Mommy blogger who wrote viral 'Walmart pink headband' post Baker Acted in Central Florida

[alp227]

By Amy Pavuk, Orlando Sentinel

3:22 p.m. EDT, August 6, 2013

A mommy blogger whose post 'What happened when my son wore a pink headband to Walmart' went viral on the Internet last weekend was Baker Acted after making suicidal comments to deputies, according to a Lake County Sheriff's Office report obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

On Aug. 2, the blog post, written under the byline Katie Vyktoriah, was published on the Huffington Post website and quickly went viral.

The Sheriff's Office report identified the blogger as Kathleen Carpenter.

In it, the author wrote that her two-year-old son had worn a pink headband in a Central Florida Walmart store, and a man approached her and yelled out, "That's a boy?!" according to the post. Here's what the author wrote next:

"With no notice, the man stepped forward, grabbed the headband off of Dexter's head and threw it to the bottom of our shopping cart. He then cuffed Dexter around the side of his head (not hard, but that is not the point) and said with a big laugh, 'You'll thank me later, little man!'"

full: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-mommy-blogger-baker-acted-after-viral-walmart-p-20130806,0,667022.story?facebook

[REP]

1. Katie Viktoriah on Katie Viktoriah:

I found out later in life that I had pretty severe ADHD, which is part of the reason I made things up. I preferred my richly detailed stories to what may or may not have been ACTUALLY happening. However, around the time I left high school, I had a talk with myself and decided that I would never lie again. And for two years I didn’t.

...

But every now and then, I get a feeling… like a tingling on the back of my neck… and it tells me that maybe now, at nearly 30 years old, I should get it under control. Maybe I’m too old for this sort of behaviour. I’m a mother now. Maybe it’s time I settled down and fell in line with the rest of the populace.

And then I think, “What fun would that be?”

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1CVbVmBxSm0J:amotherthing.com/2011/11/page/2/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[Phentex]

44. aka

corn nuts syndrome. When someone brings out sympathy or anguish in others for unknown or self-serving reasons.

It's sad and fascinating at the same time.

[MineralMan]

2. Not a good thing.

[NoPasaran]

3. "Baker Acted?"

I'm sure that means something, but I haven't the foggiest.

[johnp3907]

4. Me too, neither.

[mcar]

6. Involuntarily committed to psych ward for 3 days

N/T

[NoPasaran]

9. Ah, thanks

[KoKo]

15. I didn't see that in the OS article. 72 hours.. What about her son?

If she's a single mom what would happen to him.

[steve2470]

19. her son was probably either given to the father, a relative, or put in DCF custody nt

[Comrade Grumpy]

23. God save the kid if Florida child protective services has him! Their record isn't so hot.

[steve2470]

25. 100% agree, I thought I read she is married ? could be mistaken nt

[KoKo]

45. Their "Track Record is Scary"...even if the mother is an Exaggerator....

why should her Children be put out into some kind of Circumstance which we know FlA..Child Protection Services means either neglect, cruelty or death in some "foster home" they pay big money to support.

If the Mother Needs Mental Help...please let her children be taken care of. She might have just crossed a line...thinking she could make money...but those little children need attention and the Mother shouldn't be penalized for trying to be "Creative" when all she sees from MSM is Celebrity Kardashians and Celebrity Adventures on Huff Post ...causing her to think she can maybe get a Reality Show for herself and her kids!

Sheesh...this stuff is replacing what "Moms at Home" used to do in the 50's through 70's when they watched Soap Operas while Ironing and Cooking for Dinner.

The Celebrity Culture has replaced all that and so enterprising "Stay at Home Moms" certainly would be looking to "get a gig."

I think this whole story deserves more attention because of what Mom's are faced with these days...given Celeb Moms get "Baby Bump" attention...or if they are involved in Liason outside of Marriage then the MSM including HUFF POST crawl all over it making FAME AND GLORY a way to demean Women who Stay at Home...to use their stories as fodder against the rest of us Females.

I think that Huff Post furthers the demeaning view of Females in our Society is Disgusting! With her it's all about MONEY on the backs of her "Light Porn Advertising" which ALSO depicts Females as Pawns, Victims, Tools and Such to FURTHER HER EMPIRE.

[tammywammy]

30. The original article she posted referenced going to Walmart while her husband was at home.

edited to add: That's assuming her husband is the child's father.

[Mojorabbit]

41. That is the normal time period people are kept under the act.

What a sad story. I hope she can get some help. They have defunded so much of the support system here that there is not much help in the way of followup when she gets sprung.

[cali]

7. involuntary psych hold for 72 hours

[AngryAmish]

5. Yeah, that story was a bit too

The guy who supposedly hit her kid was Larry the Cable Guy.

[leveymg]

8. Geez, does that mean that it's safe for me to shop again at Wal*Mart?

[KoKo]

11. Oh...my...

[Brigid]

18. Dressed like that?

No one would bat an eye. Nice legs, BTW.

[RKP5637]

31. Yep, but shave first! The outfit is fine IMO! n/t

[surrealAmerican]

32. no shirt, no shoes ...

... you know the drill.

[NCTraveler]

10. Shocked I tell you. Shocked. NT.

[KoKo]

12. The way it was written was so ott.. it was a clue.

I thought she was just a young mom trying to start a writing career by doing sensationalism to get attention. It happens these days on the internet. Become a celebrity for trash.

[monmouth3]

13. There's something about Lake County.....

[X_Digger]

14. If the wal-mart thing turns out to be a fabrication..

I'm sure all those who crowed when gawker picked up the story will be appropriately apologetic.



















Not.

Honestly, the guy sounded like someone from Central Casting- "Hello? I need a stereotypical redneck. No, no confederate tattoo, that'd be over the top.."

[KittyWampus]

16. I hope she gets the care she needs and has a support system at home.

[steve2470]

17. trying to decipher this part:

When the Lake County Sheriff's Office report was taken Monday night, a deputy stated, "Based on the continuing media response through Facebook and generated response to the incident by online subscribers, possible video of the incident may be obtained and viewed to in fact verify that the incident actually did occur or if it was all made up."

[oberliner]

22. Are you thinking the story was made up?

Very oddly constructed statement.

[steve2470]

24. I can see it going either way

I'm not sure what that snippet means.

[PasadenaTrudy]

20. Poor kid's name is Dexter

that's enough right there!

[Dreamer Tatum]

21. Nut. Bar. nt

[jberryhill]

27. Yes, some people are

What should be our attitude toward them?

[Dreamer Tatum]

29. That she's a fucking nut bar. Which is what I said.

They locked her up for observation. What else do you want?

[jberryhill]

33. With respect to what other illnesses are you so harsh?

[Dreamer Tatum]

35. Harsh? She's getting help she's probably needed for a long time.

Give me a break.

[jberryhill]

37. I agree

I'm talking about the harshness of your words toward her - "fucking nut bar".

So, like, if a handicapped person falls off of their crutches and goes to the hospital, do we say, "Fucking cripple".

[Dreamer Tatum]

38. If they did it while lying on the internet for the nth time, yes. nt

[LittleBlue]

26. That whole story screamed "crazy woman"

She needed attention or something. Hope her children are cared for while she's institutionalized or whatever "Baker Acted" means.

[darkangel218]

34. Baker Acted means commiting someone to a psych unit for observation

Its usually done when soemone is expressing suicidal or homicidal thoughts.

[LittleBlue]

39. In that case

I hope she recovers. At least it seems her story caused people to take an interest in her condition, which is better than waiting until it's too late.

[darkangel218]

40. I agree.

It was a cry for help. I really hope she does well.

[Drunken Irishman]

28. This was posted on reddit (ThatHappened) a week ago...

I responded that it didn't pass the smell test (the fact she refused going to the media really bugged me) and her husband actually responded to me on there saying I didn't know what I was talking about.

So...

[kiva]

36. As a teenager she liked to tell stories:

...a skin condition I’d been born with and which manifested itself in an occasional “scaly” look led to a small measure of local fame. When classmates at my new small-town school began calling me “lizard-skin” and asking questions about its origins, I saw my chance to tell a good story. I related to them a brief history of the condition, citing irresponsible parenting and suggesting that my folks had left me in a swimming pool during a lightning storm when I was but a baby. The resulting shock, I’d told them, had made my skin dry and flaky and had given me a heavy aversion to water.

After telling the story a few times, I came home one day to find Child Services sitting in my living room with my mother. After a lot of explaining, several stern warnings, and my resigned mother suggesting I leave her out of my tall tales in the future, the welfare workers left, and I went back to creatively reinventing my past."

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1CVbVmBxSm0J:amotherthing.com/2011/11/page/2/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Which explains why the story sounded so phony..."Hey, let me think up the most unsympathetic person possible (a redneck) and have him 'cuff' an innocent (that would be my 2 year old son) for a reason that reeked of prejudice (implication said redneck hated gays) in the most politically incorrect of settings (Walmart)." Then sit and wait for the internet to explode.

[Enrique]

42. I had the feeling the story quickly got out of her control

I think Huffington Post was irresponsible for not checking up on the story. That's when it really blew up, as I understand it. They had a video interview with her where the interviewer simply accepted the story as true.

We still don't know if it's true or false, but that point still stands either way.

[KoKo]

46. True...we still don't know if it was "True or False" I took it as Exaggeration

on First read of it posted here on DU. Then it went off onto other sites.

I still am not sure...but, her language in the article was kind of offensive to me...and that's why I found her unbelievable. Some said..."It's the way young folks talk ..these days" ...but, I found her really kind of ott...to do what she did in front of her Son...to deal with that issue the way she did and then to write about it talking about the "Old Birds" who admired her son. It was sort of cruel the way she categorized everyone in the "incident" if her telling was true about it.

I worry about her in Florida locked up in a Mental Institution when she has "two" young kids at home and not knowing where the Relatives or Father are. The OP's post left alot lacking for us to discern what really happened there.

I hope her well. Florida is known for such terrible violations of Civil Rights ...that I worry about her Well Being.. Particularly since her story/article got such Huge Views on Huff Post/DU and other sites. It's possible her Local Police/Sheriff "Went After Her" for bringing attention to what happened to her and her son (if it did in the way she expressed it in her article) or that she was truly "off meds or a known fabricator" ....Who knows.

It's just such a sad thing... And, I do blame Huff Post for just throwing that out there and her like RED MEAT! Lot's of blame to throw around...but, her kids should not be subjected to something like this...either way... imho.

[Initech]

43. Has this woman not seen People Of Wal-Mart.com? There is no dress code at these stores!

[dickensknitter]

47. Gender Enforcement

I work at a walmart in sporting goods adjacent to toys (...?#~*^!!.) I frequently hear parents tell their two yr old boys very harshly to drop whatever pink thing it is they've picked up like it was a poisonous snake "put that down!!!that's for girls"
It saddens me. But I understand the protective realism ( probably mostly subconsciously) inherent in their injunctions. The story was absolutely believable to me; the best stories are.

[blogslut]

48. The Internet Hate Machine is not a toy

This whole story is sad.