Chapter Nineteen:Kathy Kohm:How Much Is A Child Worth?

 Chapter 19

    How much is a child worth?  

    Gash was found liable in the civil trial.  Now the court had to determine the amount of damages that he had to pay to Rosemary and Bill Kohm. 

    They had to come up with a dollar amount somehow. If an adult is killed in a car accident and the other driver is found liable in civil court; the court will consider the salary of that deceased adult.  How much would they have made in their expected lifetime? What has their family list in terms of earnings? 

   The court had to ask the incredibly disgusting question of how much a child is worth in 1981. They determined that by asking grieving mother, Rosemary Kohm, to testify about the chores that Kathy did at home.  Did she babysit for her little brothers?  How often did she babysit?  What would you have to pay a babysitter now?  Did she clean around the house?  What types of cleaning?  Did she clean bathrooms, do dishes, vacuum, dust furniture, mop floors?  Did she do chores outside the house like mowing the lawn or weeding the flower bed?  Did she wash windows?  Did she wash the car? How much would you have to pay someone to do those types of things from age 11 to say age 18 when she would have gone off to college.  There was no doubt that a bright girl like Kathy would have gone off to college. And once at college she would probably get married and then her labor would belong to her husband and not her parents anymore. 

   This devil’s arithmetic was used to come up with a grand total of $5,000.  11 year old Kathy Kohms was worth less than a used car.  




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