Court urges parents to give boys a ‘thrashing’ over damage to school
EDITOR’S NOTE: In recognition of Canada’s 150th anniversary, The Herald is reprinting historic stories from the South Okanagan focusing on the biggest news story of each year.
NOVEMBER 12, 1932: Magistrate G.F. Guernsey of Penticton, sitting as Juvenile Court judge here Wednesday, bewailed the fact that the powers that be had abolished the clause in the Juvenile Act which allowed the presiding judge to impose a good sound thrashing as punishment.
Magistrate Guernsey uttered these remarks when sitting in judgement on four youths charged with causing willful damage to the district school on Hallowe’en.
He gave them all six months suspended sentences and admonished their parents to give the boys a sound thrashing. The parents will have to pay the amount of damage caused by the boys to the school, and also the costs of the court.
Three other youths, also implicated on the Hallowe’en depredations, were made to assist in paying the costs of the damage caused to the school and the court costs.
On Hallowe’en, following a party given by the teachers to the children to keep them out of mischief, the district school building in Oliver was broken into and the fire hoses turned on. Water was sprayed over the walls and ceilings and the basement was flooded.
Damage to ceilings and other fixtures ran to a considerable figure. The high school building was also broken into and the valuable books belonging to the principal, Dr. Masterson, were ruined. Ink was spilled over walls and floors, and other damage caused.
Provincial police who prosecuted the youths did not lay a charge of breaking and entering for the reason, Constable Laird said in court, that the boys in that case would have to go to a higher court for the trial and would likely have their futures ruined. In place of this the charge of willful damage was laid, which could be dealt with summarily by the magistrate. All pleaded guilty to the damage charges, some admitting they had put carbide in the ink, and others to tampering with the fire house. The boys who appeared before Magistrate Guernsey ranged in age from 14 to 17 years. They were given a severe reprimand and, together with their parents having to foot the damage costs to the school, they also will have to report to the provincial police on the first of every month for the next six months. The damage to the school and the teachers’ books, etc., was assessed at $21, and the costs of the court at $13. One of the fathers of the accused boys was unable to pay his share of the costs, and the other three boys, who voluntarily gave themselves up and confessed their part in the raid in the schools, were made to pay this man’s share.