Nye County has a lot of strange characters living there. A County Assessor who is prejudiced against Hispanics, a Sheriff who locks up a mom right after a fire that killed her 3 kids and a friend and did not file charges until months later, a newspaper that doesn't know the difference between editorial writing, news reporting and doesn't represent the views of their readers and now a judge who thinks kids with disabilities are better off dead.
In 2009, a 2 month old baby was killed by her mom and father in their Pahrump. the mother sat before Judge Kimberly Wanker for the sentencing phase after pleading guilty to the murder.
Wanker sat in judgement and made this jaw dropping statement: “This has been a very troubling case for me. I have read everything in the file forward and backwards,” she said. “The bottom line is that we have a dead child. And according to the medical reports in this case, the physician from Sunrise Hospital, who happened to be an expert in pediatric ophthalmology, commented that these injuries were so severe that … had the child survived, she probably would have been blind and suffered from so many things that quite frankly it was probably a blessing that the child passed on.”
http://pvtimes.com/news/20-years-for-mom-in-babys-09-death/comment-page-1/#comment-25382
As a teacher who works with the severely disabled, including, in the past, with students who have suffered brain damage from being severely abused, I find that Judge Wanker's comments are at best, uninformed and at worst, disgusting.
Just because a child is disabled does not mean they live meaningless lives. Further, with today's technology in medicine, rehabilitation, education, social services etc., the chances of a child being so severely disabled is fairly small, but it still happens.
Even if a child is severely disabled, they still provide for the community. Speaking strictly of money, the severely disabled keep many people employed from nurses, teachers, group homes etc. But that is just a small part.
Many of these kids are loving and they are also educators. I have had so many students, teachers and adults come up to me and say that they learn so much from our students. People learn how to be patient, become more appreciative to what they have in life and how to relate to people. They also learn how to be teachers and some stduent helpers in my class have gone on and become special education teachers. Our disabled students have taught more about life to regular education students than any regular education teacher can do on their own.
So, for Judge Kimberly Wanker to make this statement, that kids with severe disabilities are better off dead is a statement made of ignorance or stupidity.
I just wonder if the Pahrump Valley Times will go after Judge Wanker as furiously as they went after the County Assessor who they think is prejudiced?
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