May 12, 2010
Boy forced to smoke by mum
ELIZABETHTON (Tennessee) - AN EAST Tennessee woman has been charged with forcing her 5-year-old son to smoke a cigarette. A Carter County deputy told the Johnson City Press that a 24-year-old woman was arrested Tuesday night on charges of child abuse and neglect, disorderly conduct and possession of marijuana. A jail officer said the woman was being held on a US$12,500 (S$17,306) bond. Jail records did not show if the woman hired a lawyer. Deputy Cory Tidwell said that in response to a complaint by a witness he stopped the woman in a car and she told him she she had forced her son to smoke a cigarette because 'she was teaching him not to smoke'. Tidwell also said he found a small bag of marijuana in the car. -- AP
