Adult daughter fails, Dad gets jailed

[SomeKid]

I read this, and I think to myself, there are parents who abandon their kids, who never pay child support, and they get away scott free. This story almost makes it seem wise to abandon your kids. What are your reactions?

http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=64055

YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK
Daughter fails math test, dad goes to prison
Pop gets 6-month jail sentence for contributing to delinquency
Posted: May 11, 2008
8:17 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily


Brittany Gegner (courtesy WCPO-TV)

A northern Kentucky man is in jail today  serving a 180-day sentence  because his 18-year-old daughter failed a math test and didn't get her General Equivalency Diploma, or GED, as a previous court order required.

Brittany Gegner, the daughter, says if anyone should be jailed, it should be her.

"It's like I should, if anybody should be punished for this," Brittany told WCPO-TV in Cincinnati. "I would way rather me go to jail than my dad."

Even Brian Gegner's ex-wife agrees the judge's decision is absurd.

"They probably should have punished me if they were going to punish anybody," said Brittany's mother Shana Roach. "Because she did live with me at the time, but because he had the custody, that's why he's being punished. But I don't understand the punishment altogether because she's going to school, she's been going for four months. The only thing that's holding her back is she can't pass her math test."

Butler County Juvenile Court Judge David Niehaus ordered Gegner to jail for contributing to the delinquency of a minor by not following a court order which required Gegner to be sure his daughter got her GED.

"It's ridiculously wrong," said Brittany.

"Of all the punishments they could have given him, to make him go to jail?" she asked. "I mean, probation  until I get my GED  would be reasonable, but to send him to jail? That's overboard."

The problems began when Brittany was 16 and started skipping classes at Fairfield High School and then, Butler Tech.

Though Brian Gegner had custody of her, Brittany says it was while she lived with her mother that she was truant.

"I'm about to be 19 and my dad's being punished for something I did when I was 16," she said.

(Story continues below)


Brittany has a daughter who's about 18-months-old. She says she's determined to pass the GED for her daughter  and her father.

The judge says if she passes the test, her father could get out of jail before his six-months sentence is up.

Brittany's stepmother worries the time in jail will ruin their family. She says he could lose the job he's worked for 15 years.

"I never dreamed they would put him in jail for this  for six months  it's crazy," said Stephanie Gegner, Brittany's stepmother.

"He has no control over what his adult daughter does," she said. "He just doesn't."

Court administrators say that even though Brittany is an adult now, the case remains active in their court because she was a juvenile when the problems started.

[mfree]

I read this and think that the judge should be in jail, not the father.

[zahc]

I wonder if the judge could pass the maths test.

[wmenorr67]

I would like to know if she totally bombed it or just missed out on passing it.

[RoadKingLarry]

Ther has GOT to be more to this than what is in the article. Seeing the crap that goes on these days if I had to make the decision to have kids today I would decide not to.

[macpherson]

While I'm in favor of judges having some degree of latitude in the punishments they can dole out, on the face of it this story is outrageous.  I agree that there have to be more details that are missing here.  How about requiring the father to spend x number of hours with the daughter on homework assignments, or something along those lines?  Jailing the father will probably destroy the family and probably increase the daughter's delinquency.  How does this help anyone?  Where does the Constitution say that the govt can force my children to get an education?

[MrRezister]

I don't get it.  Was the FATHER ordered to make sure she passed the damn test?  Or was she?  And once you get to be 18, don't your parents pretty much stop being held liable for your actions? 
This whole thing sounds stupid, but then we are talking about a judge here, so why not?

[Hawkmoon]

Judge says "Make sure she gets a GED."

Fine. The young "lady" is in school presumably making an effort, so that's all the father can do. He can't take the test for her, and he can't inject her with daily math shots. This judge is an idiot.

Unfortunately, some judges feel they have a license to be idiots. I once worked for a public housing agency. We had a BIG complex with three boilers, one of which was broken. Not really a problem, since the design was such that two boilers were enough and the third was for redundancy ... such as, you've always got two running while you fix the third.

Tenants (who aren't happy unless their apartments are at 95 degrees in January) complained there wasn't enough heat, and the legal aid kids sued us in housing court. I explained to the judge that (a) the system was designed to operate on two boilers and we had two boilers in operation; (b) repair of the third boiler was under contract, but the parts had to be specially made and the parts would not be available for two to three months; (c) the repair parts were coming from another state, which was the location of the only company in the USA that could supply parts for that particular boiler.

The judge issued an order that the third boiler be repaired and on line within four weeks. It was obviously nothing but political grandstanding. If the parts were coming from another state, and we were in a state court, his order wasn't in any way binding on the company making the parts.

Enough cop bashing, I say. It's time to unlimber and take aim on the judges!

[Brad Johnson]

Considering the source, I'm a lot leery of the whole thing.  There's something else going on than what we're seeing in the story.

Brad

[Tuco]

Considering the source, I'm a lot leery of the whole thing.  There's something else going on than what we're seeing in the story.

Brad

Good catch, Brad. 

As a rule, a WND story requires a search for supporting evidence.  They're not all unnecessarily bogus, but tend toward the margins of full disclosure.

[Tuco]

 

As a rule, a WND story requires a search for supporting evidence.  They're not all unnecessarily bogus, but tend toward the margins of full disclosure.

surf surf surf.....

WCPO says 

A judge ordered the father to stay on top of his daughter's education months ago and when that order wasn't followed, Brian Gegner was sentenced to 180-days in the Butler County jail.

Sounds like the time to complain was when the original court order was filed.  The guy broke the rules set out,  hell he may have even signed an agreement. 

Nobody took the judge seriously.  Not a smart thing to do.
Now everybody is all cryey and sorry and willing to serve time for daddy. 

I call BS.  A long ton of dirty laundry preceeded this. 

I imagine a snickering teenage mother three months ago that would rather be out running the streets than studying algebra.
It takes a woman to have a man thrown in the slammer for something like that.

Soakers, unusually misogynistic.

[SomeKid]

It is interesting to watch the anti-WND come out and attack the source, even though it is a legit news org.

The part that should get anyone scratching their heads, is why is a man being punished for what his ADULT child does? The kid is an adult, there is no logical reason to tie up juvenile courts with this.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

wnd alex jones who else you like?

[Vodka7]

http://www.ohio.com/news/ap?articleID=525749&c=y

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.

So the original charges were filed against the father because he couldn't control the then-minor child who was under his custody.  Yeah, she's 18 now, but she wasn't when the judge ordered the dad to make sure she got her GED.  Still sounds like a load of crap to me, but:

A hearing on a motion filed by Brian Gegner's attorney to reconsider the sentence is scheduled for Friday

Maybe the judge was just trying to scare everyone involved into making sure this girl gets her GED?

[wmenorr67]

Well in some ways the judges are getting more out of hand than LE and prosecutors.

[crt360]

I think Soakers has it right.  The judge probably would've given the dad a standard fine and/or a little jail time back when the truancy (and who knows what else?) matter came up, but gave him the option to help her get educated subject to a much stiffer sentence if he failed.  He took option number two and failed.  The deal wasn't a secret that was sprung on kid, mom and step-mom after it was too late.  The family has likely known this was coming for some time.  It started when the girl was 16 and she's now 19.  There's three years worth of something going on that they didn't report.  I don't know Kentucky law, but it sounds like dad could've avoided much of his troubles by hiring a lawyer, before he got chin deep.

[SteveS]

Well in some ways the judges are getting more out of hand than LE and prosecutors.

In this case I tend to agree.  I have worked with 100's of kids and families with truancy issues.  In many cases, there are parents who are just not doing what they need to do to educate their child.  In others, they are doing what they can, but the child isn't making the effort or is takeing steps to avoid going to school.  Generally, I think that older teens should be held responsible for truancy and school issues unless the parents are doing something that is preventing the teen from going to school (e.g. refusing to take them, loud parties preventing them from being able to complete homework).

That being said, I am a skeptic of WND and wonder if they aren't leaving out some information.

[Tallpine]

I saw this headline on Fox news, FWIW ....

[Brad Johnson]

It is interesting to watch the anti-WND come out and attack the source, even though it is a legit news org.

Legit news org?  Well, that depends on what you consider "news"...

Brad