Judge Backs Principal Who Paddles 14 With 3 More to Go

 

PADDLE ENDS TEEN REVOLT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. 25 Feb. 1959 (AP). The abortive teenage rebellion .at Bartlett High will soon be history, put down by a polished maple paddle swung by Principal John Barnes.

Three more young pupils are on the .waiting list for seven whacks. Fourteen have felt the sting thus far. And Sessions Judge Willard Dixon heartily approves. The Judge, at a conference with seven angry parents in his office, yesterday, rejected demands for assault warrants against Barnes.

Judge unsympathetic

Two of the mothers came armed with, photographs of their sons’ smarting bottoms. The judge, after expert appraisal, said he had acquired worse bottoms himself for less.

The boys needed the whacking, be ruled. He also cited a State Supreme court ruling that teachers have, to a reasonable degree, the disciplinary rights of parents while the child is in their care.

In all, it was a sharp contrast to a recent case at Plattsburg, Mo., where; the school board fired a principal and a teacher for paddling four students.

To a mother who said the Bartlett High paddling was too severe, even if warranted, Dixon said he figured he was a better man because of the paddlings he received during his school days.

To another who said Barnes furiously kicked his office desk out of the way to gain swinging room, the judge observed: “If he wants to take a running start, maybe he needs it.”

As published in the Bridgeport Post (Connecticut, United States), 25 February 1959.

Picture credit: Endart.

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