Claremont School of Theology student Walt Staton will not be spending time in jail. At a hearing on Monday in Arizona, Staton agreed with a federal judge that he would in fact complete his 300 hours of community service.
As covered in the Wednesday, December 16 edition of the COURIER, Staton was cited by federal authorities for "premeditated littering" last year. Working with the humanitarian organization No More Deaths, Staton would leave fresh jugs of water for people traversing the US/Mexico border in Arizona.
Staton was originally assigned to complete 300 hours of service involving picking up litter on public land. He complained that there aren't many organizations doing trash pickup near Claremont. He would need to travel some distances to get to beaches and big cities, costing him even more times and gas money.
To avoid spending 25 days in jail, Staton and the judge agreed that he could do his community service in Claremont or surrounding cities.
"traversing the US/Mexico border"
ReplyDeleteI was under the (evidently mistaken) impression that law-abiding people did this at border checkpoints.
How is this not aiding and abetting the commission of a crime?
Of course, this is Claremont; he'll probably be given the key to the city for this.
The issue that this fine fellow is trying to resolve could be easily avoided by...
wait for it...
OBEYING THE LAW.
How is 300 hours of community service in any way equivalent to 25 days in jail?
"He would need to travel some distances to get to beaches and big cities, costing him even more times and gas money."
Back in the day we used to understand that "punishment" is supposed to be unpleasant; indeed it must be to be true to itself.
I wonder what hippified version of theology makes this kind of crap seem appropriate?
Water in the desert for thirsty abandoned sojourners--how incredibly biblical! How appropriate and faithful.
ReplyDeleteStaton's selfless humanitarian efforts are no different than the Red Cross as they provide aid to refugees in war-torn 3rd world countries. I salute Staton! We need more people like him.
ReplyDelete