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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 7, 1993                   TAG: 9304070366
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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BEWARE OF THE BABY SITTER

I HAVE BEEN following with interest the case of the preacher who took a 16-year-old girl as his common-law second wife. In his pursuit for a virgin, he now risks a 10-year jail sentence for one count of seduction and two counts of indecent liberties with a minor. This appears appropriate.

The Roanoke Times & World-News reported recently about a 13-year-old boy in Topeka, Kan., who got his 17-year-old baby sitter pregnant and found himself liable for child support, with the Kansas Supreme Court rejecting the boy's appeal that he was legally unable to consent to sex.

What a mockery of equality and justice! The 17-year-old baby sitter, responsible to take care of the child - yes, child - seduces her ward, irresponsibly gets pregnant and then sues for child support! Will the delinquent dad go to prison or start life owing several thousand dollars in back child support? Though the baby sitter is 17 and a minor, is she not liable to be prosecuted as an adult for seduction and for taking indecent liberties with a minor entrusted to her care?

Parents, beware! For the most part, baby sitters are girls. If you are entrusting your son to a baby sitter and they are going to enjoy privacy, it might be wise to have a written contract listing the girl's responsibilities and explicitly stating that the girl will be liable to legal action as deemed fit for any sexual abuse of the ward.

This is not to denounce the excellent world of schoolgirl baby sitters. God bless them. However, one has to be wise to the ways of the legal system - demanding child support from a 13-year-old who impregnated his 17-year-old baby sitter! ALAN L. KRISHNAN ROANOKE

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