Posted on 07/09/2002 12:48:48 AM PDT by Alan Chapman
Trever Palmer, 17, says he felt nervous and slightly heroic the night he picked up the phone, dialed 911 and informed the King County Sheriff's Office that his father was growing marijuana.
Minutes later, when Aaron Palmer, a Covington computer programmer, returned home from an evening of swimming laps at the local pool, deputies arrested him. They later found more than a dozen marijuana plants growing in a hidden room in the garage and booked the single father of three into the King County Jail on drug charges.
Two months later, as Trever Palmer prepares for his last year of high school, the 140-pound wrestler is still grappling with the consequences of his actions and talked about them in an interview yesterday.
Although police lauded him for doing the right thing, he says half his relatives are mad at him. He's "found out who my friends really are" while trying to avoid Kentwood High School classmates who scorned him, calling him "a weasel" and names much worse than that.
Palmer made the 911 call largely because of a lesson he learned in a Junior ROTC ethics course: "Stand up for what you believe in, don't follow the crowd and be your own person."
He still thinks he did the right thing.
"I felt like I was saving my sister and brother from this guy," he said. "You can only put up with so much."
But his family is torn apart, and his 15-year-old sister may not see the 911 call as such a brave act.
The night her father was taken away, "she really didn't speak much to me," Palmer said. "She was crying and trying to get her stuff together."
Today, she "just kind of avoids me," he said.
Palmer said his 7-year-old brother didn't know what was going on.
Palmer, who is spending part of the summer with his grandparents in Pennsylvania, plans to live with his best friend's family until he graduates and joins the Air Force. His sister and brother are staying with a cousin. Their mother, who is divorced from their father, is unemployed and "doesn't have room for them in her apartment," Palmer said.
Palmer's sister could not be reached last night, and Palmer's father did not return phone calls. Aaron Palmer, 38, was released on $5,000 bail shortly after his arrest and pleaded not guilty last week to a felony charge of drug manufacturing, the South County Journal reported. He faces up to five years in prison.
The boy said many of his relatives can't comprehend his motives for calling police.
"It sucks," Palmer said last night. "I was really hoping that they would understand. It's kind of like that hole in (me) that needs to be filled."
He has tried to explain himself to his father's parents, who "kind of understand, but they are upset."
When he called police, he said, he wasn't considering what would happen to his family. "I kind of figured that would fall into place."
What went through his mind?
"I thought: no guts, no glory," he said.
He thought marijuana growing was taking over his father's life. Instead of spending time doing things with the family, his father tended to his plants -- moving the pots around and watering. He said that on two occasions, people visited the house on account of the marijuana.
Living around drugs is "the part that no kid should have to go through, and I didn't want (my younger brother) to go through it."
There were other conflicts. He thought his father paid attention to his sister's accomplishments, while ignoring his own. And he thought his ROTC courses, which were based on Marine Corps leadership training, put him at odds with his ex-Army father "on different military perspectives."
The "stand-up" message from his ROTC course echoed in his head.
"That set it straight, why I should do it," Palmer said. "For one thing, it's illegal."
He said another factor was the emotions stirred by reading "The Red Badge of Courage" for an English class. He said he was impressed by how a character in the book, a soldier named Nick, discovered his own bravery.
"He stood up for what he believed in," Palmer said.
Apparently this guy's son believed from the evidence that his father loved his pot more than he loved his kids.
GSA(P)
Where would you draw the line?
I would at least draw the line at not putting my children in the position of even having to consider turning me in for some illegal activity. How is that for starters?
Children are always witnesses of their parents. If the parents do wrong the children testify against them by also doing wrong. If the parents do right the children testify for them by doing right. Sometimes, when the parent refuses to act like a parent, the child must also be the judge and call someone else in to enforce good behavior.
If the father was breaking the law, as he was, and refused to stop his behavior, as most pot heads would, the child had no recourse but to turn him in. If the father didn't want his son to do the right thing he should have hid his illegal behavior from his kids. He didn't. Therefore the son had to turn him in.
This kid is an American. He acted like a true patriot.
GSA(P)
There is also a difference between a child (with limited knowledge) and a parent (who is suppose to be a role model for their children).
Futhermore, Beer and Cigarettes are legal as long as the parents approve and buy them for the child, which I would not do.
and, beer and cigarettes are only illegal for people under a certain age, where "POT" is illegal, PERIOD!
Inquiring minds want to know.
Sorry, that isn't an option. "Talking" to your child isn't in the law. Prison is a possibility. Still taking him?
Futhermore, Beer and Cigarettes are legal as long as the parents approve and buy them for the child, which I would not do.
Bzzzzzt. Wrong. Put on your dunce cap. Giving your child banned substances is illegal and you could even lose your parental rights.
and, beer and cigarettes are only illegal for people under a certain age, where "POT" is illegal, PERIOD!
The law is the law. You owe it to your child to have them spend a few years with a new boyfriend,,,named Bruno.
Bingo. Just the fact that this kid chooses to refer to his father as "this guy" indicates that there is more here than the reporter opted to share.
This boy had to consider turning his father in? An implanted brain chip, maybe? But the question I had for you, you being of the opinion that against is the law means, ipso facto, the law is right and must be followed, is at what point can it get to where you judge the law is not right and you stand up to it?
The point is that, if there is such a line, how can you judge that it has not already been passed and you are simply not diligent in standing against tyranny, or, if there is no such line, are you willing to live in a police state?
Bzzzzzt. Wrong. Put on your dunce cap. Giving your child banned substances is illegal and you could even lose your parental rights.
I thought so too, except, I was working in a Pizza restaraunt a few years back. A group with 2 adults, and 2 children (around 3 and 5 YO) came in and ordered beer. They asked for 4 glasses. I went to my boss and said I could not give the group 4 glasses because 2 of them were children. My boss told me that if the parents choose to give the children beer, state law says that is ok.
I chose to make my boss serve them because I would not serve alcohol to minor children.
Take off your dunce cap, go sit in the first row. You might be getting this after all.
If my child is engaging in an illegal activity such as underage drinknig or smoking I would initially attempt to smack some sense into him / her.
OH MY! Child abuse!!!
If not then I would be failing in my parental responsibilities and / or the child is acting in an incorrigeble manner if one did anything less than administer some tough love through the police.
OOPS, back sliding. Tough love? A few years in the pen for illegal drugs? That will teach them! Good for you! You owe it to your children to put them in the hands of the government. Good going, I'm proud of you.
I hope your mother didn't forget to turn in her mother for using booze during the first prohibition. She owed it to her.
Your boss was wrong. He doesn't make state law.
It's sad how many people view the LAW as GOD. There is a reason communists advocate athiesm.
I do not respect the law because it is immoral. Abortion is legal. Growing pot is illegal. Should a moral person respect that?
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.