A week or so after I returned from DePauw, my buddies Shayne and George were questioned by the police. Now why this happened was because after a night of drinking Shayne and George were returning home and they saw a mutual friend walking to Lancaster High School. Because one of the intersections contains a middle and high school near it, the road is always congested right before school, adding a large amount of time to the relatively mundane practice of turning around.

From what I can gain, Shayne had stopped and George left the van to start randomly dancing around the middle schoolers. One of the kids was frightened enough by this that ey told the school authorities who promptly got in touch with the police. Soon after (it may even have been the day of the event), cops came to both Shayne and George�s houses. Considering this was still early in the day, George ignored the cops while Shayne talked to them. While they were recounting event, the authorities told Shayne that an attempted abduction charge could be pursued, which definitely scared both Shayne and George.

Things quieted down for the next few days, and it was about a week or a week and half after the incident that we were all hanging out at Hiles� house when Shayne called up and updated us on what happened. Aside from the original charge, two private detectives were called onto the case as well as the parents of the child asking that charges would be filed. This time, the charge of abduction had sibling charges, with disturbing the peace as well as attempted coercion of a minor. We don�t know what will happen with George and Shayne, but there are a number of witnesses among the circle of friends that will be more than happy to establish both George and Shayne as the two people furthest from child abduction as one can get.

While I have yet to talk to George about this, it seems as if ey, scared of the possible ramifications of the case, is starting to try to push the burden of guilt on Shayne by telling the cops that Shayne invited the child in question into eir�s van. That is just absurd; there was no coercion, and everyone that knows Shayne knows that the kid is someone who is just trying to eke out a decent life. Shit just keeps happening that holds eir back, Shayne is only like another friend of mine, Barton, in that ey is still in Lancaster, but Shayne has tried a lot harder to make something of eyself in the post-high school period than Barton. It would be beyond tragic to see Shayne go to jail or have eir�s life go farther astray than it has; right now, Shayne has so much on eir�s plate that it isn�t funny, whether its trying to settle all of eir�s late father�s matters or trying to work on eir�s CD. Much as I love the kid, I can�t see George doing much of anything in the next few years with ey�s life.

What the hell is wrong with this fucking city if someone can have charges filed against them for doing the robot on a public sidewalk? I don�t care if George is a scary-looking 350lb guy, it is just the principle of the matter. There was no asking for kids to come in Shayne�s van, there was no ill will, and it is just one of the largest mistakes that all parties find themselves in that could seriously fuck up the lives of two very innocent individuals. I�m not Christian, so I can�t necessarily pray for their well-being, but I know they will be in my thoughts. May they be in yours as well.

Part II: Its Smoking.

I was here in the house yesterday, and we got a letter from the Juvenile Court of Lancaster, Ohio addressed to my sister. I had no clue what this letter could be for, so I ended up just joking around before giving it to her. Turns out that she was cited for juvenile smoking and that she would have two options: that she could either go to court for a case concerning the infraction or spend nearly $150 in fines. The odd thing with that is that right before she got the letter I had caught her smoking in her bedroom, because her bed was smoking (well, she had a lit cigarette in an ashtray in her bed). As soon as she read the letter she started crying, that late in May, the DARE officer had caught her pulling a cigarette out of the pact.

What is fucked up about this matter is that my sister was never given a warning, and wasn�t even driven home by the cops. In fact, she wasn�t driven home because apparently the cops had stuff in the back of their car. What we are not sure about here was whether my sister was discriminated against because of the pentagram ring she was wearing. I mean, $150 for pulling out (not even having it lit) a cigarette is absurd, considering that my sister is a good student and has never been in trouble in her life. The only thing that I am not sure about was whether my sister copped an attitude with the police officer. I know that most of the time she is respectful, but she does have something of an attitude when she feels that she is in the right.

It is just garbage that the police can even think that people will stand for these inane offenses. I have respect for some police officers, but a lot of them are the equivalent of Alex�s droogs in A Clockwork Orange � stupid, spiteful idiots who get off on the miniscule amount of power they are given. These two cases are perfect indicators of why people should stand up to the police when these overzealous individuals go beyond their duty and shake the foundations of the rights that we, as citizens, have been imbued by over 800 years of common law.