She Didn't Do Enough

Close to a month ago, I published an article [here] about the Republic (MO) R-III School Board voting to remove a couple of books from the high school library in the hope of protecting the innocence of the attending children, but it would seem that they feel quite differently about protecting innocent girls from being raped on campus by predatory boys.  In fact, they appear to be quite indignant about it, which should become clear after watching the following video of a local newscast.

Link: [On KSPR]

Did you catch that next to the last part?  “School board members and school officials have refused comment about the incident, but did file a response to the suit, calling it, ‘Frivolous,’ and saying, ‘The special needs student didn't do enough to protect herself.’”

No, that report did not go into previously alleged details, which makes the Republic School Board’s response even more callous.  For the [FIRST TIME] she reported being raped to school officials, not only didn’t they believe her, they forced her to write a letter of apology to the boy before suspending her for the rest of her seventh grade year.

The next time (allegedly) it happened, DNA was obtained, and I hope the stuff is just starting to hit proverbial fan.  Granted, there may very well be another side to this story, but the way it has been handled so far is beyond shocking to me.

Alas, I suppose I shouldn’t be all that surprised.  For back when my first wife and I were going home after treating ourselves to a night out at the movies in Springfield on New Year’s Eve (1977), we were stopped by a couple of Republic Police cars as we travelled through town.  Evidently, 25 MPH was too slow to be going in a 35 MPH zone at around 2 AM with no other cars on the road, and after determining that I had not been drinking (this was before that started), one of cops told me that I needed to pay more attention to my driving than I was to my girlfriend.  Oh, there is not a doubt in my mind that this was another time when our Heavenly Father stepped in to keep me out of getting into some serious trouble.  For I wanted so badly to smart back to that officer about her being my wife, and that trying to pay as much attention to her as she would let me had resulted in her being around 5 months pregnant (with Vicki, our first child) at the time, which would have probably gotten me thrown in jail for a number of sundry charges.

No, it is not good to judge a town on a few bad incidents.  Besides, Republic actually looks like one of those fairly small towns that many dream about living in, but when self-righteousness and pride mix, there will be much more to be brought out into the light.

Please Also Visit:

[AsTheCrackerheadCrumbles]

and

[FishHawk Droppings]