Enlisting In The Military No Longer Way To Avoid Jail
Once upon a time, a youngster who was not only wayward but also way wayward often faced a tough choice: Go to jail or join the military.
That’s the way it was when Judy Maibie and her brother were teenagers in the early 1960s. The situation wasn’t quite that grim for her brother - he wasn’t in trouble with the law - but he was at loose ends, and school wasn’t going well. So he dropped out, and rather than being drafted, he joined the Air Force.
That experience came to mind Tuesday when Maibie, of Spokane, read the request in “Bagpipes” for ideas about controlling the problems of youth crime and violence - a phenomenon she attributes to economic hopelessness.
“There’s a wonderful instrument already in place to combat youth violence, including that committed by young females,” said Maibie. “It’s called selective service - i.e., the draft.”
Actually, the draft is not in force now, and although military enlistment still may be an option for youngsters like Maibie’s brother, it’s no longer a way to escape the justice system.
The armed forces are much more selective these days, says Sgt. A.J. Avila, who supervises Air Force recruiting in Eastern Washington, North Idaho and northeastern Oregon.
Prospective enlistees are asked whether a criminal charge ever has been dropped, dismissed, lessened or put aside because the person planned to join the military.
“If the answer is ‘yes,’ they are disqualified,” Avila said.
Even certain driving violations can bar enlistment, he said. Waivers are possible sometimes, but they aren’t handed out freely.
Left over from last week
A fax from Robert Bobincheck, owner of a Cheney bookstore, arrived too late for last Thursday’s column, but here’s some of what he said about a bill (vetoed by Washington Gov. Mike Lowry) to keep pornography away from minors.
After raising questions about provisions that might have restricted access to legitimate reading material - from news stories about rape to the Bible - Bobincheck noted: “These are but a few of the many questions that our ‘family values’ representatives don’t want to answer during a time when only a third of high school seniors were rated proficient readers and 30 percent failed to master even basic reading skills.”
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