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The 'right thing' tears at a family
Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | July 8, 2002 | Chris McGann

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.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: libertarians; wodlist
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To: Alan Chapman
That kid is an F'N IDIOT.

'Nuf said. And, BTW, doesn't Washington have a Medical Marijuana law? So the dad is growing LEGAL MEDICINAL HERBS? Truly, the kid is a f'n idiot.

201 posted on 07/09/2002 1:16:48 PM PDT by cracker
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To: truefrankness
drug laws may be wrong but not unconstitutional?

If Congress does something which they have not been empowered to do would that not constitute an unconstitutional act?

...this is too typical of the problems with america today...the greatest act of freedom is to just do what you think is right...

I think America's greatest problem is widespread misconception about rights. Violations of liberty and property abound as a result. But, because they are done under the auspices of jurisprudence they are erroenously thought of as right and just.

202 posted on 07/09/2002 1:21:25 PM PDT by Alan Chapman
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To: ThomasJefferson
I explained that since this happened they have changed the law, or that I was misinformed by my boss.

I am sorry, I had meant to say sorry, I got called away for a minute, and when I got back I had lost my train of thought. I am sorry.

Now, do you believe you may have been harsh in saying I needed to check into a treatment center? If so, I would like a retraction to that statement.

203 posted on 07/09/2002 1:21:52 PM PDT by trussell
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To: piasa
There's a difference between American police officers following the US constitution and state laws which we have made freely ... and the Gestapo, whose activities and existance would be impossible under the US constitution and US state laws.

Impossible? You haven't read the "USA PATRIOT Act." Wherein the Fourth Amendment has been effectively abolished. Nor noticed how U.S. citizens are now being held incommunicado, without being charged with a crime, without attorneys, and without allowing habeas corpus.

With how D.A.R.E. encourages kids nationwide to inform on their parents, even when they are acting in ways that injure no one (and growing marijuana plants in the basement qualifies), what makes such an atmosphere different from that of what was impressed upon the Hitler Youth? Absolutely nothing.

This boy is a budding authoritarian, the perfectly formed product of the government schools, who isn't wasting any time putting his training into practice.

And you're SO cute when you're mad. ~g~

204 posted on 07/09/2002 2:11:09 PM PDT by Greybird
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To: piasa
A father who is conducting illegal activities in his home has placed his kids and wife in a position of having to cover for him, in other words, they have to lie to their friends about why they can't go in the basement, or lie about where daddy is, or what daddy is doing.

I had not really thought about that until I read your well-written post.

205 posted on 07/09/2002 2:13:00 PM PDT by Drew68
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To: FreeTally
If anyone's having trouble diserning between personal bias and objective truth its you not I.
206 posted on 07/09/2002 4:39:34 PM PDT by KantianBurke
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To: ThomasJefferson
Kinda like the slack you cut the father?

Heh heh heh....

207 posted on 07/09/2002 7:41:28 PM PDT by Anamensis
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To: stands2reason
I was single, doofus, and my family didn't know.

You are a drug dealer and I'm a doofus? LOL Your family didn't know that you were the scum of the earth so it's OK? LOL

I was also not dumb enough to get caught.

Oh no, your'e not dumb, but you can't earn a living without dealing drugs. LOL

Nor did I deal to or around children.

What a great guy!!!! (like kids didn't get your goods)

The reason I quit is that the risks outweighed the rewards,

Not because it was wrong, but because you didn't like the risk reward ratio. LOL

meaning the longer I continued to deal, the more likely it would be that I would be caught, so I quit.

Great guy! He didn't quit for any reason other than he didn't want to be caught? Same reason you don't steal cars or rape little girls?

Tell me, Tom, do you buy your dope in the middle of a shopping center, or do you do it in a more out-of-the-way place?

I have never used an illegal substance in my life, and the fact the lowest scum on the face of the earth doesn't believe it doesn't matter one tiny bit.

Now I suppose you are in favor of the WOD and incarcerating those who did precisely as you have done. Amazing what turns up on this conservative forum. Climb back under your rock you despicable swine.

208 posted on 07/09/2002 7:41:40 PM PDT by Protagoras
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To: ThomasJefferson

209 posted on 07/09/2002 7:45:39 PM PDT by PatriotReporter
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To: ThomasJefferson
Are you capable of posting something without it containing the word "despicable", or calling people by some other demeaning name?

You must be a very angry person to feel the need to bring everyone else down to your level.

I will not answer to any other flame post you put out to me. I hope you have a pleasant night, maybe you will wake up tomorrow in a better mood.

210 posted on 07/09/2002 8:55:00 PM PDT by trussell
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To: ThomasJefferson
First off, I am a female, I did deal when I was younger, I do know it was wrong, and I do know that kids didn't get any of what I was selling. I'm not pro-WOD, but if you get caught, well, you gotta pay the price. Cynical whining is useless.

I did not go in to moralizing about how dealing or doing drugs is wrong, and I know it is, believe it or not I'm not the same person I was at 19 that I am now---for example, I voted for Dukakis. The morality argument doesn't go very far with most libertarians.

Same reason you don't steal cars or rape little girls?

What a sec... you have to make up your mind---are drug crimes "victimless" or aren't they, Dane? You're so full of s*it---you can't even stick with your own argument, instead you sound like the worst kind of statist. Oh, don't bother to respond, you've already shot your own credibility.
Signed, "lowest scum on the face of the Earth and despicable swine", but at least I'm not some pie-in-the-sky libertarian who doesn't live in the real world---

211 posted on 07/09/2002 10:34:40 PM PDT by stands2reason
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To: stands2reason
I respect you for your post.

I have decided that this person is willing to twist things to suit their own needs. Obviously getting pleasure out of name calling and flaming anyone who expresses a view which does not agree with their views.

I too have posted to them and told them I would not be answering any comments filled with name calling. See post # 210

212 posted on 07/09/2002 10:53:32 PM PDT by trussell
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To: piasa
> Ever tried to get through the thick skull of a drug user, whether the user uses pot or uses booze, or uses diet pills or uses some hard stuff? Ever tried to talk to an anorexic? they don't even use drugs and you can't get them through the denial stage. It's like talking to a wall. I've tried it for years. I've watched people destroy their lives and their kids' lives with something as seemingly light as pot. <

Sounds to me like your experience with pot and pot users comes from watching films like "Reefer Madness". The father had 12 plants, which sounds like he was growing for himself and selling a little to friends and acquaintences for a little extra cash.

I had a friend who did the same thing: grew pot in a little room off his basement. He's a PE, hard-worker, good neighbor, etc. and a pretty conservative guy. He just liked to catch a buzz some evenings and weekends. Luckily, he didn't have any rat fink friends to turn him in, so his life wasn't destroyed. When he got married, he shut down his operation and quit smoking.

Bottom line: this kid made a big mistake. Now, if the father was neglectful and the kids were not being properly cared for, you might have a case. But that doesn't sound like what was happening.

213 posted on 07/10/2002 2:36:58 AM PDT by jaime1959
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To: Alan Chapman
You LIbertarians just can't accept the fact that most of us reject your desires for decriminialization of illegal drugs, can you.

Anyone who doesn't toe your line is demonized.

You just don't get it!

214 posted on 07/10/2002 6:05:44 AM PDT by Redleg Duke
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To: Redleg Duke
You conservatives just can't accept the fact that most of us reject your desires for making abortions illegal and getting rid of affirmative action, can you.

Anyone who doesn't toe your line is demonized.

You just don't get it!
215 posted on 07/10/2002 6:13:54 AM PDT by JediGirl
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To: vin-one
No, it isn't right to drink beer in front of your kids, not if you want them to grow up NOT drinking beer, etc. I think parents, especially fathers, need to set good examples for their children. My husband didn't. He was an alcoholic. I did my best to help my children overcome that example. You sow what you reap.
216 posted on 07/10/2002 7:09:21 AM PDT by Marysecretary
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To: ThomasJefferson
WWJD? He'd forgive him, but he'd still have to pay the consequences for what he's done.
217 posted on 07/10/2002 7:11:03 AM PDT by Marysecretary
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To: Marysecretary
No, it isn't right to drink beer in front of your kids,

That is your opinion, and for your information my parents drank in
front of all my brothers and sister, and only 50% drink,
so that blows your theory out of the water.
have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, that responsible drinkers, show kids the right way and
people like your husband teach them the wrong way.
and I set a great example for my kids, they respect me and listen to me,
and they also witness my being responsible.....
218 posted on 07/10/2002 7:33:21 AM PDT by vin-one
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To: stands2reason
What a sec... you have to make up your mind---are drug crimes "victimless" or aren't they, Dane?

I have never said that drug use is victimless. I have said that what someone puts in their own body is their business, not yours. People who make money by dealing in human misery are the worse possible scum. You made it clear that you see nothing wrong with drug dealing despite your new found morals. You said quite clearly that you stopped dealing drugs to avoid punishment. You are a low life.

Oh, don't bother to respond, you've already shot your own credibility.

I don't seek credibility with criminals and other low lifes.

Signed, "lowest scum on the face of the Earth and despicable swine",

I'll give you credit for admitting what you are.

but at least I'm not some pie-in-the-sky libertarian who doesn't live in the real world---

I live in the real world, where scum who deal think it is OK as long as they don't get caught. They advocate prison for others for the same crimes they have committed. Until you report to jail to start your term, you have nothing whatsoever to say on the subject.

You wear your drug dealing as a badge of honor, mentioning it at every opportunity.

Now you have an immoral slob taking your side, someone who has admitted that she would turn in her own blood to the feds, but now she embraces you, someone who she should be turning in, because you have a common enemy, me.

219 posted on 07/10/2002 7:37:25 AM PDT by Protagoras
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To: Marysecretary
WWJD? He'd forgive him, but he'd still have to pay the consequences for what he's done.

So you are saying that Jesus would tell people to turn their family in to the authorities?

220 posted on 07/10/2002 7:41:54 AM PDT by Protagoras
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