Bonkers Donkers

December 5, 2003 9:59 AM

A US woman has been sentenced to three months house arrest after being spotted breastfeeding her child while driving, talking to her husband on her cell phone and taking notes on the steering wheel about what she should do. Donkers is said to belong to a sect which requires her to follow her husband's orders.
posted by MintSauce (23 comments total)

I saw this on one of the TVs at the gym this morning and thought about posting it. There was a short clip of the husband saying something like, "She basically has no consent as far as I'm concerned. Whatever I say, goes." Sad, really sad.
posted by starvingartist at 10:03 AM on December 5, 2003

What a strange couple and what bizarre series of events.
posted by dobbs at 10:10 AM on December 5, 2003

But was she driving a Ford Expedition or a Humvee ?

Time for a new husband, I say.
posted by troutfishing at 10:10 AM on December 5, 2003

Then maybe the husband should be serving the sentence.
posted by 2sheets at 10:10 AM on December 5, 2003

Outside court, Donkers' mother, who would not give her name, was caring for the couple's 13-month-old daughter, Seren, who is just beginning to walk.

Is it just me, or did they name their daughter a homophone for a nerve gas?
posted by anapestic at 10:15 AM on December 5, 2003

Will she breast feed in jail?
posted by Postroad at 10:16 AM on December 5, 2003

Donkers... or Bonkers?

I just couldn't resist.
posted by The Michael The at 10:16 AM on December 5, 2003

"...and if I say she has to endanger her life, that of our child, and those of everybody on the road, then that must be God's will."
posted by jon_kill at 10:17 AM on December 5, 2003

Punish Me for My Wife's Act says Brad Barnhill, husband of accused reckless driver Catherine Nicole Donkers....

also:
Doctrinal & Organizational Explanations Regarding The First Christian Fellowship of Eternal Sovereignty

"We feel it is our obligation to teach our members to be self governing by learning the liberating principles of individual responsibilities under God. The Holy Bible tells us that we cannot serve two masters. We intend to use all legal means to regain our sovereignty as "We the People" by placing our governments back into the proper role of servants and not of masters by following the precepts and duties as defined in the Declaration of Independence, enforcing the Constitutional limitations set upon our governments and by applying the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. We intend, also, to help obtain for our membership salvation from the involuntary servitude {see the Thirteenth Amendment} imposed upon us by the Beast, through his agents, disguised as the Social Security System and its "Mark of the Beast" the infamous Social Security identification number."

Will she breast feed in jail?
Jail = Electronically monitored house arrest, so I'd say the answer is yes.
posted by anastasiav at 10:18 AM on December 5, 2003

Oh... I guess I didn't see the title up there... consider my schadenfreude retracted and replaced with a small sense of embarrasment.
posted by The Michael The at 10:19 AM on December 5, 2003

Have we really not discussed this here? Because I can't believe that MeFi was the only interweb site to have missed this story.
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:20 AM on December 5, 2003

We discuss this.
posted by iconomy at 10:59 AM on December 5, 2003

[Engaging rant mode...] House arrest? Given that she placed her own safety, her child's safety, and the safety of other road users in peril, I'd say a custodial sentence in a proper pokey would have been more appropriate.
posted by kaemaril at 10:59 AM on December 5, 2003

double your pleasure,
double-post fun,
just don't let your kid suck a boob on the run!
posted by quonsar at 11:09 AM on December 5, 2003

I agree, but I'd say mental institution, not pokey. Oh yeah, that's right, we don't fund those any more...
posted by badstone at 11:12 AM on December 5, 2003

My favorite part: taking notes about what she should do. If that notebook ever shows up on ebay, I'm all over it.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 11:14 AM on December 5, 2003

Sure. It's always the man's fault. No wonder women only get 70 cents to the male dollar.
posted by HTuttle at 11:15 AM on December 5, 2003

From their church's website:
Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others.
posted by syzygy at 11:27 AM on December 5, 2003

The husband needs his butt kicked.

I'm tempted to volunteer.
posted by konolia at 11:28 AM on December 5, 2003

The Donker sound like they're living in denial, everyone else's Liberty, the sad part their daughter. How much common sense does it take realizing a body between another body & a steering wheel is unsafe? add her husband thinks for her too, so together they must be idiots.
posted by thomcatspike at 11:40 AM on December 5, 2003

Donkers is said to belong to a sect which requires her to follow her husband's orders.

[mom]

And what if he ordered her to jump of a bridge? Would she do that too?

[/mom]

The guys tried for war crimes at Nuremburg say they were following orders too!
posted by ilsa at 11:45 AM on December 5, 2003

it's funny how John Hay, the man actually behind the "tyranny" quote, used to be the assistant of a guy killed by a guy who had a problem with "tyranny" as well
a more interesting Hay quotation is Lincoln's letter to Mrs. Bixby (yeah, the "Saving Private Ryan" letter)

The husband needs his butt kicked.

why? he's a deeply religious man, he's anti-government, declines to give out his social security number, misattributes generic anti-"tyranny" quotations, respectfully keeps ladies in their place.
I also bet he's a staunch Second Amendment supporter.
sounds like a nice patriot to me. isn't he?
;)
posted by matteo at 12:02 PM on December 5, 2003

Then maybe the husband should be serving the sentence.

I believe he wanted too.
posted by thirteen at 12:02 PM on December 5, 2003