SAMUEL: Where was help?

Regarding comments in the Jan. 22 story “Not a safe place for kids:”

“Eldon was his younger brother’s caretaker”; “parents who were constantly on drugs were unable to meet Jonathan’s special needs (autism)”; “Jonathan’s discipline was left to his brother”; “he (Eldon) was expected to care for him a lot”; “described that as a very odd situation to have a brother less than a year older saddled with that responsibility”; “he found the family living in squalor and without power”; “the home was a dump”; “it was not a very safe place for kids”; “they all agreed the father wasn’t in any condition to watch the boys”; “he (father) was a danger to others”; “he (father) was angry and dangerous”; “(father) very violent”; “living conditions borderline unsafe for children”; “he (Eldon) asked an officer, in one incident, it there was any place he could go and stay, even if that meant living with strangers!”

The comments above were made by police officers, CPS worker and a health care provider.

The article further states the “Police officers, both in California and Idaho, testified they made regular calls for service to places the Samuels lived.”

Does this article give a complete history of this tragedy? Were there ever any attempts to remove the children from an environment that various professionals labeled unsafe?

If not this begs the question of why.

CAROL PARR

Coeur d’Alene