It was intended to be a prank: steal a decoy deer, place it on a country road and watch as motorists swerved to avoid it.It ended with two teenagers suffering serious injuries when their car hit the decoy and rolled into a ditch.
When a judge ruled this week that two boys — both high school football players — can complete the football season before they serve 60-day sentences at a juvenile detention center, it caused a division in this northwest Ohio city.
Of course, that’s not the outrageous part — this is:
“I’ve never seen anything that has been so much an issue in the community,” said Arch Rodgers, principal of 670-student Kenton High School. “The worst part is this has drug out so long and the longer it drug out, the more it created friction in the community.”
A high school principal using “drug” when he meant “dragged”? Outrageous!
No wonder these kids think theft and reckless endangerment are no big deal. Look at their educators.
As for whether these kids are getting special treatment qua football players, and whether we generally punish youths too harshly or too mildly for willful misconduct, I leave that to you and the comments field. My first impulse is “Hang ‘em high!” What do you think?
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5 responses so far ↓
Link Dave // Aug 19, 2006 at 12:36 pm
Certainly of more import than the NSA wiretap thing.
Link The Friendly Grizzly // Aug 20, 2006 at 12:12 pm
The Cult of the Jockstrap worked its way down to the high school level years ago. They're athletes, so of course they get a free pass on this.
I was going to write that had some National Honor Society physics majors done this sort of thing the sentence would be more harsh. But I rethought it: I doub the average NHS student would do this prank in the first place.
Link Chris Innes // Aug 20, 2006 at 5:22 pm
Look at how seriously their two victims were injured. And it could have been worse - they deliberately placed the decoy where it was hard to see. This stupidity is akin to throwing rocks off freeway overpasses. These two idiots deserve considerably more than 60 days.
Link Brian R. Miller // Aug 20, 2006 at 5:48 pm
Of course NHS students would have the book thrown at them, complete with a condescending lecture from the judge about how they should be "more responsible and intelligent than this." Jocks and have always gotten a free pass in our society, which rewards physical prowess (and popularity) over merit.
A similar case happened when one of the alumni of my school abused his position as a teacher to have sex, repeatedly, with one of his students. He confessed to this crime, yet he and his supporters (including other teachers) were outraged and enraged when the judge handed him a hefty jail sentence rather than just "community service." Had a more cerebral teacher committed a similar crime, it wouldn't have even been an issue, but one of the people who commented to the local paper said "but he's popular, he should get a warning." And this is over what is, essentially, rape — a 30-year-old man seducing a 16-year-old female student and having sex repeatedly with her at his home!
However, where statism and populism fails, karma upholds. Just look at most of the jocks when they're 40 — things catch up with their bodies, their minds and their lives. Meanwhile, if I was one of the injured teenagers, I'd be preparing a civil law suit which would ensure that the majority of their football scholarships were paid to me as punitive damages.
Link Zen // Aug 21, 2006 at 1:14 pm
I was going to chime in with my $0.02, but Miller seems to have covered what I was going to say and outstandingly so.
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