I'm not exactly sure why I have decided to feature this news today, except it is really unusual news and because it highlights the way bureaucrats and their PR people often can't say anything straight out in person. They issue 'press statements' and 'releases.' For crying out loud, can no one respond on their feet anymore in person, face-to-face, to a straightforward question or two?
First, the whacky news item courtesy of Cayman Net News. Here's the opening graph:
Following the birth of Lateisha Clarke on a Cayman Airways flight to Jamaica on Tuesday, 2 October, the public debate has centered around who is to be held responsible for allowing Shellesha Woodstock to board that flight after her water broke.
Um... might the mother bear some responsibility? Never mind. Let's not make this about my personal view on why it seems fewer and fewer people hold themselves and others responsibile for their own actions these days and, in this instance, seem to prefer to start looking around at the authorities for fault. Also, that opening paragraph can be a bit confusing if you're over 100 and not hip, daddio, to the fact that unmarried people make babies together. Ms. Woodstock is the Mom. Laflin Clarke is the Dad. So far so good? In a minute I'll return to the obvious issue for most of us which is can you imagine being on this flight?
Meanwhile, here's a sampling of the expressions used to describe how media questions have been answered:
Minister of Health Hon Anthony Eden on Monday, 8 October also joined the debate by issuing a statement...
In a press release from Caswell Walford, Public Relations Officer at the HSA (Health Services Authority)...
However, a release from Cayman Airways Limited (CAL) appears to contradict the HSA's statement...
The document goes on to explain that...
The release further suggested...
People! Could this be a more clear cut case of Obstetrics Obstruction of Justice? Just kidding.
Lastly, as promised earlier, I'm wondering just exactly how and where on a plane to anywhere do they manage to make room for a passenger giving birth. As the famous line from Gone with the Wind goes, "I don't know nothing about birthin' no babies," but I've attended a few and can't imagine doing it at a few hundred miles an hour. How come this news doesn't include a couple of first-hand accounts of the passengers who unfortunately found themselves aboard Air ER?
There you have it. Comments anyone?
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