Granny of tot snatched by radical vegan dad makes offer
BY VERONIKA BELENKAYA, MICHELE McPHEE and NANCY DILLON
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
The grandmother of a Brooklyn toddler kidnapped by his vegan father promised yesterday to put the boy on the radical diet in exchange for the child's safe return.
In another bizarre twist, Raphael Spindell, father of 14-month-old Andrey, called Brooklyn cops yesterday and denied threatening to kill his son and himself if the police closed in.
"I never threatened to kill my kid. I love my kid," Spindell told a cop, according to a high-ranking police official.
Police say Spindell and Andrey's mother, Alexandra Spindell, snatched the boy on Saturday because Raphael Spindell was angry at his mother-in-law for feeding the tot a conventional diet.
Grandma Zoya Watterson, who has custody of the boy, said Raphael Spindell kidnapped Andrey from her Coney Island apartment after raging that the child was consuming bread, soy milk and other foods not allowed in his extreme veganlike diet.
Raphael Spindell, 34, later called to say the family was living "in the forest" and threatened to kill himself and the baby if the cops tried to arrest him, Watterson said.
"We have some leads," a police official said.
Watterson is ready to give in to the demands of her son-in-law, who wants her to put her promise to feed the boy a vegan diet in writing.
"The letter is ready; I'm going to notarize it across the street," Watterson, a 54-year-old Russian immigrant, told the Daily News.
"I beg you, send [Alexandra] and Andrey home and figure things out on your own," Watterson said in a plea to Raphael Spindell, through The News.
"What you've done by taking the baby away, your problems with the police, you should deal with them like a man and not keep your wife and child in uncertainty."
Watterson gained sole custody of Andrey last week after the Administration for Children's Services found the child was suffering from malnutrition.
The story recalled the case of Queens parents Joseph and Silva Swinton, who were convicted last year of nearly starving their baby girl to death with an extreme vegetarian diet. Ice Swinton, who is now healthy and living with a relative, was 16 months old with no teeth, a distended belly and rickets when authorities visited her home in November 2001.
But Christopher Shella, the lawyer who represented Silva Swinton at trial, said the current case is different because Spindell is a vegan zealot who rejects mainstream nutritional advice.
"With the Swintons, they were trying to take care of the child the best they could, and once they got better advice, they took it," Shella said.
Still, the Rev. Herbert Daughtry of the House of the Lord Pentecostal Church in Brooklyn, a vegetarian activist, said yesterday he would support the Spindells as he did the Swintons. "I am here to try to help resolve this in a way that doesn't become fatal," Daughtry said.
Experts blast diet
Nutrition experts say little Andrey Spindell's diet of breast milk and raw fruits and vegetables is inadequate and dangerous.
At 14 months, Andrey should be getting plenty of cooked grains such as rice, bread and cereal, plus cooked dried beans like chickpeas and lentils, they said.
And fortified soy milk also would ensure he's getting all the hard-to-find vitamins he needs for healthy brain development.
"Raw veggies and fruit are wonderful sources of nutrition, but they're not superhigh in the calories and fat that a growing baby needs," said Marilyn Tanner, a dietitian with the American Dietetic Association.
Reed Mangels of the Vegetarian Resource Group said vegan babies need at least 24 ounces of milk - either breast milk or soy-based - every day.
"There is good evidence that a vegan diet can promote growth and lead to a normal baby and child, but it has to be appropriately planned," said Mangels, author of the book "Simply Vegan."
Okay, soy and bread are bad why? Did this idiot have an attack of conscience after reading Maddox's bit on the great animal slaughter during commercial grain harvests?
What the hell kind of a vegan diet is that? I just thought vegans weren't supposed to eat animal products and such. It's unacceptable to endanger a kid's health, like that. Christ!
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Don't bother the zealot with your science or your logic. All he needs is faith.
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Raphael Spindell, 34, later called to say the family was living "in the forest" and threatened to kill himself and the baby if the cops tried to arrest him, Watterson said.
Think the cops need to pluck him with a crossbow, welcome to the forest, jackass.
The worst thing about vegans is that they can often sustain their bodily functions on a half-assed diet but they forget that they were raised on a normal diet, and what they can (marginally) function on is totally inadequate for a growing child.
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing
"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness
"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.
The key word about the soy milk and bread is "fortified". Lots of those crazy fuckers have a problem with vitamin fortifying foods.
We're omnivores. These people need to come to accept that fact. It's no more immoral for me to eat beef or milk than it is for a wolve to eat a rabbit.
I hate Vegans.
I had a Bill Maher quote here. But fuck him for his white privelegy "joke".
The key word about the soy milk and bread is "fortified". Lots of those crazy fuckers have a problem with vitamin fortifying foods.
We're omnivores. These people need to come to accept that fact. It's no more immoral for me to eat beef or milk than it is for a wolve to eat a rabbit.
I hate Vegans.
It may be natural and normal, but that doesn't mean it's moral or immoral, although I am not a vegan.
The key word about the soy milk and bread is "fortified". Lots of those crazy fuckers have a problem with vitamin fortifying foods.
We're omnivores. These people need to come to accept that fact. It's no more immoral for me to eat beef or milk than it is for a wolve to eat a rabbit.
I hate Vegans.
It may be natural and normal, but that doesn't mean it's moral or immoral, although I am not a vegan.
Try sociobiology. In the case of what we are evolved to eat and how we have evolved to function.. and seeing that our morals themselves evolve and are a function of our environment, I dont think it is necessarily falicious in this case.
In regards to thks nutjob Fuck him, Fuck him in the ear with a razer wire dildo.
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Master of Ossus wrote:What the hell kind of a vegan diet is that? I just thought vegans weren't supposed to eat animal products and such. It's unacceptable to endanger a kid's health, like that. Christ!
Veganism for kids is different than adults.
These folks need to face facts - kids are not simply 2 or 3 foot tall adults. They need a different diet since they are growing.
Things I've read are that while a strict vegetarian diet can be perfectly healthy for adults (as long as the proper precautions are taken), the same isn't true for kids. The younger they are, the more differences exist between a healthy diet for them and adults.
If these idiots would breastfeed their kids for 4-6 years they MIGHT get enough fats and calories... but that would presume the MOTHER is getting enough fats and calories to produce adequate (quantity and quality) breastmilk.
Humans actually CAN live entirely without grains... but not without replacing them with something else, particularly for B vitamins. You CAN live entirely without dairy... if you get your calcium elsewhere. Because we are omnivores we CAN elminate many foods and stil have enough edibles left to live on... as long as we don't restrict ourselves too much. And that's where people like "fruiterians" run into trouble. They eliminate too many options.
Growing children NEED fats. In fact, restricting fats prior to a certain age (3? 4?) is actually hazardous to children and can have dire effects on brain and body development. What is a readily available source of fats and high-quality protein? Meat! Fish! Insects! Yes - those evil animal products! Even folks who are traditionally vegetarian - such as the Jains - in the past had food containminated with enough insect parts and such to supply the essential nutrients that are not found in solely non-animal diets. Jains in places like the UK and US, in fact, start suffering nutritional deficiencies because western food handling is too efficient at eliminating animal contaminants.
Just keep nodding to the guy and making all these promises...then when he comes back to civilisation with the kid, take the kid away from him...and beat the fucking SHIT out of him, then throw his ass in the slammer, making sure to feed him nothing but meet.
According to a National Geographic docu the other time, the wolves in the zoo of Kaboel are still alive but are poorly fed. Someone should propuse that guy to make the ultimate sacrifice. He'll die happy, the wolves get to eat a descent meal, the keepers of the zoo will be happy and I'll be happy.
