If I hadn’t read the article in The Oregonian myself I would have not believed it. How can 13-year-old boys be arrested for smacking a girl on the butt? Alas, here in Oregon, where our prosecutors are not busy enough trying to track down the source of all the amphetamine’s that come out of this state, we are going after little boys who are, well being boys.

The two boys tore down the hall of Patton Middle School after lunch, swatting the bottoms of girls as they ran what some kids later said was a common form of greeting.

But bottom-slapping is against policy in McMinnville Public Schools. So a teacher’s aide sent the gawky seventh-graders to the office, where the vice principal and a police officer stationed at the school soon interrogated them.

Okay, so what’s new here? Kids acting a bit raucous and greeting each other in ways unacceptable to the adults. But to call the police and call this a sex crime, to take these boys and lock them up in a juvenile prison without seeing their parents, this is beyond belief. Has our fear of our own sexuality become so extreme that any urge that children have towards their own sexual curiosity is now deemed criminal.

Bradley Berry, the McMinnville district attorney, said his office aggressively pursues sex crimes that involve children. These cases are devastating to children, he said. They are life-altering cases. Well this might be true had there been any sexual crime committed. But actually the only crime here is an adult prosecutor who can’t distinguish real sex crimes from childhood pranks. Well and there is the mother of the girl who actually thinks that this should be a crime because the swat on her butt offended her.

Truly, as a mother of four of my own children, this is not only the most insane case I have heard of late, but also terrifying to think that the smallest of infractions could turn into this. If we ever doubted the need for an extreme and immediate overhaul of our sexual education programs in the USA, this should clinch it. It isn’t just the kids who need education here, clearly there is a huge group of adults who can’t see the forest for the trees.

If you want to help these families :Donations to the boys’ legal defense fund can be made here:

TO DONATE MONEY TO THE BOYS LEGAL DEFENSE FUND EMAIL lawoffice@onlinemac.com

If you have a Wells Fargo account, you can contact the Wells Fargo bank in McMinnville, OR 503-474-3501 and make a direct deposit to the Cory Mashburn and Ryan Cornelison Defense Fund, the account number is 8785915359

If you don’t have Wells Fargo account, you can mail a check to the Cory Mashburn and Ryan Cornelison Defense Fund:

Wells Fargo Bank
1335 NE BAKER ST
MCMINNVILLE, OR 97128

or

Lawrence Law Firm
235 NE 3rd St. Suite #1
McMinnville, OR 97128

And if you live in Oregon, contact the following people involved and let them know that we don’t stand for this kind of insanity in Oregon.

District Attorney Bradley Berry
da@co.yamhill.or.us
503-472-9371

Police Chief Ron Noble (bad police officer Roach)
ron.noble@ci.mcminnville.or.us
503-434-7307

Mayor Ed Gormley
ed@gormleyplumbing.com
503-472-4101