Posted on 09/21/2010 10:19:26 AM PDT by Gennie
LAKE MARY, Fla. – A Florida father wept as he apologized at a news conference for storming onto a school bus and threatening children onboard because his 13-year-old disabled daughter had been bullied. James Willie Jones' voice cracked during the appearance Tuesday. He said he himself was acting as a bully and no parent should copy his behavior. He says his daughter suffers from cerebral palsy and he "could not stand by and helplessly watch her suffer." Standing by his wife, who also wept, Jones apologized for how he handled the situation. Jones was charged last week with disorderly conduct and disturbing a school function for the Sept. 3 incident. He posted $2,000 bail and was ordered to stay away from the driver and county school buses.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
You support a state-sponsored, enforced and supported solution to a cultural problem.
That is sad in my opinion. You have your own different opinion.
He may have overstepped a bit (I couldn’t really discern the audio well), but I’m not a sue-happy person. Maybe if my kid was the cruel one - but isn’t that rich? As for my kid being innocent - go ahead, Dad!
My dad stormed onto our (nasty) neighbor’s property, right into their garage and “threatened” their kids and their friends, who loved torturing me there and at school. They were visibly scared. Then they had the nervous gaul to laughingly dismiss it on the bus the next day and call him “ugly”, etc, - but I saw their faces from our driveway. They were scared and didn’t say a thing to him. They need that respect drilled into them that their parents failed to do over 10 years.
“I wonder how many of these FReeper parents would still have these same remarks if it were their kids on that bus (who had nothing to do with the bullying)”
If they weren’y involved, they probably loved it. Because they couldn’t do what he did or they would be the next target. He protected more than his own kid.
How does that Bible verse go? "Woe be unto those who call evil good, and good evil" or some such?
I can understand why he did it.
Is your rationale for the charges to set precedent for future events or apply justice for the alleged violation?
This is certainly a serious situation and I’m not condoning the father’s response to his daughter’s story regarding abuse. On the other hand, I’m not inclined to slap the man down.
This case reminds of the one where the father punched a teacher on school grounds for allegedly molesting his underage daughter.
lol...If I recall you suspected the kids bullied her due to her fathers actions.
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Yeah. Sorta. I called the father into question because he had no self control.
Emotional, irrational, unstable people often raise children who are vicimized.
They man went to the school board? Maybe he carried on with them in the same manner he did on that school bus. If so, why should they pay him any mind?
I’m just speculating here. I am not stating any facts. I’m just saying....
“Because they couldn’t do what he did or they would be the next target.”
Rightfully so, because apparently they wouldn’t have any precipitating reason to storm the bus!
“He protected more than his own kid.”
Possibly so. At least to make the kid(s) more subdued. Of course, this “apology” travesty may erase all that and make it worse, at least for the bullied.
I’m not saying he should ignore it by any means. What I AM saying is that it take stories like this for me to stop and wonder what my daughter’s life would be life if we never had to deal with bullying. We have had to accept it just like we had to accept her disabilities. And it sucks.
“The bus driver stood by and did nothing.”
I don’t really blame the bus driver, as I think he’s in a no-win situation here. He’s white, driving a bus full of black kids. He knows that if he verbally confronts the troublemakers, his words won’t have any positive effect, and he’ll probably just be accused of racism by the unruly kids or their parents. He also knows that if he is more direct, and walks over to where the problem is taking place to try to establish order, it is very likely that he will be assaulted. He knows that if he is assaulted, he will have to take whatever they dish out, because if he raises a hand in his own defense, he will be accused of racism for striking a black kid, and will probably lose his job at a minimum, and possibly even be prosecuted.
A fathers love
Excellent example. You're talking about Dave Swafford who punched a teacher's aid because the girl said he had touched her inappropriately. Well guess what folks, this is why we have a court system. Turns out Dave's daughter wasn't particularly honest after all, and Dave assaulted a man who did no wrong. Acting on emotion like Dave did is never a good idea.
He should sue the school system.
Makes me think his lawyer told him an apology would be a good idea, but I'm cynical like that.
“I wonder if the girl was the victim of bullies because her father has no self control?”
Wrong. She was the victim of bullies because there are almost always bullies allowed to run riot over other students on school buses. The administrations do very little or nothing about it- out of sight, out of mind, I guess.
Driver’s do their best, but a driver usually cannot stop bullying because, well, they’re busy driving and don’t know what is happening behind the seats in the back of the bus. Also, the roar of the engines prevents them from hearing anything the kids are saying to one another, unless they are yelling directly to her. And driver’s are not allowed to discipline kids, only to report their behavior.
I drove a school bus for 8 years, and was always very concerned about bullying and aggression, and I did everything within my power to prevent it. It ate me up to know that some of the sweetest little innocents were experiencing obscenities and bullying from jerks in the back, and most of the time I couldn’t see it.
But when I would report bullying to administration, the bully would receive a tiny “slap on the wrist.” I couldn’t even get the bullies kicked off the bus for a week.
The final straw came one afternoon as I sat loading students at the high school. The bus bully threatened, right in front of me, to “kill dead” another young teen whom she had already been bullying relentlessly for a month. (She had been punished for it too, although not nearly strongly enough). I ordered the bully to move to a front seat, to get her separated from the victim. The bully simply refused, repeatedly.
We hadn’t left the high school yet, so I called for administration’s assistance. Three administrators in succession came onto my bus and were unable to get this b**** to budge from her seat at the very back of the bus. If it had been up to me, my next step would have been to call her parents to drive to the school and get her off the bus themselves.
But no. By now 4 adults had instructed this girl to come forward, but when she still refused, the principal turned to me and whispered “Would you please just take her home and I’ll deal with this tomorrow?” My jaw must have dropped. The victim was stunned.
The principal, vice principal, and dean of students filed off the bus, and when I closed the door and pulled away from the curb, the roar of victory from the bully and her friends was deafening. I drove them all home with obscenities raining down on my head the entire way. That was it for me. I never drove a school bus again. The administration couldn’t understand why I had quit.
So I don’t blame that poor father in the video- he probably tried everything else and raving threats were all that remained to him. Oh, and be sure to notice how the kids are laughing out loud at him almost the entire time. They are not at all afraid of his impotent rage...
Sorry for the MASSIVE post. This really struck a nerve for me. I know just how he felt.
Excellent comentary
LOL...good lawyer, the weeping was inspired.
Well, only if he really wants to go to prison.
FReepers have a long history of this. I searched but can’t find the original thread, but this has happened before. Dave Swafford assaulted a teacher’s aid in FL back in 2006 who allegedly molested his daughter, and certain FReepers were absolutely rabid in coming to the guys defense. He was a shining example of fatherhood, deserved a medal, blah, blah, blah.
A few months later Newsmax broke that his daughter and some friends had set the whole thing up. She just didn’t want to go to school anymore and thought that accusing this guy of touching her would convince dad to keep her home.
There are good reasons why our founders were so enamored of due process. Acting in the heat of the moment, and dishing out punishment without due process is a recipe for disaster.
Under ordinary circumstances I would agree. However kids that bully a handicapped little girl deserve a taste of their own medicine at the very least. If the school had done its job and protected his daughter from her tormentors he wouldn't have had to take matters into his own hands.
Thankfully as you can see from all of the comments supporting the father both here and in the original article, most people aren't sticking up for the little bullies like you are. It gives me hope for society that apparently most people still have common sense enough to recognize who the real bad guys are in a situation like this. Since you seem to have difficulty, I will give you a hint. It is the bullies who terrorize a handicapped child, not the child's father who is trying to protect her.
Under ordinary circumstances I would agree. However kids that bully a handicapped little girl deserve a taste of their own medicine at the very least. If the school had done its job and protected his daughter from her tormentors he wouldn't have had to take matters into his own hands.
Thankfully as you can see from all of the comments supporting the father both here and in the original article, most people aren't sticking up for the little bullies like you are. It gives me hope for society that apparently most people still have common sense enough to recognize who the real bad guys are in a situation like this. Since you seem to have difficulty, I will give you a hint. It is the bullies who terrorize a handicapped child, not the child's father who is trying to protect her.
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