Posted on 06/17/2007 7:28:37 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
A Sellersburg man was arrested and charged with battery for allegedly spanking his son with a leather belt.
Sellersburg Police Department Deputy Chief Donnie Ross said the 7-year-old child’s mother called police Sunday night when he wouldn’t stop crying after suffering a spanking from his father, 46-year-old Ernest E. Haycraft of the 1900 block of Lincoln Drive. Haycraft told police the boy was being punished for purposely breaking one of his toys and that he only struck him “three or four times,” Ross said.
Officers, however, arrested Haycraft after seeing a raised, red welt on the boy’s buttocks.
“(The officers) saw that it was bad enough abuse, and that he needed to be arrested,” Ross said of the incident.
Haycraft has never before been arrested by the Sellersburg Police Department, and Ross thought it to be “a singular incident that hasn’t happened in the past.”
The investigation has been turned over to Child Protective Services of Clark County. A phone call placed to that office Tuesday afternoon was not returned, but a spokeswoman did confirm that a caseworker was investigating the incident. Ross said officers took pictures of the boy’s injuries and submitted them to CPS.
Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Shelley Marble — who specializes in crimes against children — said these types of cases do come across her desk from time to time.
“I probably get about one or two of these (types of cases) a month,” she said from her office Tuesday afternoon.
The problem, she said, is that what police officers find to be probable cause for an arrest often isn’t enough for
prosecutors to get a conviction.
“If a mom whips a kid with a belt, and the kid says it happened and the mom says it happened but there are no marks, then that’s enough for (police) to substantiate inappropriate discipline, but not enough for us to file charges,” she said.
“These types of cases depend on a lot of different variables,” she continued. “You do have parents that are disciplining their child and then you have beating — there is a difference. You have to look at each case individually.”
Marble said she had not yet been informed of the charges preliminary filed against Haycraft and that she likely wouldn’t be until CPS completed its investigation.
Ross said Sellersburg police have, in the past, made similar arrests “where parents have, in our opinion, overreacted to misbehavior and gone above and beyond what we would consider normal discipline.”
“They don’t happen often, but they do happen,” he said.
“drowns puppies too i bet....”
the author of all evil on the face of the earth.
No, my folks were what we'd call now "full service", lol. The implements of justice in ascending order were a sharp word, a slap on the bottom or two, formal paddling with the flat of the polystyrene Fuller Brush shower brush (which we called the "paddy whack" -- think that's an old family Irishism), and the Wrath of God, my dad's heavy, enormous, 11-foot-long, 48-pound black leather belt.
The hissssss of that belt sliding out of its loops was more alarming than all the red lights and klaxons ever made. It was the sound of the rushing wind, announcing the coming of the hosts of divine retribution. It was awe-inspiring.
It also announced "bed no dinner" and various other, purely minor consequences that were dwarfed by the enormity of what was about to happen, lol.
Although I distinctly remember my mother once or twice pretending either ignorance or a special, one-time abatement of the "no dinner" sentence, and quietly bringing me a small plate with something edible on it after a dinner, to soften the mightier interdicts of justice. With a lecture, of course.
After a while, one could begin to see the crowd appeal of mothers.
The mother is a traitor & a rat.
I have to disagree with that. That's assorted neo-Marxist statists trying to atomize society and establish a one-on-one, liege/vassal, parent/child relationship with every citizen. It's far more wicked than the misbehavior of children or the punishments meted out by parents.
No doubt some parents abuse kids, but on the facts as related in the story, not in this case. The authorities are intermeddling.
No supper go to bed... boy do I remember that. I also if I were really awful be prohibited from watching Davie Crockett(sp).
I would really scream and cry about that. To add insult to injury my brother and sister would get to watch it and they would keep the sound just loud enough that I could only hear mumbling but not follow the dialog.
Most everyone person I know of my generation received corporal punishment as a child. Most of us have no scars (physical or psychological) to show from our rearing (pun intended). I am sure that is because of the other side of loving parents who use corporal punishment. That is the balancing of that one small part of our parenting with positive reinforcement techniques and good old fashioned love and affection. My son has received exponentially more hugs and kisses than he ever has spankings. In almost every case I feel that Kim and I exercised good judgment in doling out the appropriate numbers of each of those categories when they were needed. That said, parental guilt is still a constant among those of us involved in the parenting game.
There was a local councilwoman in California last year who wanted to outlaw spanking and make it an offense in itself punishable with fines and jail time. Not surprisingly, she was a single woman who had never birthed or raised a child. I have seen many child psychologists on talk television rail about how a certain percentage of criminals in this country were raised with corporate punishment. I will readily debate that from my generation of all of us who have no criminal record my guess is 95 percent or higher were the recipients of some form of corporal punishment either at home or in school.
Another thing fairly common in my childhood was a smack to the face when a child spoke in a disrespectful manner to an adult. Usually one of those would cement a child’s decision not to talk back or speak crudely to an adult. It is certainly not unusual to hear children speak to their parents in public today in tones that were unheard of a generation ago. Apparently, the “Time Out” parents don’t mind Little Johnny expressing themselves in such a disrespectful manner in a public setting. In my childhood days it would have absolutely been a rare thing to witness.
A child needs to know boundaries and rules. When a child breaks the rules or exceeds those boundaries the punishment must be known and be consistent. Sometimes you can’t be a friend to your child rather you must be the one who doles out the necessary and appropriate punishment. It is very important to have the respect of a child.
On Fathers Day we are left to ponder our roles as fathers. Surely there will always be some second-guessing on the part of any parent worth their “World’s Greatest Father” mug. I stand vindicated by my choices as the proof is standing in front of me when I watch my son politely address those around him, always rush to hold open a door for a senior citizen or a female, and universally exhibit good judgment and behavior in the appropriate setting.
Perhaps my proudest moment came from a person who makes their living as a clown at children’s events who observed Cameron at a young age standing patiently in line and politely asking, “Sir, could I please have a balloon dog.” Children all around him were cutting in line and demanding multiple animals. After Cameron’s obvious and sadly out of the norm public behavior, the clown stepped out of character and walked over to me and shook my hand saying, “Dad, that doesn’t happen by accident.” That was as good a gift as I will ever receive enclosed in Fathers Day wrapping.
I do wish for that father in Sellersburg to somehow manage to have a Happy Fathers Day.
http://www.news-tribune.net/opinion/local_story_168004616.html
I don’t doubt your resolve to neuter children who disrespect you. We all need challenges.
Aim high!
Good point.
One way or another, three wacks of a belt on ass usually get a kids attention. Welts or not, the kid will be just fine. This is no abuse.
I agree.
lol, I know exactly what you mean, see above.
I also got the "this is going to hurt me more than it is you" thing.....which never computed for a second and was absurd on its face, lol.
I’d rather a mildly abusive father than family poverty when the state takes away the breadwinner, or no family at all when the state takes the kid away.
>>I had my share of raised red whelts and I survived and learned a lesson. A difference in beating and spanking, bruises and red whelts.<<
Yep, you don’t need a weapon to hit a 7 year old, if you are a grown man.
This was one of the children’s parents who requested government intervention. Yes, sometimes a parent will make up or exaggerate accusations to get back at the other parent for some unrelated matter. That’s what we have trials for. But if a child’s mother is feeling the need to call police over a beating that the child’s father delivered in their home, then it’s right for the police and courts to get involved.
That does seem to be a bit of overkill over a toy. It’s his toy, let him break it - doesn’t mean I have to replace it. I know my sons broke a few, I don’t think it was ever deliberate but my oldest got impatient a few times when the toy wouldn’t do ‘what it did on TV’ and it got thrown. “Now you have no toy at all, oh well...!”
I got a very few spankings, with Dad’s hand. The only one I remember is when I was about 4, I went to a neighbor’s house that I wasn’t supposed to (he was ‘weird’) with another little girl. Dad saw me coming out of the house and bam, I got it. He just didn’t hit us. My sons have rarely been spanked, my oldest is 20 and a Dean’s List college student, works and is totally respectful and polite, an all-around terrific young man. My youngest is 15 and well on his way to being the same as his brother. And none of us are criminals ;) My H on the other hand, was whipped regularly by his dad. His dad could be pretty mean when they were little. And H got into trouble with drugs as a teen, trouble in the Army, shoplifted....although that was all before I met him, it didn’t stop him from doing a lot of things he shouldn’t have.
“See the first quote on my FR home page.”
That bit from “Atlas Shrugged” was what I was thinking about. Frighteningly accurate. Good home page, BTW.
Hillary would love you.
Evidently you wouldn’t know respect from ricotta. “Neuter?” What are you talking about? When you children are among others, what is the subjct of their conversation? Anything noble? Anything of eternal importance?
So if a mother calls police and tells them her husband has beaten their young child and she’s afraid the child has been really injured, you don’t think police should come over and get involved?
You have to understand - it’s not about the toy, or eating the extra ice cream, or whatever -
it’s the willful defiance of the parent, no matter the situation - this is what REQUIRES correction.
Most parents/adults simply don’t understand this.
So, I see you admit that you, as an adult, must submit your will to those of the “youth” - since they obviously know better.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.