Taxpayers Foot Bill for Inattentive Parents

KELO-TV reports on the overnight search yesterday for two Sioux Falls girls lost in Lake County. The teenagers, 15 and 16, headed home from Madison around midnight but got lost before finding I-29. They got lost, went into a ditch, and ran out of gas. They called 911 around 1 a.m., which set off a search of Lake, Moody, and Minnehaha counties involving law enforcement, fire and search and rescue crews, and even the Civil Air Patrol.

Ultimately, the girls found themselves. As dawn broke, one of the girls saw a house to the north. She ran there and thankfully found at home a surely startled family, who drove down to rescue the other girl. Given that the girls had no gas to run the heater and weren't dressed for a night of subzero temperatures, they were lucky to escape with just minor frostbite.

I spend my workweek scolding silly kids, so I don't care to spend much Sunday blogging time doing the same. One scary night probably taught those girls more than my words could. But parents, think about this: It's a Friday night, it's below zero, and you live in Sioux Falls, rich with bowling alleys, movies, coffee shops, live music, and other wholesome entertainment. (I know the kids are rolling their eyes at that description, but trust me: you won't find more to do in Madison.) Why do you hand the van keys to two teenage girls, only one of whom is even barely old enough to drive after hours, to drive an hour away to a college town where the girls don't know the roads well enough to find their way home on a clear night? Instead of avoiding this danger and worry with a simple "No" that might have cost no more than five bucks for a DVD rental and some microwave popcorn to keep the kids safe, warm, and entertained at home, three counties have now spent manpower and tax dollars to respond to your neglect of your parental responsibilities.

Now I won't demand that the parents refund the cost of the overnight search, though I would hope they'd drop by the courthouse to buy our boys in brown a hot cup of coffee. I do hope, however, that the parents of these unfortunate and direction-challenged girls (look for the double meaning) will think next time about why two teenage girls need to be on the road, on their own, with no adults to tell them how to get home. Don't worry about saving me tax money on this one; worry about saving your childrens' lives.