Parents, kids unnerved during bizarre incident with stranger
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TURNER, Ore. -- A stranger approached two children in Turner recently, making an odd request and making parents uneasy.
Surveillance video from a convenience store shows a van stop next to the two children. It stopped right next to a Porta-Potty-potty, which blocks the view in the video. However, the kids said that's where a man and a woman in a van offered them a quarter to throw out a cup. the kids were able to walk away, but the situation left the family feeling uneasy.
Pamela Zivney, the grandmother of the two children, saw the video and felt a range of emotions from being upset to being scared.
"His actions were deliberate," she said. "He followed the children out of the store, got into the car then followed them with his van."
Zivney's grandkids walked into the Center Market in Turner last week and at one point, they actually interacted with the man while the three of them were at the counter. When the kids left, the man and a woman got into a van and appeared to follow the kids.
"He left the parking lot of the store and pulled out drove 15 feet and pulled back in to talk to the kids," Zivney said. "I don't see how that would be innocent."
Julia Zivney was one of Pamela Zivney's grandkids who interacted with the man in the store. She said the man handed her brother a cup.
"He said, 'I'll give you a quarter if you throw this away in the Porta-Potty-potty,'" she said. "He just grabbed the cup and then walked away."
Pamela Zivney said as he started to walk away, her adult son drove by and saw the man and asked him what was happening.
"The guy told him, 'Peace. It's cool,' and drove off," she said.
The Zivneys are still not sure what the stranger's intentions were.
"I'm glad my son intervened because the kids were between the fence at the store, the car and the Porta-Potty-potty," Pamela Zivney said. "So it could've been bad."
The Zivneys will be keeping an eye out for the van and re-inforcing the valuable lesson of not talking to strangers.
Turner Police said they plan on looking at the surveillance video. They want to figure out who the man and woman are and talk to them about the incident.
One of them probably left a giant deuce on the seat and was trying to trick the kids into looking at it.
Makes me wonder what was IN THE CUP?? Â Sounds like there was something in there that would of had a negative reaction with the chemicals in the Porta-Potty. Â
Porta-Potty-potty???
While I am as alarmed as the parents of the children at the situation, I am also as alarmed at the grammar. Seriously? I once aspired to be a news reporter: no longer. That's pretty redundant KATU. A Porta-Potty is a potty, you don't need to include that in the description. I think everyone "gets" it.
Kudos to the parents for being on top of this! (the stalkers, not the bad grammar)
Mr. AC/DC (the guy pictured in the video), has dark hair and a full beard... and appears to be Arab. Now, don't jump on me for making the observation. The fact that he has approached these children twice in the past week suggests that, yeah, something is going on. Next time, get a plate number from the van.
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 @donny I had something similar when I was young... I have two older sisters and we were walking home one summer afternoon and some guy pulled over and offered us a ride... I was the only one that wouldn't get in the truck and because my sisters knew if they ditched me they would get in trouble with mom so they got out of the truck and stayed with me.  I am sure the guy let them leave because I would of been able to ID him and the truck.  They were pissed but I know I saved theirs and my own life that day and this was in the early 70's.
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 @archangels007 Yes .... but then there was no candy. =(
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Didn't read the story just the headline so take this worth a grain of salt....... Can't we all remember a time when we didn't have to be afraid of strangers? Meeting someone new was interesting and exciting? Sorry, those days are gone .
 @Rob C Statistically, you should have been more afraid then. It is much less likely for a kid to be kidnapped by a stranger than someone they know, and now we just hear about it quicker and more often (not saying it's a bad thing).. Now we even get a chance to recognize the van the same day it happens, which is great. But statistically, things were worse in the 50's than they are now for abuse of children.
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But yes, we worry about it a lot more now. I actually remember in the 70's my 2nd grade teacher running drills with us about saying no to strangers.
They were up to no good. Hopefully police will find out who they are and have a long chat with them. Plus seeing them on TV might make them rethink their future actions.
Whatever that was all about, it couldn't have been anything good!   Glad the kids are OK - hope the grandmother and/or other adults in the household will do some "reinforcing" of safety guidelines for the kids...these days, it can  literally mean the difference between life and death.   It shouldn't be this way, but sadly, it is...