Overbearing authorities punish father for giving son lemonade

I saw the menu this man looked at when he ordered lemonade for his son.

It said:
Beer
Lemonade
Peanuts

If it had been all alcoholic beverages on the menu, I wouldn't buy the man's story that he made a mistake. But who would guess that there would be NO non-alcholic beverages on the menu?


From CLCIK ON DETROIT
Dad's Oversight Lands Son In Foster Care
April 28, 2008


ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- An Ann Arbor couple's 7-year-old son ended up in foster care over Mike's Hard Lemonade.

Christopher Ratte, 47, a professor at University of Michigan, claims he accidentally gave his son, Leo, some of the alcoholic beverage at Comerica Park a few weeks ago. He said he didn't even know the alcoholic lemonade existed.

"I got a beer for myself and asked Leo if he wanted a lemonade because there is a sign that said, 'Mike's Lemonade,'" said Ratte.

He said he bought his son the drink at the beginning of the Tigers game and it wasn't until the ninth inning when a security guard noticed the bottle in Leo's hand.

The security guard asked Ratte if he knew it contained alcohol. He said he didn't and when he went to grab the bottle out of the child's hand, the security guard grabbed it first.

"It's just the simple fact that I didn’t know this brand and didn’t suspect some of the lemonade sold in ballparks are alcoholic."

A short time later, Ratte was being questioned by Detroit police at Children's Hospital, where the child was taken by ambulance.

The child said he was feeling a little nauseated, but showed no other symptoms of being intoxicated.

The security guard said the boy drank about 12 ounces of the hard lemonade, which is about 5 percent alcohol.

However, the child's bloodwork detected no trace of alcohol.

The child remained in foster care for two days before his mother, Claire Zimmerman, a U-M architecture professor, was able to take their son home as long as the father relocated to a hotel.

It was two more weeks before the father could move back home. The last hearing closed the case.

Ratte and his wife have filed a formal complaint with the Child Protective Services ombudsman's office stating they thought the treatment was excessive.

"Fine this guy bought this drink for his son. We need to look into it, but we don't need to take the most extreme measures," Ratte said in reference to Child Protective Services.

Ratte has apologized for his mistake.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/16031059/detail.html