Mean Mom

Winifred is obsessed with the Meanest Mom story. Apparently it's all over the Today Show but I wouldn't know. Because some people? Some people go to class every morning, do their homework every night, schedule free time around The O.C.'s two-hour airings on SoapNet, and go to bed.
At least that's what the kids who aren't the Dumbest Kids on the Planet do.
In short, a spoiled teenager was given permission to drive a car--which was purchased, owned, and covered by his parents--provided he didn't drink and drive.
Jane Hambleton, the mother, checked his car, found alchohol, and placed the following ad in the Des Moines Register:

"OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet."

She says the ad cost her a fortune. Hambleton is a copyeditor and has received a buttton of attention for the ad.

When I was finally allowed to get my license at 17 in 2003, days before my senior year of high school began, I wasn't allowed to leave town behind the wheel for more than a month. (I was told I had to wait one full month but come November I was desperately negotiating permission.) My town is 4.3 miles, mostly farmland, and has nothing to do for a high school senior. I was fortunate that I was allowed to drive Winifred's car at all, and one morning a month for six non-consecutive months I was allowed to drive Winifred's car in the morning for newspaper day which required that I arrive a little after 6 a.m., before most of the faculty. Every month that she agreed, I spent the next five days kissing her butt. Because she was the nicest mom.

Oh, but I digress in the face of spoiling parents and their children! Hambleton's son says it was left by a passenger. ...If I allowed alcohol into the car at all I would have been lucky to live. It wouldn't matter who left or was drinking it. At 19 and out of college I wouldn't be allowed to argue that my 21+ friend left it behind. I knew what the driving laws were and I knew what my parents said, and that was what was obeyed, period.
I'm not sure that Winifred would revel in her new fame. I'm also sure that I'd be yanked out of school and out on my own. And if Hambleton were as mean as she claims, she'd do that too.

I'm a harsh woman.