MOM, BEER AND A BB GUN

Angelique Vandeberg is this month's Top Mom -- and just in time for Mother's Day. Police say the Wisconsin woman (mugshot here) shot her daughter in the leg with a BB gun. Reason? To win a $1 bet.

The Sheboygan Press reports:

Police began looking into the incident Wednesday after a school counselor reported it to police. The girl was shot three or four days earlier, but a circular bruise with a white-colored point in the middle remained visible on her thigh, the counselor said.

The girl said the shooting occurred in her mother's bedroom, where Vandeberg was with her boyfriend after she had consumed 10 to 12 beers.

The boyfriend bet Vandeberg $1 she wouldn't shoot the child, then handed her the BB pistol. Vandeberg took it and shot the girl. The bullet, which did not break the skin, bounced off her leg and struck her 7-year-old brother, who was not injured.

Wonder what she'd do for five bucks?

MOMS BRAWL AT CHUCK E. CHEESE

As the Boston Herald reports:

The fight allegedly broke out at the Natick pizza-and-play eatery during a child’s birthday party, police said.

Natick police said the mom of the 9-year-old birthday boy apparently became enraged because the other woman’s son was "hogging" an arcade game Saturday night.

Sgt. Paul Thompson said 38-year-old Catherine Aliaga and 33-year-old Tarsha Williams, both of Boston, would be summoned into court to answer charges of simple assault and battery stemming from the scuffle. ...

A [Chuck E. Cheese] spokesman tells the Herald the two moms "exchanged words" Saturday night at 6:45 while two children were playing an arcade game and then "punches were thrown."

Can't wait to see how those kids turn out.

RITALIN, KID CRIME LINKED

Kids who take Ritalin for a long time may be more likely to turn into punks on dope. According to this Daily Telegraph report:

An American study -- published in the Medical Observer -- has found that while drugs such as Ritalin can initially help sufferers, the benefit of prolonged use is in doubt. Some children stay on medication until they reach 18, but researchers believe it may not protect them from all the symptoms.

The US Multimodal Treatment Study of Children revealed the more days of prescribed medication, the more serious delinquency became.

In a cohort of 500 children with ADHD -- followed for 36 months until they were 12 -- researchers found 27 per cent were at a greater risk of committing crime, compared with 7 per cent among "normative" children. Substance use also increased to 17 per cent in ADHD children -- almost double the normal rate.

More substance abuse among kids who've been told they must take drugs to feel better. Couldn't see that one coming.

FATHER OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE

Dad: Tyrone Spellman, 27

Daughter: 17-month-old Alayiah Turman

Deed: He beat her to death after she pulled down his Xbox console.

Mom was pregnant and napping in another room when Spellman cracked the child's skull. He fled their Philadelphia home, was arrested, confessed, later recanted and said he had lied to protect Alayiah's mother.

The Associated Press reports:

An autopsy showed that Alayiah had suffered a broken arm about two weeks before she died - an injury that city social workers did not see on two visits to the house in late August, when they found the baby well.

Spellman was convicted of third-degree murder and child endangerment. He faces 23 to 47 years in prison.

WHAT? NO GIN?

A 47-year-old woman in Bloomington, Minn., reportedly gave her granddaughter a couple slugs of gin.

Who's doing the reporting? The 9-year-old girl.

According to The Associated Press:

Bloomington Police Commander Jim Ryan said the girl remembers vomiting, hitting her head and blacking out about 1 p.m. Aug. 31. Ryan said the girl's mother was working a 12-hour shift at the time and was out of the house.

He said police suspect the grandmother gave the child the alcohol in hopes that she would pass out so the adult could go out for the night instead of babysitting.

"A lot could have happened with a kid left alone," Ryan said. "A lot could have gone wrong. She could have choked on her vomit. ... This is a horrendous case of child endangerment."

Police arrived at the apartment around 10 p.m. after getting an anonymous call that a child was given alcohol. Ryan said a portable breath test showed the girl had an alcohol level of .042 percent, about half the legal limit for driving, more than eight hours after drinking the gin.

Grandma is in jail on $6,000 bail. The kid's back with her mother.

SMACK-SNORTING MOM BUSTED

Stacy Roe will not win this year's Mom of the Year award. The 35-year-old mother from Farmingville, N.Y., was arrested over the weekend at a Wal-Mart, pushing her 3-year-old son in a shopping cart while simultaneously snorting heroin.

The New York Post reports:

Security at the Centereach store called 911. Cops responded, viewed the video and approached the woman while she was still in the store.

Roe admitted that she was using heroin and that she had a small glassine envelope of the drug inside her purse, police said.

She told cops she was addicted to Vicodin and was unable to obtain more of the painkillers - forcing her to turn to heroin, Suffolk County Police Sgt. Todd Barone said.

Ah, sweet sweet Vicodin. Roe was ticketed and posted $100 bond. She's due back in court on July 17.

MURDER CHARGE IN DAYCARE DEATH

Vicki Leigh Chiles has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a 2-year-old at Chiles' daycare center in Tulsa.

Chiles was charged Thursday, according to KTUL. Chiles is being held without bond.

Joshua Minton was bound and gagged with masking tape, according to police. Chiles reportedly told them the child wouldn't be still for nap time.

DAD OF THE YEAR

It's 2:30 in the morning. New Jersey. Danny Ribot and his 2-year-old son, Adonis, come home from the kid's birthday party. Ribot is reportedly quite drunk.

Nine hours later he wakes up. No Adonis.

According to the New York Post:

Ribot ... wakes up and screams, 'Where's my car? Where's my kid?'

"He realizes he doesn't have his child and he doesn't know where his car is," (Passaic police Lt. Luis) Guzman said.

That's when Ribot called his girlfriend, Luz Ramos, who is Adonis' mom.

Ramos, 20, told The Post, "He called me in the morning and he said, 'Where's the kid?' I told him, 'What are you, crazy? I helped you strap him into the car seat.'"

Adonis was found in his father's locked car in a parking lot in Passaic. The child was treated at a hospital for dehydration and heat exhaustion. His father is charged with endangering the welfare of a child.

"Where's my car? Where's my kid?" Glad to see Ribot has his priorities in order.

WOMAN PREPS FOR BABY NO. 17

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar of Springdale, Ark. are ready, or so they say. The family will welcome their 17th child on July 27, when Jennifer Danielle is due.

She will join Joshua, 19; John David, 17; Janna, 17; Jill, 15; Jessa, 14; Jinger, 13; Joseph, 12; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 8; Jedidiah, 8; Jason, 7, James, 5; Justin, 4; and Jackson Levi, 2; and Johanna Faith, 19 months.

You will note that "Jethro" remains unused.

The Associated Press reports that Michelle Duggar is thrilled to once again be a mom. Thrilled, and perhaps delusional:

"Here I am a mama with her 17th child on the way, and so many people think 'Oh you've got it all figured out,'" she said.

Anyone out there think she's got it all figured out?

DAD SHOOTS DAUGHTER'S 'FRIEND'

John Dove was killed Saturday night in Houston. The 27-year-old man made several mistakes in the minutes before his death:

•He was in a home, not his own, and with a 13-year-old girl he'd met online.
•Once caught, he argued with the girl's parents before fleeing the residence with the teen.
•And then he came back.

Television station KHOU reports:

The mother reportedly went into the home to call 911. As she was on the phone with the emergency operator, she received a phone call from Dove saying he was coming back to the residence to talk to her.

As Dove approached the residence, he became involved in a heated argument with the mother on his cell phone.

The father returned to the residence with a loaded shotgun and saw Dove approaching his wife. He told police Dove made a gesture he took as threatening and became combative.

After a struggle, the father allegedly shot and killed the man, Houston police said.

The father hasn't been charged, so far. The girl stayed away until Sunday morning. She thought she'd be in trouble at home.