Please Rise…

So, Weasel was cited for skipping school in October (I know… things have changed a great deal from I was a kid). He received a ticket from the police officer and yesterday was our court date.

We are in there with a bunch of other juveniles; most of them were there for assault or possession of drugs or the like. Great bunch of kiddos, obviously. One of them even claimed she was late because her parole officer didn’t give her the appointment information. Wow, really?

I did not feel like my son’s being caught walking onto campus after skipping school was in the same league as these thugs, but oh well. We waited for an inordinate amount of time for our case to be called. Apparently, they take the repeat offenders first. You would think they would want the worst offenders to have to wait the longest, adding to their pain. But I suppose that just makes too much sense.

The prosecutor told us that the fine for the violation was $69. Weasel had the option of pleading guilty and paying the fine; pleading no contest and going to a class, doing community service AND paying the $69 fine; or go to a jury trial. Um… we’ll just take the fine.

When we finally talked to the judge (about 1 ½ hours into our ordeal), she gave Weasel quite the tongue-lashing. She was downright scary and rude as far as I’m concerned. All of this was excessive considering his offense.  He just skipped a class… and it was GYM! This seems like more of a parental issue anyhow. And she didn’t even seem to notice how handsome or charming Weasel was. To top it all off, she actually raised our fine to $70. Thanks, Your Honor.

I do not think her approach of making the process scary enough to keep Weasel in school was very effective. I left there just angry at the system, not awed by it.

Besides, I think that Weasel is actually more scared of his Mom.

As it should be.