Women complain of harassment at local stores

" Another complaint was made at Target where a woman claims that ...a white male carrying a backpack was staring at her and her children in the clothing department."

So, I'm left to wondering, why the complaint? Was she THAT ugly, that she couldn't understand why someone might look at her?

If you're that insecure, please, remain behind the curtain!

Hey Ed, if you've got two kids with you and some weirdo carrying a backpack which can easily conceal any number of things is staring at all of you in a store with little if any security, you might pause for concern. If you're that incapable of thinking before you type, step away from your keyboard.

Ed gets the stupid award today.

Been campaigning for it for years.

Sorry, Daniel. I still don't get it. First off, I saw no mention of a "weirdo".

Secondly, "in this day and age" (another overused, nonsensical phrase), I'd be willing to guess that, in a city/town the size of Batavia, dozens (possibly multiple dozens) of people are wearing backpacks. As, at the moment, I haven't read where anyone was arrested, or, even detained/questioned, for walking around with some sort of dangerous object in their backpack, again, I fail to see why someone would call in a complaint. Just as paranoia isn't a crime, neither is looking at people in a store. What might be perceived by some to be "staring", others might think it was just looking at. As I wasn't there, I certainly don't know what was happening. Could be the guy thought the kids looked like someone he'd seen on America's Most Wanted. Or, possibly, one of the people had a tattoo that he was looking at. There are, literally, dozens of possible reasons that I could offer.

And, finally, trust me. I always "think" before I type comments. And, because I do think, it honestly doesn't bother me if nobody likes what I comment. But, I do thank you for at least addressing me, instead of just hitting the thumbs-down button. MOST people aren't courteous enough to do that.

The whole story might change some opinions. This woman was in the ladies clothing department with her two children, the gentleman in question got way too close for comfort to her child bent down and looked right at the child. When he was questioned by the woman he walked away and started texting someone without answering her. If that is not suspicious behavior, I don't know what is. I would say we should applaud this woman for calling in such behavior. She may have prevented a child from being kidnapped. Think about that.

Now, THAT makes sense.

Thank you, Donna!

With the child trafficking garbage going on you cannot be too safe. There have been complaints of people staring relentlessly at people's children in parking lots of Tops in Alden and at WalMart in Batavia. Staring like, they get out of their vehicle just to stand next to a vehicle with a child in it and not taking their eyes off of the kid. The woman at Tops in Alden last week waited 15 minutes for the person to go away before she got out of her car. Then, while inside of the store, noticed the person still staring through the windows at her son. She asked to be escorted back to her car. All vehicles involved had Canadian plates or no black plate. I have actually witnessed this myself at WalMart. Ed, I usually agree with most of what you say but to just make a joke about something like this is exactly why the problem persists. People brush it off as other people just being paranoid. Maybe they were overreacting, maybe they weren't. I can tell you this, the problem is real and is no laughing matter.

Ed never took the next step to think that the woman might have a valid reason to be concerned. He just hinted that maybe she was ugly, and that was just stupid of Ed. Dan Jones was right, he should stand back from the keyboard.

What upsets me are parents who bring their children to these stores and use them as a babysitter. Have you seen the number of unattended children in Walmart and Target? It is disturbing. I am glad that there are parents out there who pay attention.