Historic Precedent - Youngest Boy to Ride the River...in a Truck!

     I imagine most parents have a pretty good idea about how to watch out for their children, and some states tend to have some pretty strong ideas about how parents ought to be doing so, as we've seen in situations like the Texas LDS compound in which hundreds of children were seized awhile back.  However, I fail to believe that anyone in their right mind would not want to admonish the parents of one particular child, Demetrius Jones, to...keep a better eye on him.  You know the old saying, "Boys will be boys!"  But what about parents?  Is life becoming so self-centered that there is no time to even watch the children?  Good grief, people, this kid is lucky to be alive, this time, but what about the next time? 

      Demetrius was at the Peace River in Bitish Columbia with his family this past Sunday as they celebrated his birthday.  The boy was just turning 3 years old.  However it came to be, young Demetrius took his toy, battery-powered truck for a drive...into the river.  Yep, and he somehow managed to float about 7 1/2 miles downstream away from camp, where approximately 2 1/2 hours later, boaters snatched him from the currents in water over 9 feet deep!  At just turned "3", this little boy was barely over 2 years old!  What in the world is a 2 or 3 year old kid doing in a situation like that?  At any rate, the drama seems to have set a historic precedent, as young Demetrius seems to be the youngest child to have ever driven down the Peace River...in a truck.  Look, see what our thrill-seeking has come to?  It must surely be the negative influence of too much TV or something!  We see the type who get a high out of flirting with danger in various extreme sports, and see how the younger generation just blindly follows such bad examples.  No, it isn't good enough to go whitewater rafting, anymore, or tailing down the rivers in a kayak.  Uh-uh, now the kids are taking to their toy trucks -- is there no end to trying to upstage everyone else?  Sure, the parents seem to have gotten a little anxious, at the time, when they discovered his absence and called the authorities who soon located the child.  And "Jr"?  Did he get grounded 'til he's "45" or something?  I doubt it.  This fellow will likely be in the paper again before he's 12, unless his parents get a handle on his waywardness. 

      Fortunately, the youngster seems to have been mostly without harm, although there was some minor treatment for exposure after having been taken to a hospital as a precaution.  It is very fortunate that he suffered no worse for it all.  Now, please, do not tell me the kid was out there "telephoning" for trout or fishing with sticks of dynamite.  British Columbia is a hunting and fishing paradise of sorts, including wildlife such as salmon, moose, elk, black bear, grizzly bear, deer and wolves.  Did anyone check to see if he had a rifle or binoculars onboard his truck?  Well, perhaps all of those critters do not frequent the close proximity of Ft. St. John on a regular basis.  The immediate vicinity of Ft.St. John is, after all, utilized for wheat farming and the production of oil, natural gas, pulp and paper.  Still, I think parents should keep their kids from doing extreme sports until at least well past their tenth birthday -- at least in the Canadian northwest anyway!

sources -- Tammy Banfield, Dawson Creek, B.C. Canada;  UPI.com; & WIKIPEDIA.