Posted on 05/08/2005 7:04:09 AM PDT by Nachum
This case, the teen in Ohio and kids pulling senior day pranks. The answer seems to be homeschool them, get them out from any other adult authority other than the parents. This to me is the greatest danger of homeschooling. Not that the children will have problems socializing with their peers, but that children will not be able to understand that they have to sometimes follow societies rules.
Enjoy your stay in jail. Seriously, you would "jack up" a cop because your darling little child decided to talk smack to him? I know what my dad's reaction would have been if I had been arrested for this.
How many kids in this country don't even know how much fun it is to build a snow fort because there is either no snow or no place on their property for a really neat one?
Not a good move to smart off to the officers, but the jig was up, their fun was ruined, and they won't have happy memories about snow forts to tell their grandchildren, if they ever get to that point.
OTOH, taxpayers OWN public property.
Methinks the public servants here are forgetting that last minor point....
Yes, but this is the people of the nation, for the nation, and by the nation.
I see nothing in this report indicating school functions were being interfered with by these children playing in the snow.
So, if me and my four buddies just want to sleep in the gym overnight- without disturbing school functions of course, then it's ok?
If your kids want to play in the snow, why shouldn't they? This was a case of a total lack of judgement by the police (assuming the report is accurate).
Framingham police make regular rounds of all town property at various times of every day. They likely saw these kids on school property on a snow day where the school was closed and decided to shoo them.
On the other hand...I grew up in that town. Framingham cops have always been like this. Lots of attitude and swagger. After all, one has reputation to uphold when you work for the largest town in America.
So it was one of those freak snowstorms where it just happened to snow only around the school?
Sounds like some hard heads got butted together and the cops won. They usually do. The kids should have moved on.
>>>>"Why would an officer exaggerate what happened," Norris continued. "Like all of us, he has a job. Everyone wants to be promoted, wants to get ahead." <<<<<
This one kind of bothered me, Do you get promoted in mass. By arresting kids building snow forts?
I am sure the tax payers want to keep these hardened criminals behind bars.
Cops usually exaggerate what happened. Many cops in rural areas have to create excitement, because many of these have not grown beyond the bully they were in school.
A snow fort???? Sounds like these youngsters were preparing for a rebellion. I say try them for sedition. And tell Deputy Fife to put his bullet away, and get back to filling out accidents reports. DF!
In this case, I see very little that indicates that the holder of authority was using it in a respectful way. I see another cop with a short man's complex, using authority in a way that deserves questioning.
If you want authority to be respected, you better entrust it to those deserving respect. Do you think that's the case here?
Based on what I perceive happened, if I were on this jury, there would have been a hung jury, at minimum
Time for this cop to be put on meter maid duty - without a gun. No judgment, no ability to influence a situation without wasting a lot peoples time and energy. Poor communication skills.
Restrict advancement opportunities and rate as poor performer.
Send a memo to all other cops - please do not arest any other kids playing in the snow.
Too bad the kids didn't paint a pink triangle on the fort -the media would be calling for the cop's head.
If I were a kid in Framingham I would have a hard time not treating this as an open invitation to give the cops some real crime and destruction to deal with. This totally deamages the cops and courts credibility. Since now anything is a crime, why not do anything?
Diva's Husband
Another country heard from WHO DOESN'T HAVE A CLUE about homeschooling.
Quit listening to the liberal propoganda, find a homeschool group, and talk to the parents about what they believe, and why they are homeschooling. Then find some people, 25 years old an above, who were homeschooled, and talk to them. Don't limit it to just one. Do a number of them. That way you know your results are accurate.
Then come talk to me about your lamea** comment.
But you weren't on the jury, and didn't hear all the information. When a policeman tells people they are trespassing and must leave the premises, well, the smart thing to do is say yes sir, sorry sir and leave. We didn't get all the facts from the story, and yes a lot of cops are power hungry Barnie Fifes. But, children need to be taught to respect authority.
"Not a good move to smart off to the officers,"
Now if asking a cop for his badge number is smarting off. Correct me if I'm wrong here but I believe a cop HAS to give his badge number when asked.
The other side of the story I don't believe we're hearing is that for some reason the jury trial did convict them.
That's a dumb over-the-top argument to make in a case like this. If you ever have me on a jury, don't start with a petty incident and claim that it has such overwhelming significance...it turns on the B.S. meter to everything said thereafter.
If the snowfort was simply on the public property and did not compromise the security of the building...the officer is a dolt.
Conversely, if the conversation went on more than a couple of minutes, the kids should have been gone. Surely there must be a dispatch record for the 20 minutes being roughly accurate, yes?
If this escalated because of a request for name and badge#, the local populace has a problem on its hands.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.