It may be Sunday in Florida, but for two high school seniors arrested over in Polk County for parking with their respective teenage girlfriends, it's no Happy Days come Monday morning.
The young men--who engaged in consensual typical teenage behavior with their respective girlfriends--are eighteen-years-old. Unfortunately, because of the age of the girls--fourteen and fifteen years of age--both have been charged with a felony, specifically lewd battery and lewd battery and lewd molestation.
Reportedly, both boys have been suspended from their high school baseball team. Worse yet, the typical school disciplinary action for any community violation when enrolled in a public school is a formal hearing where the outcome is often abeyance school in lieu of expulsion for the student.
Talk about collateral consequences? Kiss your high school graduation good-bye. Any potential scholarships? See ya. Making matters even worse, one of the seniors was a "...promising second round pick in this summer's major league baseball amateur draft."
(Key word. Was).
Now, the kid (along with his buddy) may spend this summer as a first round low level sex offender. Bye, bye Future.
The local sheriff sums up the entire situation in a logic attributable to Larry the Cable Guy.
"As a daddy, if my 14-year-old little girl is engaged in that conduct with an 18-year-old man, the safest place he could be is in the county jail," Judd said
(BTW. The parents of the girls have elected to press charges).
Speaking of the Polk County sheriff, he found himself featured between the newsheets of Playboy. Sheriff Grady Judd was quoted in the "Newsfront" segment of the magazine (page 127) for coming down hard on about a dozen law enforcement officers who, after working a drug bust last year, chose to bowl a bit of Wii after all the excitement died down. (The Sheriff had refused an interview, but because of his status as a public official, the request is merely a journalistic courtesy),
The Florida state legislature spends oodles of time passing unfunded mandates to help protect students, most recently in the form of bullying legislation.
If I were the parents of those two eighteen-year-olds, I'd want to know why the Legislature has neglected to consider legislation which would require an overview of the Florida sex offender statutes during mandated sex education instruction for all high school students, both male and female.
As the current abstinence policy is certainly not demonstrative of learning gains. I'd say, hold the Florida Legislature accountable, because honestly...
...aren't we about tired of making criminals out of our young people?
