Wednesday, August 23, 2006

 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Admittedly, this news broke last week, but I didn't have time to get on it.

Alright. Here are the links. A group of teenage boys in Ohio took a deer decoy and placed it in the middle of a road for laughs. A car came down the road (as cars are wont to do), and the driver swerved. He broke multiple key bones, his passenger suffered brain damage. BRAIN DAMAGE!!!

Two of the boys were sentenced to community service, house arrest, and writing an essay "Why I Should Think Before I Act." The kicker is, lame as this punishment is, it does not set in until...After Football Season.

I'm including both CNN and Fox links. The CNN one is overly confusing, I think because they were avoiding using the names (juveniles and whatnot).

CNN

FOX

This is just so wrong. So many things wrong with it, my fingers are all spastic and I can't even process this.

First off, is the judge auditioning for the role of Pilate in the next Passion?! Sure seems like it!! He says, "I shouldn't be doing this, but I'm going to." This fits PERFECTLY with my recent (unblogged on) thoughts on weakness of character. If he shouldn't be doing it, THEN WHY THE HELL IS HE!?!?!?

Secondly, he finishes that inane sentence with "I see positive things about participating in football."

Sure, there are positive things. None of the articles say if the boys have been on the team, and if so, for how long, but I'm thinking they're rising juniors and seniors. And if so, they've probably been playing their entire high school career. And IF SO, being on that team has obviously not helped them one iota.

Know what's also positive? BEING PUNISHED FOR YOUR ACTIONS. Learning that there are ramifications!! Know what else would keep them out of trouble? BEING WORKED TO THE BONE.

And you might be thinking "Oh meghan, you don't understand. Sports build character, encourage responsibility, enforce discipline. This will be good for the little deviants." Yeah, I know. I played volleyball in high school, several hours a day after school, every day. It was fantastic.

But with that said, if I ever did something foolhardy and dangerous and SOCIALLY IRRESPONSIBLE, I would know that going to volleyball was the least of my problems, and that taking part in a sport is a privilege.

I'm saving the best/worst for last.

Did the mom of one of the troublemakers actually say this??

The mother of the oldest boy, Valerie Berry of Ashland, Kentucky, said her son has a strong support system and will be able to move on.

"With this stunt he was a child," she said. "He's an adult now."


What? I thought, no. This must be from the mom of one of the victims. I checked the sources, and no. It's the mom of one of the deer decoy ruffians.

IF I EVER did anything like that, you can bet my mom wouldn't be spouting off platitudes like "She's an adult now." She'd be telling the world that I'm under house arrest, off the volleyball team, doing 25 hours a week at a homeless shelter, and she took away my license, all vacations, all fun and light from my life.

Does she not realize that her son's actions led to someone having brain damage, and that was a lucky outcome?! Those two guys in the car could have died. She makes me feel ill.

Ridiculous. I don't know what disturbs me more. The horrible parents (the mom, the stupid dad saying that his son has owned up to the consequences, defending his actions), or the judge. I think when it comes down to it, the judge frightens the crap out of me. Talk about a sinister character from a movie...he's supposed to be for justice, a shining example for the town, and he makes this poor decision that makes a mockery out of civil obedience and propriety.

And yeah, they're young. It was a stupid mistake, and they probably did not think of what would happen if a car did come along. One could argue that it was premeditated, since they had to prop the deer up, but I'll be nice and chalk it to a momentary lapse of judgment. But it's so important to actually learn from your mistakes, and in a big way. There needs to be a guarantee that these stupid high schoolers learn that there are some lines in life that you just do not cross. Ever.

If anyone, anyone at all disagrees with me...please. Tell me. Because, for the life of me, I cannot see the logic in any of this.

Comments:
Disagree? Uhhhh....no. Isn't there a charge like "reckless endangerment" or something that could get them sent to juvenile hall?? Those kids need to go away for a while. And yeah, it won't be nice. And yeah, they'll miss the football season.

But this is something they don't tend to understand in Ohio (and other Midwestern and/or Southern locations)...High School Football Is Not That Important. It's just not. Yeah, that's how some kids are going to get to college...but if you do something THAT stupid when you're SO old enough to know better, do they really WANT you at their colleges (where the opportunities to kill someone with your stupidity are even more numerous)????

Argh.
 
Totally with you, Meg.

Yet another case of lame softie judges not being able to judge.
 
mel: yeah...I never understood the whole small-town football mentality. Thank goodness! Have you seen Varsity Blues? I haven't.

Wombat: who judges the judges? or something.
 
I can't believe that didn't even get a few months in prison! I don't think this is what people complain about when they say, "activist judges." This is an absolute disgrace!
 
This is ridiculous!!! These boys don't have to pay?! At all? Come on!

Wow...don't they realize that they aren't going to learn anything from the situation if they don't punish them more than this? A slap on the wrist isn't enough!
 
/claps

/totally agrees

They're lucky I wasn't the judge; it would have been nasty for those kids. Discipline goes out the window and adults wonder why our generation is full of monsters.
 
cams: DAMN STRAIGHT!

traveling chica: hurray! new reader! I'll definitely check out your blog :-)

jason: Their parents are pretty monstrous too. We should start an outside-of-the-law crime-fighting league to counteract these fools.
 
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