City Official Calls for Mass Sterilization

A member of the city council in Charleston, South Carolina, shocked everyone by calling for the mass sterilization of parents who can't control their children. "We pick up stray animals and spay them," stated Larry Shirley. "These mothers need to be spayed if they can't take care of theirs. Once they have a child and it's running the street, to let them continue to have children is totally unacceptable."

Shirley's comments were in reaction to a hold-up of a local video store by children. One of the kids was alleged to be a 14-year-old girl who was carrying a BB gun that looked like a pistol. In all, three children were responsible for the robbery, including the girl mentioned above, a 12-year-old boy and a nine-year-old boy. The nine year old was not charged with a crime, since authorities believed he was too young to know what he was doing.

Shirley ended his remarks, which were made during an interview for The Post and Courier of Charleston by stating, "What we've got is a failure in society, whether it's in Mount Pleasant with yuppie parents or whether it's on the East Side with poor crack head parents."

His comments have been met with general horror. State Senator Robert Ford, who used to sit on the same council dismissed the remarks as "crazy" but did acknowledge that something needs to be done to address the issue. Ford stated, "What Larry Shirley needs to talk about is getting City Council to provide some recreational facilities and activities for these kids and creating an atmosphere conducive to a normal society."