Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

July 21, 2009

Too many public officials treat every instance of social conflict as a suitable opportunity for police intervention. This is particularly true of public schools that follow ?Zero Tolerance? policies regarding actual or potential violence.

Charles and Spring Towry of Sandpoint, Idaho are suing the Lake Pend Oreille (PAND-oh-RAY) School District over the arrest of their 8-year-old autistic girl last January. A dispute over the girl?s favorite sweatshirt degenerated into a situation in which several teachers forcibly restrained the girl. She reacted by kicking, pinching, and spitting at the teachers.

Mrs. Towry was called to the school, and she arrived just in time to see her 8-year-old daughter being taken away in handcuffs by the police. She was held for an hour, booked on suspicion of battery, and then released.

Whatever the merits of the Towrys? lawsuit, something has obviously gone seriously awry when police see fit to slap handcuffs on the wrists of an eight-year-old girl.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.