TexasCHLforum.com

RX8er wrote: As others have pointed out, this is only recent that this has happened this way. When I was a kid, I used to make my own fire crackers, big ones!! I had a cop tell me that fireworks were illegal to light in the city and I stopped and then he proceeded to tell my mom and dad. Today, I would be arrested and the ATF be called. Here are few examples of why our forever system is broken:

I have a friend who was arrested because he had a baseball bat, glove and two balls in his truck. The bat was a weapon. Albeit, my friend was being a jerk to the cop and is why the cop arrested.
I know a sex offender because he and his girlfriend had sex when he was 17 and she was 16. Dad of daughter has since apologized. Has a record for ever though and he is married to the same girl.
I interviewed a guy that had MIP arrest when he was 20 y/o and had 0% BAC.
I know an honor student that was arrested and jailed because he had 30 30 ammunition (no rifle) left in his truck after he went hunting. On school property.
I know a good kid arrested because he had a knife in his car on school property.

>>SNIP<<
Here is one example that I can say you can be arrested for and have a felony conviction for in Texas that many of you are doing today. All children more than 40 pounds, ages 4 through 8, must ride in a booster seat while a vehicle is moving. Children taller than 4 feet 9, however, are not required to be secured in booster seats. You can be arrested for Child Endangerment and charged with a felony. Any of you parents / grandparents fall in to this category? Don't think this is possible?

None of those acts were criminal when I was growing up, well, except the 16 year old girl bit. That's the one crime I was intensely enthusiastic about committing if I ever had the chance. I went to a great deal of trouble, not to mention expense, to surround myself with likely victims, for naught.

Maybe that is the problem. The Legislature, at the behest of its constituents, has made all sorts of hitherto perhaps foolish conduct criminal. In retrospect, like the ordnance banning shooting Indians from a street car in Austin, it seems idiotic when applied. We've also been seized with "Zero Tolerance" as a good and noble concept, equally idiotic in its application. It seems to serve only as a good and frequent source of newspaper articles lampooning school boards that apply it with solemn indignitude.

There is an article on Drudge this morning about human intelligence slowly declining, and I shouldn't wonder.

There seems to be a certain aspect of survival of the fittest at work in these matters.

It is astonishing to realize how many young people have a record these days, a "rap sheet." It is also astonishing to think how one can live a full, productive, entertaining life and never do anything criminal, even be arrested, let alone convicted of anything. It isn't that hard to do, folks!

One of the worst regressions of our culture is the development of the credit report, credit score. Since everyone has one, and so many decisions are made based on it, that is where the cheating is concentrated. A credit report is supposed to give a potential creditor some insight into how responsibly the subject of the report has behaved in the past. Therefore, it is of critical importance that episodes of irresponsibility be omitted or camouflaged to deflect that insight, and all necessary efforts are made, not to mend one's ways, but to arrange matters so the negatives don't appear.

Some years ago, a man who had been a tenant in our office building came up to me on the street, very glad to see me. This man is wealthy, one of the wealthiest men I know. The reason he was glad to see me was he wanted some advice about a situation involving his son who had bought a very expensive home in an exclusive enclave, which had declined in value to below what the loan amount was, "underwater" in the now ordinary patois.

The question was, "How could he get out of that without damaging his credit?" The son couldn't see paying the loan for a house that wasn't worth what he had borrowed let alone what he had paid for it. He didn't want to be a sucker! It was a lot of money but this man could have written a check on the spot for it and never noticed it.

I like the analogy to the open and closing doors. One of my law school class mates just got out of jail for embezzling over $100,000 from a client. A lot of doors ought to have slammed shut over that one, but if he lives that long, he probably can be re-admitted after 5 years or so, like the former President of the County Bar here whose term in office was abruptly terminated after about 60 days when he was arrested for fencing stolen property. His kid was on the Little League team I was coaching back then. The former President went to jail, but is now back practicing, like it never even happened! Part of the penalty should be never practice law again. This is nuts, men.

One of the inducements to avoid criminal behavior is that it will haunt you forever. This is right. Doors close..... that's it! Someone whose judgment and conduct is so flawed ought not be entrusted to the same extent as law-abiding citizens. Do we want to encourage "mulligans?" Felons should not vote, or carry weapons, or be licensed to carry on professions requiring "good moral character."

Just my opinion, of course, but it is what it is.