not just an opportunity but an obligation.. Please do this and forward on to everyone you know who has small child in their life...
a recent e-mail from the Horns..
From the father of Charlie Horn (May 6, 2005 – November 1, 2007)
Recently my 2 ½ year old son Charlie was killed in a tragic accident at home. As
his father, I struggle with the fact that I could have prevented his death.
A dresser merely 30” high fell on him and took his life. He was apparently
climbing on the dresser like most inquisitive children will do. Had we secured
this dresser to the wall, Charlie would still be with us today & his wonderful
smile would still warm my heart.
We are not alone, approximately 20 children die and an estimated 8,000 -10,000 are
injured each year from furniture/TV tip over accidents. Most of these are
children under 5 years old.
My family’s pain is indescribable…however an opportunity now exists for Charlie’s
story to help others.
There is a bill which has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and
Commerce in the 1st session of the 110th Congress, and we need your help.
The Bill: HR 4266 – The Katie Elise & Meghan Agness Bill - Formerly HR Bill 1861,
it has been recently re-introduced as HR 4266 by Rep. Allyson Schwartz. This bill
would require any furniture or electronic appliances in jeopardy of tipping bear a
warning label alerting consumers to the potential dangers of unsecured furniture.
In addition, this furniture would be required to come packaged with anchoring
devices and simple installation instructions, so it can be safely secured to wall
studs.
To read the entire bill, please click here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.4266:
I am pleading for everyone who gets this e-mail forwarded to them to do two things:
1) Sign the petition: http://www.where-to-turn.org/petition_hr1861.php This will
take 1 minute of your time and will greatly help. (This is the former bill # but
it still is the appropriate place to sign the petition)
2) Contact your congressman, with an e-mail or phone call. Ask them to sign
on as a Co-sponsor for HR bill 4266. If you don’t know who your congressman is
or how to contact them just click here to find out:
http://www.rallycongress.com/letter2congress/698/?gclid=CKCJ2LihkpACFQe0Hgod8l8Qhw
Accidents happen & I don’t expect legislation to completely solve this problem;
but it will help, and I am confident that it will save lives of other children.
If you have children or grandchildren – Please secure your furniture & TV’s to the
wall. You can fix a hole in the wall…but you can’t fix a hole in your heart.
-Trust me
Brett Horn
P.S. I have debated sending this e-mail out for some time and just can’t wait any
longer, as I heard of the fourth child who died from a TV or piece of furniture
falling over in the past 2 months!
PLEASE forward this e-mail to anyone who will help.
1 comment:
It is a too common occurrance. I know someone else who had this happen to her 2 year old daughter.
At the age of 3, my own son was climbing up OUR smallish chest of drawers in our room, with me present, my head turned. I only knew he was doing this from the horrible crash. He was thrown free and the lamp that was on top flew 12 feet across the room and shattered.
The furniture in the kids' room has been latched, but after that, we latched our room as well.
Praying for everyone.
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