Baby Boomer Justice Run Amoke

One of the legacy's that the baby boomers will leave us is the idea that social responsibility can be mandated.

Of course those mandates don't have to make any sense.

Take the case of Brian Gegner, a man who has to go to jail because his 18 year old daughter did not get a GED.

He was ordered months ago to make sure his 18-year-old daughter Brittany Gegner, who has a history of truancy, received the diploma known as GED — something that hasn't happened yet.

OK. Let's start with the fact that an 18 year old, for legal purposes, is an adult. They can sign contracts, be charged with felonies, etc. If she doesn't want to get a GED who is this judge to say she should?

If that's not bad enough then throw in this fact:

"It was my wrongdoing, not his," said Brittany Gegner, whose fiance and 18-month-old daughter also live at her mother's home. "He shouldn't have to go to jail for something I did."

So Brittany is owning up to it. She doesn't even live with her dad. But did you catch the part about her 18 month old daughter. The story says she is almost 19. So let's do some math. 19 - 1.5 = 17.5. Then she was preggers for nine months so 17.5 - .75 = 16.75. Let's also take a few months off because it says she is almost 19. Sometime around 16 she's got her legs up in the air for her 'fiance' (I'm sure they are just calling him that for the story). Shouldn't the judge be looking at a statutory rape case? Or some other risk to minors charge.

Why isn't mom up on some charge for allowing this to happen?

Juvenile Court administrator Rob Clevenger Jr. said Monday that the court still has jurisdiction in the case because Brittany Gegner was a juvenile when the truancy problems began and when the charge against Brian Gegner was filed in 2007.

I'll bet even money the Judge feels it is his right to impose morality from the bench. This sort of thinking is prevalent in both liberal and conservative baby boomers. It's just different sides of the same boomer coin.

Brian Gegner's wife, Stephanie Gegner, said she and her husband are afraid he will lose his job if he remains in jail. She said they tried to keep his daughter in school.

"You'd take her to school and she'd go out the other door," Stephanie Gegner said.

I'm just curious, but shouldn't the school principals and teachers be brought up on charges and sent to jail for not keeping her in school?

I'll jump up and down on that one.

It was the school's job to provide the education. If they fail why aren't they going to jail? If you force the kids to go to school shouldn't the schools be held accountable.

I know. How about the death penalty for failing schools. That's the sort of activism that a baby boomer should be able to get behind.