True story.. one of my best friends was leaving a party at 3 am in his boat on the largest lake in the Midwest and peed off the side before he took off in the pitch dark with no one on the lake in sight not knowing the Water Patrol was passing in front looking for illegal fishing. Using night vision they saw him and gave him a summons for urinating in public..(he thinks they were disappointed he hadn't been drinking or fishing) When the court date arrived he didn't want to drive the 150 miles so he called to ask where and how much to send the fine. He was told that would constitute a guilty plea and he would have to register as a sex offender so needless to say he made the drive in 2 hours, hired a Courtroom Attorney and plead it down to trespassing (1200 bucks).. Insane if you ask me but very true..My sister in the late 60's was pregnant at 16 and married at 17, (husband 3 years older) my mom pregnant at 17 married at 17 (married 60 years to my dad) and an ex (mid 80's) engaged at 17 to a guy 5 years older and married at 18.. Shoot by today standards I could have had 3 registered sex offenders in my family alone..Yikes! I think child/predators/sexual abusers are the scum of the earth but we need to be careful about painting an entire category with such a large brush.. There's always a back story we just need to find what it is first..
|