commentary by Patrick H. Moore
It was in another lifetime when I worked in Silicon Valley as an estimator in the box-building industry. One day I was engaging in desultory conversation with a fellow estimator, as we were prone to do to while away the weary hours. To my surprise, J____ told me that when he was little (and probably a bit hyperactive), his long-suffering mother (he was one of seven kids) used to tie him to his bed at night to keep him from scampering around and bouncing off the walls.
J____ loved both of his parents dearly and never seemed to resent the fact he was tied up on a nightly basis.
Although J____’s mother appears to have had a least the semblance of a valid reason for tying up her lively son, a couple of swinging dicks in Utah now find themselves in fairly serious trouble for tying up a 4-year-old to a tree to smoke weed in peace without the kid bothering them.
Sebastian Murdoch of the Huffington Post writes:
Two Utah men have been arrested after one of the men allegedly dragged his friend’s child across a street by a leash before tying the boy to a tree and smoking weed.
The 4-year-old boy’s father, 29-year-old Richard Marsh, and his friend Paul Rapp, 35, are now facing child abuse and drug possession charges, according to the Deseret News.
“The child was wearing one of those backpack harnesses, the kind you can attach a leash to,” Detective Greg Wilking of the Salt Lake City Police Department told the New York Daily News.
Apparently, our two Neanderthals were in such a hurry to catch a buzz that Rapp (the child dragger in this instance) yanked the boy so hard while dragging him across the street that the lad tripped and fell on the ground. Unphased, Rapp then apparently yanked the boy to his feet and continued dragging him across the street, over a curb and through about 20 feet of wood chips before coming to a tree to which he tied the boy with the leash.
The joke was on Rapp & Marsh, however. Witnesses watched the boy stumble and fall and called the police to report the abuse. Once the 4-year-old was securely fettered, Rapp rejoined his friend Marsh. One of them produced a glass pipe and a bag of marijuana and they began to inhale.
According to the arrest report, the men tried to throw away the pipe after officers arrived.
According to the complaint, the boy had abrasions and scratches on his back above his waistline, which could be from the straps of the backpack cutting into him while he was led around like a dog.
* * * * *
Smelling a pretty good story, KUTV News went to Marsh’s home to speak to family members about the case. When the news geeks arrived, Marsh’s brother, Johnny Smith, answered the door wearing what appeared to be women’s undergarments. Mr. Smith of the fine women’s lingerie explained to the news folk that this isn’t the first time the child had been tied up. Not only that, but Smith actually appears to have provided a fairly decent rationale defending Rapp & Marsh’s rope tricks.
“I know why he chained him to the tree,” Smith told the station. “It’s something he does when we go fishing and stuff, because the kid has a tendency of going all over the place. Last time I had to save [the child] from going into the river.” (I love the idea of Mr. Smith going fishing while decked out in his leather lingerie.)
In other words, not unlike my old friend, the stalwart estimator J____, tying up the 4-year-old may have not only been necessary with this kid at times, but may have even been advisable in certain situations. You don’t want your child wandering into some mythical river and being carried off by the whitewater.
Smith, who does not appear to have equivocated, admitted to the news guys/gals that it was likely his brother had been smoking weed. He flatly denied, however, that the boy had been dragged. Furthermore, Smith made it crystal clear that his brother is a caring father.
“He’s a damn good dad,” he said. “He cares about his kids.”
* * * * *
So just to make sure that we’re clear about things, let’s review briefly. Rapp & Marsh, who seem to go together like Rosencrantz & Guildenstern or Tweedledum and Tweedledee or any other diehard duo, did not only tie the kid up when they wanted to smoke weed; they tied him up whenever they were doing something where they didn’t want him to wander off into danger or mischief. Thus, their intentions were not reprehensible. Sure, they were a bit barbaric perhaps, but hell, these are old school boys. We would expect a bit of the rough and tumble… On the other hand, yanking the kid so hard that he takes a tumble and then yanking him back to his feet is not the sort of thing that is likely to impress a judge.
I would be interested in knowing whether Marsh and the purported Mrs. Marsh (assuming she is in the picture) tie the lively lad up at night…
Meanwhile, Utah is one of the states where simple possession of less than an ounce of marijuana can result in up to six months in county jail. The same goes for possession of drug paraphernalia. Then toss in the child abuse charge and we see the months are adding up quickly. Next time, perhaps Rapp will not yank so hard.