have bad luck for the rest of your life.
:lol:

**AJE** · 03-20-2007, 08:13 AM

Urban Legends wow ...those pits regardless are havens for diseases. Yuk

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/archer.asp

http://www.snopes.com/critters/snakes/ballpit.asp

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/gaspump.asp

pk · 03-20-2007, 08:48 AM

I kinda remember reading this on snopes before. It's funny how these emails get going and they go all over the world and you really don't know what is real or not when you get them.

But regardless these pits are the pits. They are full of vomit, feces, etc. mainly from little kids thinking it's funny and not understanding how nasty it is for others.

The other part is the germs from sick kids. I remember one time we were there and one child was sooo sick sneezing, wiping her nose etc. and then playing all over the jungle gym thing they had. She was up on the top coughing, and waving at everyone. I would not let my kids go in the thing. Later after looking into it I learned that they actually (in some places) are required to spray and wipe the whole thing down several times a day. ha, in a perfect world maybe. But still I stopped my children from going through any of the play areas at fast food places and now I'm just grateful they are to old to do it anyways. lol

Actually it got to where I would seek out the fast food place that didn't have a playroom to eat at if we wanted to go somewhere just so I did not have to look like the mean mom when I said no! lol