I had my kiddo piece for this week all
planned out in my mind. I really did – until I read about the
early demise of our most recent Juvenile Court judge. It brought
back memories…
Juvenile Court judges have one of the
toughest, most heart-breaking jobs on the planet. They pour their
heart and soul into their job, they’re dealing with young, moldable
minds, and that’s a responsibility I can’t even fathom. But
sometimes it comes with jocularity too.
One of my Things, I won’t say which
one, got in trouble in middle school. I’m talking about -6th-
grader!
He, and 3 other friends, found a pill
on the gym floor. A pill.
This pill got passed around between
the 4 of them. None of them knew what it was. None of them took it,
and I had no idea -any- of this was going on.
After passing said pill around between
them for a couple weeks (I can only imagine the pocket lint that came
with it), none of them had a clue what it was. -But- it was a
prescription medication, out of the bottle of the prescribed
individual.
One of the boys said it was a hormone
pill. His mom took them, and if you gave it to a girl, she’ll like
you. They collectively tried to decide what girl they wanted to slip
that pill into her school milk. They never could decide -which-
girl, or who was going to slip it into her milk so she’d like
-him-.
Back and forth it went between them,
until the last “holder” told my Thing he’d sell it to him for
$1.00. My thing bought it.
Here we go to the principal’s
office! The resource officer at the time wanted to charge it up to
youthful stupidity. No one got hurt, so let it go. The principal at
the time wanted to make an example of those dumb a$$ little boys and
pressed charges. Now we enter the world of juvenile court.
All 4 boys received 3 juvenile
felonies. Possession of a controlled substance, possession of a
controlled substance out of the original bottle, and.. I can’t
remember the 3rd – it had something to do with talking
about slipping it into a girl’s milk so she’d like them. My
Thing got a 4th felony – purchasing a controlled
substance. -That’s- where his lunch money went.
The look on the judge’s face during
their sentencing was priceless! I have -NO- idea how he kept it
together!!! The kids were too scared to notice the smile on the
judge’s face when he put his head down and covered his eyes with
his hand, but he -had- to sentence something. These were -NOT- bad
kids. Naive, yes. Bad, no.
Each child was sentenced separately,
but it all came down to the same thing. Juvi “Boot Camp.” Boot
Camp was just what you’d expect, but these were little, spry
children compared to the lazy, “bad a$$” teenagers going through
the same camp. All was held at the old Cousins, and the lil’ kids
enjoyed the break from school. Run up the hill, roll back down, run
up the hill, roll back down… It was PLAY time!!!
Juvenile records are sealed once the
child reaches legal adulthood; 18 years old. Bet there are a lot of
adults that would kill for the same thing. These lil’ kids were
given a gentle lesson, and all turned out to be good men (don’t
tell them I said so!).
The wisdom of a good judge can change
a lil’ life forever. I thank all our Juvenile Judges for their
service.
