Judge's ruling divides 'big football town' (Teens Sentence After Season)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/08/19/deerdecoy.crash.ap/index.html

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.

On one side are those who say allowing Dailyn Campbell, a 16-year-old quarterback, and 17-year-old teammate Jesse Howard to play shows that football players get preferential treatment.

On the other are those who say either the boys deserve another chance or that they will stay out of trouble if they're part of the team.

[Bullshot]

1. Well, we know where that judge's priorities are.

We just CAN'T let these boys miss their upcoming football season. But after the season, it's alright for them to miss school.

And never mind the families of the victims, whose lives are physically screwed up forever.

Geez!

There's a judge that needs to be disbarred or voted out.

[peacebird]

2. Community split over sentencing...

snip "Robert Roby Jr., one of the injured teens, said he believes the boys received special treatment because they're football players.

"They could have killed me and my friend so easily over a stupid prank. For me it feels like they got a little slap on the wrist," said Roby, 19"

snip "Roby is recovering from broken bones in his neck, arm and leg. He spent about three months in a neck brace and has had 10 surgeries. He faces one more surgery on his leg and said he hopes soon to return to the University of Northwestern Ohio."

And his passenger suffered brain damage. But it is "important" that the boys who played the "prank" be allowed to play football for the school this fall. After all - one is a quarterback....

I don't see that football has helped instill anything positive in these boys YET, they should serve their sentences now. Missing the season will likely make a bigger impression on them.

[elehhhhna]

4. OMG. Those boys should be in jail NOW.

[regnaD kciN]

17. Why do you hate America?

:sarcasm:

[elehhhhna]

18. Because it's populated by idiots! At least 40%. Maybe more.

[ninkasi]

16. I think the decision is wrong

The teen-agers who were in the wreck could have been killed. I spent 3 months in one of those rigid neck braces following neck surgery, and I can tell you right now, they get very, very miserable to wear after awhile. The other kid is in worse shape, because he suffered brain damage. So football comes before justice, then?

[elehhhhna]

3. They WERE a part of the team when they GOT in TROUBLE.

WTF is wrong with people?

[Joe Bacon]

5. Football is the NATIONAL RELIGION of America

Where I come from, Ambridge PA, it IS the religion. The big social events are the Friday Night high school football games. Lots of folks live only for this.

When I was at Pitt, I remember when three big football stars were let off the hook after beating a man senseless. Football comes first, everything else is second.

[amandabeech]

11. Football isn't a religion. It's better than a religion. It's FOOTBALL!!!

At least according to the husband of a friend of mine in Texas.

Welcome to America, DU. Having grown up in a small midwestern town, and having lived in small city Texas and the Alabama part of Pennsylvania, I think that I have a fair base of knowledge from which to form an opinion.

There are exceptions, of course.

[gator_in_Ontario]

6. there was a similar case here

some years back. Some kids had taken a stop sign down, and someone got killed as a result. They gave them life in prison, it was appealed.
Bottom line: It was a prank, yes. But the punishment meted out should be served as soon as it is handed down...NOT after football season. :eyes:

[Poll_Blind]

7. I agree- this is truly bullshit. n/t

PB

[NoodleyAppendage]

8. Sure as hell wouldn't have happened for the math or debate team...

This incident of preferrential justice just mirrors the f'ed up priorities we have in America towards education.

We're destined for obscurity and second-nation status because of priorities where football players are heros and academics/everyone else are zeros.

J

[mahatmakanejeeves]

22. Don't be so sure of that.

Student Sentenced for Assault

Student Sentenced for Assault

Teenager gets five years of incarceration for assaulting police officers with a knife.

By Michael Lee Pope
August 3, 2006

The crime was a mystery to everyone who knew him. But behind the impressive report cards and advanced-placement courses, Keegan Zacharie was hiding a secret. The T.C. Williams High School student with a 4.18 grade point average was obsessed with security. Court documents show that he amassed an array of protective material: steel-toed shoes, shin guards, a gas mask, various knives — even a collection of portions from Eastern military uniforms. But there was one item that he did not have: a gun.

Enter “Operation FA,” what Zacharie’s girlfriend testified was his effort to steal a firearm. A notebook found at the scene of the crime thoroughly details his planning for the heist. Court records show that his girlfriend researched the price of crowbars for him, and Zacharie was armed with the knife that she had given him as a present for his 17th birthday in the summer of 2005. He snuck out of his parents’ Rosemont house, and it was shortly after midnight on Sept. 2 when Detective Venus Roman found him wondering through Old Town shining a flashlight into parked cars.

She approached him as Officers Mark Petersen and Sean Casey arrived on the scene for backup. As they questioned him, Zacharie punched Petersen in the face. The other officers tackled the teenager and the three began to struggle. When Roman announced that she was going to use a shot of pepper spray, the officers turned their heads and Zacharie was able to escape. After he got away, Roman, Petersen and Casey realized they had been seriously cut by Zacharie’s hidden knife. He was found two hours later hiding in a nearby alley.

Last week, Circuit Court Chief Judge Donald Haddock sentenced Zacharie to five years of incarceration — one of which he has already served in juvenile detention, two he will serve in a juvenile prison facility and two he will serve in adult incarceration. Amy Bertsch, a public information officer with the Police Department, said that all three of the officers who were wounded during the September attack have recovered — although two of them have since left the department.

[mbperrin]

9. Not a prank, a crime; several, in fact: theft, obstruction of a public

roadway, negligent injury to others, conspiracy to commit a crime; events were foreseeable, even to these immature so and so's - they HOPED to see an accident. 60 days? and in some kind of juvy center? How about some he-man punishment? 60 days in real jail, as many years probation as it takes to pay the monetary damages to the victims, plus court costs plus fines, immediate and permanent dismissal from any extracurricular activities and A GREAT BIG PULIC ACT OF CONTRITION!

Nope, I'm not Catholic, I'm not any kind of religious; I teach this age group, and I am writing from Odessa, Texas, THE Friday Night Lights town with a high school stadium of 20,000 seats and a new $1.5 million indoor practice facility soon to go up for one of the teams in town.

This is just the kind of crap that ruins lives, even those of the perps who get a slap on the wrist, if this is even that harsh...

[flowomo]

10. Yikes, did you see the quote from the principal?

"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."


"Drug out"? Goodness, I hope that man doesn't teach, or even go near, the English department. Actually, he should be dragged into one.

[chat_noir]

15. Rodgers' email

[e-mail]

[elehhhhna]

19. It's the head injury victims fault. That makes for one drug-out recovery.

[Lars39]

20. I wonder if he's a former football coach.

[Bullshot]

23. Actually, he was Kenton's head football coach during the early 80's

They were a perennial doormat in the league during that time. Big kids. Little accomplishment in terms of wins and losses.

Mike Mauk took over the program from Rodgers, implemented a spread offense and made them winners. Kenton has won two state titles and finished state runners-up in the last five years.

[Downtown Hound]

12. My confession: I did something similar to this when I was 14

Fortunately, and I mean really fortunately, no one got hurt and no property was damaged. We once played a game where we stuffed clothes full of newspaper and stapled them together to make it look like a headless dead body and threw it out into the road. It was an incredibly stupid, senseless, mean, and potentially disastrous thing to do, but to a group of 14 year old boys it was extremely funny. The cars would swerve around it, girls would scream, and at one point we even had traffic backed up. At the time, we were incredibly proud of ourselves. Not long after that, I came to realize that we were literally playing with people's lives, and there was nothing funny about that.
Looking back on it, I am fully aware of just how dangerous a thing that was to do, and how lucky I and my friends were to have escaped any serious consequences, not to mention any innocent motorists that happened our way. But whenever I hear stories like this I'm always reminded that it could have easily been me in the place of these kids. Pranks like these are not funny, and I think more effort should be made to educate kids about the consequences of doing stuff like this.

[NYC]

14. Everyone was fortunate in your case.

You were 14, and these two were 16 and 17. They should have matured two years' worth. Perhaps not.

I'm glad your case ended well for everyone.

[MrPrax]

13. An easier solution for the judge...

would have been simply give them short sentences. You give them 20 days.

Or is he a 'law and order' judge that wants it both ways.... :shrug:

[geomon666]

21. Not surprised.

From the state that brought you Maurice 'Six Guns' Clarett.

[donsu]

24. why back when I was in H.S. it was rare for parents to come to games

football or any other kind of sport.

parents dropped of players or student watchers and then came back and picked them up.

I've always thought parents should stay home.

I played on H.S.teams I never needed or wanted my parents to watch. what for? we were kids.

when my own kids played on H.S. teams I didn't watch but I had noticed that parents were getting involved so asked one of my sons if he wanted me to watch and he said he didn't care if I did or didn't. I didn't. it was kids playing. leave them alone.