Hal - Deliberately Basic

Your Dad On A Pizza Box

Should you ever need a dumbass, deleterious, counterproductive, lopsided idea, look no further than Cincinnati, Ohio. The state of Ohio is multifaceted, from a more socially progressive Cleveland in the North, to a ultra conservative, in your face Cincinnati in the south. As it is with life in general, most of the inhabitants live somewhere in the middle.

The latest debacle in Cincinnati is the Deadbeat parents on a pizza box fiasco. The Butler County Child Support Enforcement Agency, as of this writing, has sold three local pizza parlors the ludicrous idea of putting wanted posters on their boxes. The agency chief, Cynthia Brown, provides the info to these pizza joints.

Why is this such a bad idea? No matter what your parents may have done, would you, as a child, want to see their picture on a wanted poster? Especially something as common and demeaning as a pizza box. You can bet the playground bullies will have their fun with this.
“Hey, girlie boy, I saw your old lady on a pizza box.”
“I didn’t know your dad was a deadbeat asshole. Must be hard for you.”

Then there is the other side of the story. Suppose a man or woman happens to be unemployed, a condition that could happen to anyone, even the self-righteous who think that life will never deal them any hard luck because they are just so damned good. Yes Virginia, there are those who can’t pay support because they don’t have the means to do it.

I am not, nor have I ever been involved with anything to do with child support. I do however, know men who have been arrested at work, handcuffed and taken to jail for non-payment. One individual had made his payment, but the court had not recorded it, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Another had ask for a short reprieve because he simply could not come up with the required payment. He too was incarcerated.

I am not endorsing anyone who refuses to pay child support just because they are stingy or simply don’t give a dam. If you have a child, it is your responsibility to see that the child is given the necessities of life. Period. Divorce is hell for children. Don’t make life harder for them by putting dad’s mug shot on a pizza box.

As of this writing three stores are involved in this: Karen’s Pizzeria, Angilo’s Pizza, and Fairfield Pizza. Note that no national chain is yet involved. Other counties in Ohio are contemplating similar SS tactics. But if a major chain should decide to jump on the bandwagon, I will never again buy their product, even if its the best damned pizza in existence.

What is next in the long chain of creative imprisonment? Ronald McDonald in cuffs.

“To assert in any case that a man must be absolutely cut off from society because he is absolutely evil amounts to saying that society is absolutely good, and no-one in his right mind will believe this today.”

Albert Camus

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