Losing common sense in Arizona

I'm beginning to think many Americans in positions of authority have lost their minds. No, I'm not talking about the White House (this time). In the second highly publicized incident in as many weeks, a school administration has demonstrated abusive enforcement of rules (or in this case no rule at all) supposedly in furtherance of being politically correct.

The Chandler, Arizona school suspended a 13-year-old boy for doodling on a piece of paper what school officials believed to be a gun. You be the judge. Here is the doodle:

There is nothing in the school's policy that prohibits the drawing of a gun. There is nothing in the drawing that indicates a threat to other students or teachers. The drawing does not show blood, guns, bullets, injured persons or identify any particular individual. It does show stick figures and smiley faces. The boy said he did not intend it to be a threat, but was just doodling without thinking about it. But that got him suspended.

When the parents confronted school administrators about the suspension they were told they were trying to prevent another Columbine and stressed the seriousness of this "offense."

How difficult is it to use some common sense? School officials won't talk now, saying it would violate the privacy rights of the student. What about the student's free speech rights? Or the right to be left alone to doodle?

Surely the public is getting sick and tired of this sort of behavior from school and other public officials, who are more than willing to dispense with the baby in order to throw out the bath water.

Restoring common sense in Oregon

Police and school officials in McMinnville, Oregon apparently do not know the difference between criminal sex offenders and unruly boys. But, thankfully, a judge does.

Criminal sexual abuse charges were dismissed by a judge against two 13-year-old seventh graders who had been handcuffed, held in jail for five days, and charged with felonies after running through a school hallway slapping the butts of female classmates.

Do this as a college student and you make Girls Gone Wild. Do it at an Oregon junior high and you face prison time. See the story:

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/bottom-slapping-case-dismissed/20070820171109990001

We're seeing more of this every day. Prosecutors and school officials who crucify childlike behavior. The prosecutor had no qualms about charging the boys, saying their criminal behavior was "life altering." As it turned out, several boys were swatting the heinies of girls, and several girls were doing the same to the boys. The only thing life altering about this story is the abusive prosecution conducted by the state.

If this trend continues you would think the students themselves would cry for bringing back corporal punishment in our schools. Three licks from a football coach is a whole lot better than what these poor boys had to go through before the judge said, "enough is enough" and dismissed the charges "in the interests of justice."

The people in McMinnville, Oregon should be taking a close look at whether the district attorney and the school officials should continue in their jobs. They should also re-elect Judge John Collins for restoring common sense to their community.