Posted on 05/11/2008 4:18:12 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s
A Fairfield man is in jail because his daughter hasn't gotten her General Equivalency Diploma (GED).
A judge ordered the father to stay on top of his daughter's education months ago and when that order wasn't followed, Brian Gegner was sentenced to 180-days in the Butler County jail.
The daughter, Brittany Gegner, says her father shouldn't be punished for her problems.
Especially, she says because she's now 18, an adult.
"It's ridiculously wrong," said Brittany Gegner.
"Of all the punishments they could have given him, to make him go to jail?," she asked. "I mean, probation – until I get my GED – would be reasonable, but to send him to jail? That's overboard."
Butler County Juvenile Court Judge David Niehaus ordered Gegner to jail for contributing to the delinquency of a minor by not following a court order which required Gegner to be sure his daughter got her GED.
This comes after ongoing problems of Brittany skipping classes at Fairfield High School and then, Butler Tech.
While Brian Gegner had custody of her, Brittany says it was while she lived with her mother that she was truant.
"I'm about to be 19 and my Dad's being punished for something I did when I was 16," she said.
"It's like I should, if anybody should be punished for this," said Brittany. "I would way rather me go to jail than my Dad."
"They probably should have punished me if they were going to punish anybody," said Brittany's mother Shana Roach. "Because she did live with me at the time, but because he had the custody, that's why he's being punished."
"But I don't understand the punishment all together because she's going to school, she's been going for four months," said Roach. "The only thing that's holding her back is she can't pass her math test."
Brittany has a daughter who's about 18-months-old.
She says she's determined to pass the GED for her daughter – and her father.
The judge says if she passes the test, her father could get out of jail before his six-months sentence is up.
Brittany's step-mother worries the time in jail will ruin their family.
She says he could lose the job he's worked for 15-years.
"I never dreamed they would put him in jail for this – for six months – it's crazy," said Stephanie Gegner, Brittany's step-mother.
"He has no control over what his adult daughter does," she said. "He just doesn't."
Court administrators say that even though Brittany is an adult now, the case remains active in their court because she was a juvenile when the problems started.
They say this type of punishment is rare and reserved for extreme cases when court orders aren't met.
Why don’t they jail all the other parents whose children don’t finish high school?
Heck, in Chicago, that’s about 60% of all parents.
There are many things you won't get without a GED....
. . . and what is the State? That sounds like U.S. broadcast call letters so I suppose it is in the U.S.
Insanity rules. Whatever problems this family had or has I don’t see how this could possibly help the situation.
Put the judge in jail.
A bit of judicial overreaching? Uh...yup, IMO. This is pathetic. This man has a job of 15 years, had custody of the child after a split in the marriage, and is biting the big one for actions of the 16yo kid and her mother, some three years back?
Deadbeat dads don’t get 6 months around here...must be saving jail space for the ones trying to the do the right thing.
I haven’t decided if I agree with this or not...but hey...it’s working. She’s serious about getting her GED now.
I think it is Ohio, but I couldn’t tell for sure. These idiot news sources assume that somehow we will know the state by the name of the city
/johnny
The news came out of Cincinnatti.
There must be no real criminals in Fairfield.
This is outrageous.
I’d like to order the judge’s wife to ensure that the judge gets his medical degree in two years, or she goes to jail.
Fairfield is a suberb of Cincinnati, OH.
Why don’t they jail the TEACHERS when kids don’t pass?
Nanny ping
How many of those parents would be getting their kids to school if they knew they could go to jail?
I’m not sure we have the whole story here. Has this family been in trouble with this girl before? Was the dad warned? Are they supporting the child or is the state?
"60sChild" was also too buzzed-out to notice this little item following the article: Copyright 2008 The E.W. Scripps Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Yours in the service of maintaining FR...
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.