"My daddy died this year in Iraq" fraud

Colleges & Universities Service Academy Parents
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<p>[Girl</a> won Hannah Montana tickets with fake essay - USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-12-29-fake-essay_N.htm]Girl”>http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-12-29-fake-essay_N.htm)</p>

<p>Girl won Hannah Montana tickets with fake essay</p>

<p>GARLAND, Texas (AP) — An essay that won a 6-year-old girl four tickets to a Hannah Montana concert began with the powerful line: “My daddy died this year in Iraq.”</p>

<p>While gripping, it was not true — and now the girl may lose her tickets after her mom acknowledged to contest organizers it was all a lie.</p>

<p>The sponsor of the contest was Club Libby Lu, a Chicago-based store that sells clothes, accessories and games intended for young girls.</p>

<p>The saga began Friday with company officials surprising the girl at a Club Libby Lu at a mall in suburban Garland, about 20 miles northeast of Dallas. The girl won a makeover that included a blonde Hannah Montana wig, as well as the grand prize: airfare for four to Albany, N.Y., and four tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert on Jan. 9.</p>

<p>The mother had told company officials that the girl’s father died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq, company spokeswoman Robyn Caulfield said.</p>

<p>“We did the essay and that’s what we did to win,” Priscilla Ceballos, the mother, said in an interview with Dallas TV station KDFW. “We did whatever we could do to win.”</p>

<p>She had identified the soldier as Sgt. Jonathon Menjivar, but the Department of Defense has no record of anyone with that name dying in Iraq. Caulfield said the mother has admitted to the deception.</p>

<p>“We regret that the original intent of the contest, which was to make a little girl’s holiday extra special, has not been realized in the way we anticipated,” said Mary Drolet, the CEO of Club Libby Lu.</p>

<p>Drolet said the company is reviewing the matter, and is considering taking away the girl’s tickets.</p>

<p>Okay, if you want to e-mail the company that sponsored the essay contest to give them your opinion of what they should do, here’s a link.</p>

<p>[Club</a> Libby Lu](<a href=“http://www.clublibbylu.com/contact.aspx]Club”>http://www.clublibbylu.com/contact.aspx)</p>

<p>Personally, I think that there are lots of young girls whose fathers are serving now, or who may have really lost their dads who could be happy for a time with some Hannah tickets.</p>

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<p>^—Agreed.</p>

<p>There are MUCH more deserving people than her to get those tickets. Liars don’t deserve them when there ARE a lot of good people out there.</p>

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<p>I shudder to think of what this young girl’s parents will stoop to in 12 years when it is time for her to fill out those applications and do those essays to colleges. What lessons has this child learned, from her mother no less? And, what an insult to the those men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. </p>

<p>ARGH… Please cover your ears… I’m sure you’ll hear me screaming no matter how far away you are!</p>

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<p>I can’t believe that the company is just “considering” taking away the tickets…</p>

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<p>This morning on the news the little girl’s aunt was saying the it was just meant as a “good story” and that she (the little girl) didn’t “lie” she just wrote a good story. However, the news also showed the initial interview with the girl and her mother and you could see how nervous the mom was with all the reporters around. She obviously knew that they had done something wrong.</p>

<p>I don’t know what the parameters of the essay contest were or if they were clearly stated. That may be why the company is just “considering” taking away the tickets. However, morally what this family has done is wrong and they should willing give the tickets back.</p>

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<p>I read this morning that the company took the tickets away and gave them to another contest participant. Needless to say, they aren’t publishing the new winner’s name.</p>

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<p>But if the contest just said, write a good story and not anything about it being true, then it doesn’t matter that she wrote fiction and not fact. If her mother wrote it for her, that’s different.</p>

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<p>Somehow I just can’t imagine a 6 year old girl writing “My Daddy died in Iraq” on her own.</p>

<p>That kinda thing always attracts BAD KARMA to those responsible.</p>