Posted on 10/23/2007 2:31:25 PM PDT by uxbridge
The report of a Weare father attacking his daughter's boyfriend on school grounds after discovering the teenagers had sex earlier that day has evoked passion in readers.
The boy is 17 and the girl is 15.
Police say the attack happened Sept. 10 as John Stark High School in Henniker was letting out for the day and was witnessed many students.
The girl's father was charged with simple assault, a class B felony.
A Weare police detective was interviewing the 17-year-old from Henniker yesterday, said Deputy Chief Bill Quigley, but no charges have been filed against him.
Because the girl is not old enough to consent under state law, police are investigating the father's allegation as a sexual assault.
The story drew comments from Myrtle Beach, S.C., to Baghdad, Iraq.
Many people defended the irate father's actions, with one reader suggesting a defense fund be set up and several others saying they would contribute.
"If more parents acted like this father maybe we wouldn't have so many teen pregnancies," wrote Dorie Smith of New Boston. "It's refreshing to see a father stand up for his child and not just say, 'Oh, that's what teenagers do.'"
Others said the man should be prosecuted for violently taking the law into his own hands.
"I am also shocked at the number of people defending the father's actions," wrote Tina Thompson of Sutton. "The father's actions are vigilantism at its worst, and I hope the authorities throw the book at him."
Michelle Howard, of Henniker, said an adult should be expected to have more control over his fist than a teenager has over his hormones.
"As a mother of three boys," she wrote, "I will make sure they get every kiss and so on in writing, to protect us from some testosterone-raging father."
The boy, who police say was dating the girl, was bruised in the attack and required two stitches in his face.
Police said the father discovered the teens had sex during school hours but not on school property.
The New Hampshire Union Leader does not identify sexual assault victims. For that reason, the newspaper is not identifying the father.
Chris, of Nashua, said there's little danger of stigma being attached to anyone involved in the incident.
"The 15-year old girl is not a victim here," he said. "She is a teen engaging in sexual activity - just like 90 percent of her peers. Therefore the father does not deserve to have his name hidden from the public. Publish his name in the paper just like any other adult who is charged with assault."
Meg, of Derry, agreed, saying many teen girls are sexually active.
"People see the word 'rape' in statutory rape and think that the boy forced himself on her like a beast," she wrote. "Let me tell you, that is hardly the case in many instances. ... Assault is assault, Pops. Jail is where you go, and you learn YOUR lesson just like your daughter and her boyfriend learn theirs."
Sue, of Pembroke, said lessons could have been learned, but weren't.
"This would have been the perfect opportunity (for the man) to show his daughter how adults behave themselves when faced with a difficult situation," she wrote. "When she is an adult she will look back and realize the infantile manner in which her father behaved himself."
Tonya Ferrara, of Manchester, said vigilante justice - family style - might play a useful role in crime fighting.
"Maybe if this happened to sex offenders the first time they were caught we wouldn't have repeat offenders," she wrote.
Using violence to solve problems is the real threat to society, wrote Christina, of Henniker.
"Let the father of the boy beat up the father of the girl, and then the older brother beat up the older brother," she wrote. "Why stop there? Why not have his friends beat up her friends? It's views like this that start world wars."
Mark Emerson, of Lancaster, said the man's chief mistake was getting caught.
"Put in that same situation," he said, "I probably would have knocked his lights out also, just without all the witnesses."
Tom Linehan, of Salem, defended the father's actions without qualification.
"There ought to be a fund to help pay the legal fees for people like this father who not only defend their kids but also more broadly defend the rest of us from miscreants," wrote Linehan. "There is no defense for rape."
My younger daughter was 15 at the beginning of her Sophomore year. I was 15 at the beginning of my junior year. It can and does happen.
Reminds me of someone I know...
The new boyfriend of the teenage daughter stops at her parent’s home to pick her up. She gets into the car, and he screeches the tires, racing away down the road. The father immediately jumps into his truck, races after the car and stops them. He sends the daughter to the truck and tells the now ex-boyfriend, “If you ever come near my daughter again, I’ll kill you.”
Kids can make a mistake ,,and the little girl should have had enough self respect to keep her legs together.
Perspective. Should this boy serve prison time for having consensual sex with his girlfriend? Remember that he will be labeled as a sex offender for the rest of his life, and that he was a junior and she was a sophomore.
We have a daughter and a son, both in their 30s now, but we told both of them “you don’t want your butt kicked, don’t do things to put yourself in that situation. Think about consequences or you’re liable to get educated in a painful way.”
That thing about consequences was the hardest thing for our daughter to grasp.
You yes it provokes ire and so demeaning so why use it!
Teach the whole reason of a better life and a desire to do acquire a love for doing the right thing!
Man o man, after reading this, I would hate to suggest that both families (mothers, fathers, all kids) be required to go thru extensive family/parenting education classes. I would probably be castigated for even mentioning that the bad deeds have been done and now should come the real solutiuon to family problems that beatings, etc. won’t solve..
Ummm..15 years old isn’t middle school. At least not where I’ve always lived. At 15 I was a HS sophomore and at 17 I was a senior. Most of the girls I knew ‘went with’ seniors at that age, the girls aged 15/16, the boys 17/18, depending on how your b’day fell in the school year. Middle school was ages 11-13 for the majority.
It’s not like he was dating a 12 year old.
“What if the 17 year old boy was your son?”
I would hold him so the father of the girl could get some better licks in.
Well, in early-1970s Brooklyn, the guys pretty much dated gals in the same grade. I recall no one I knew, not one person, who dated down-in-grade one or more years. Perhaps we had strange dating rituals relative to the rest of the country.
I think this is an issue that should be taken care of by the parents of both the boy and the girl. Sending the boy to prison and giving a punishment that will last a lifetime is ridiculous. How much will it cost the taxpayers to send this boy to jail and keep him there?
I always thought the difference between a liberal and a conservative was that liberals thought the government should regulate everything, and conservatives believed in limited government and personal responsibility. Apparently liberals believe in government regulation and control of high fat foods, and conservatives believe in government control and regulation of high school sex.
High school sex isn’t a great thing. Good religious values and strong parenting are the answers. Government regulation and taxpayer funded punishment is the liberal answer to problems.
Careful there...I made the same statement and it appears I have offended someone.
I don’t think so. I have a friend who is going through this with his son now. Son dated same girl for 2 years, got along with her mom well. After he turned 18, mom wanted him to help her score a little blow, he refuses, she turned him in for statutory rape. He served a year, a couple of months off for good behavior, but will have to register as a sex offender now.
In spite of all the parents of sons who say they would support the boy paying the consequences of what he did, I would venture to guess that if it really was their son, they might feel differently. Who really wants to see their 18 year old son go to jail for a year for having consensual sex with his gf? 18, good kid, good grades, HS football player, never been in any kind of trouble, well liked, polite, respectful, kept a pt job and lived to work on his old car, relatively sheltered middle class life...now he’s in jail with some seriously bad guys. And then there’s the lifelong stigma of the registry. Might be hard to get a job. Some careers are closed to him now, even though he’s never been and never will be a threat to a kid. Have to register if he moves, if he goes to college. All the neighbors will be notified that you have a sex offender living in your home when he’s released. Depending on where he lives, he can’t live near a school, park, library, rec center, YMCA, playground (and that list keeps growing). Anyone can look it up at any time online and find out their new neighbor is a sex offender and most don’t discriminate between a true pedophile or rapist and a teen who had sex with a teen.
It’s not a life I would wish on a teenage boy who had sex with his girlfriend. Pretty much a life sentence and pretty harsh considering many men had sex with their high school sweetheart.
Another excuse....Don’t ever face the current situation..
Yea I know and I agree,,
Ah, we always dated the older guys. They had a car and usually a job so we could actually go out on a real date! When I was a freshman, I dated a senior, got to go to the senior prom, the envy of many girls, lol. Very few of us dated the guys in our class. I remember watching the guys when I was a senior and most of them were dating the freshmen or sophomores while we were dating guys out of HS. Mostly through HS, it seemed like the girls were more mature than the guys were and dated accordingly. This was a HS that had less than 800 kids in grades 9-12.
I met my H while I was still in HS. He was 3 years older, had been in the Army, had his own place etc. The guys my age seemed to want to do nothing but party and act like big frogs in a little puddle. This was a guy I could spend quality time with, just hiking, hanging out and talking. We’ve been married going on 23 years now.
Sounds just like a those who say that women or girls that are raped must be stoned.
Yup, I can see that for sure. Knowing that mommy and daddy will come and defend little precious against the mean, evil, wicked, nasty father of his diddling will certainly make this world a better place.
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