Abandonment mind-boggling

I actually had to read “Teen mom who left her baby in trash sentenced” (April 24) three times to make my mind accept what I was reading; A 19-year-old girl had a baby in the shower and decided to put the boy in a trash compactor. Only by the grace of God did an apartment employee hear the baby cry before the bin compacted (I know what a household compacter can do, I can only imagine what an industrial unit can do), now she is sentenced to six months in jail and will have supervisory visits with the child and may gain custody because she has made “amazing” progress.

What is she going to do with this child when it goes through the “terrible twos,” or when in the first few years of grade school he decides he doesn’t want to go to school because he doesn’t like it, or as a teenager gets into whatever trouble teenagers will be doing at that time?

My only hope for this boy is that he is a model child, because otherwise we will be hearing of his death. Shame on the judicial system for allowing Samantha Houston to have the privilege of raising a child. She should have had manslaughter charges against her instead of felony abandonment.

Carleen Reilly

Spokane