Reason #753 To Not Have Kids: Having to Decide Which Gang They’ll Join

It could cost you your relationship with a loved one.  It could cost you your freedom...

At the very least, it could cost you your relationship with someone you've impregnated, not to mention blighting your criminal record. 

Typically you'll hear about couples having a row over what religion their child will be indoctrinated into.  You know, he's Jewish, she's a guilt ridden Catholic that still whips out the plaid skirt from time to time. Synagoguge or Mass, Latin or Hebrew, hide it from his stereotypical Jewish mother, or risk destroying the family unit by being up front with her.  I've seen it a thousand times. If this were the only critical decision in the relationship/child rearing process, Joseph Manzanares might be a man free of a 1 year probation sentence.  Unfortunately for Joe, he had to learn lesson #753 the hard way.

Manzanares was arrested earlier in the week after storming into and trashing up his girlfriend's place of work, the Hollywood Video in Commerce City, Colorado.  Apparently Manzanres flipped out over an on going dispute he and his lady friend were having over which gang their 4 year old child should join.

Commerce City police chief James Sandovall eloquently summed up the situation:  "They have different ideas about how the baby should be raised.  Basically, she said they cannot agree on which gang the baby would claim."  The child's mother is a member of the Crips.  Manzanares is a member of the Westside Ballers.  The prospect of seeing his son grow up with a blue bandana on his head obviously didn't sit well with Manzanares.

I guess I can see that, but for that kid's sake, for his parent's sake, for our sake, I really wish this particular row was over AMEC or Roman Catholic.