Think About It

No matter how dippy-bop you walk
or how hard you street corner talk,
Brown Boy. Black Boy.
You know better than any other
that jail with no bail
is a
very
tough
mother.
(Poem quoted from GlowChild, author?)

It was 2:00 p.m., February 14th, Valentine's Day. Barb had gone to a Parent-Youth Aid meeting, Ronnie was staying at Wayne's and Frosty was out. I was finishing up a letter and planning to grab a quick lunch before rushing to a Bible Club at 3:00, when the phone rang.

"Hello, Teen Haven."

A man's pleasant voice sounded rather surprised. "Hello, uh--is this CE2-7278?"

"Yes, it is."

"Does a Thomas Respes live there?"

"Yes, but he's not in. May I take your name?"

"Well, this is officer Johnson, JED. Thomas and a friend, Jeffrey were picked up on l9th and Ridge at 12:45 today, and arrested for attempted robbery. We're holding them at the 17th and Montgomery station."

Well, to explain a few things, Thomas Respes is Frostie's real name, JED is the police division that handles juveniles, and 17th and Montgomery is the police station for the 21st district. Actually, we're in the 9th district, but Girard Avenue is the dividing line and it's only two blocks away from us--so we get service from both.

The preliminary hearing was held at the Youth Study Center the next morning. The Youth Study Center is a juvenile holding institution, which keeps juveniles while they're waiting for their court case to be resolved, or while they're waiting to be placed. Some youth are taken directly from the police station to the Youth Study Center, after they've been picked up. It depends on what they were picked up for. The purpose of the preliminary hearing is to decide whether the case should go into court, to ascertain if there is enough evidence, and to decide whether the young person should be released in the custody of his parents or whether he should be held at the Youth Study Center, if the case goes into court.

Anyway, we walked in at 9:00 a.m. The man at the desk took Jeffrey's juvenile release slip while a woman handed him a small glass tube and said, "Go into the restroom, urinate in this tube, and bring it out to us."

"W-what?" Jeffrey was a little nervous, and stared at her uncomprehending. As she started to repeat, the man broke in with, "Just pee in the bottle, Jeffrey."

Jeff -looked sheepish and headed toward the bathroom. Frostie went through the same procedure.

We went upstairs and sat in the hall from 9:00 to 12:00 waiting for the guys' case number to be called. The waiting was hard on Frosty, who had spent a rather anxious night, afraid that he was going to get locked up. He spent a long time talking with Barb, laying on the couch with his head on her lap like a little boy. Now his nervousness was making him hyperactive, loud and silly. As we looked around, watching the endless procession of people coming and going, Frostie said suddenly, "There's those girls." They had also been at the station yesterday, probably picked up for shoplifting.

Finally Frostie's and Jeffrey's names were called. We had to line up against the wall and walk in. The boys sat in the front row and we were told to sit directly behind them. We, by the way, includes Barb, Jeffrey's older sister, and me. Two magistrates and a clerk sat at the desk in front.

After checking us all out and filling in an information sheet, the magistrate read the man's story and then the boys'. The boys' story was that they had walked by the old man and he jumped.

Jeff said, "That's what I hate about old people. They always think you gonna rob'm."

So they decided to have a little "fun" with him.

The magistrates decided to credit their story although one of them was more unwilling than the other one and let them off without the case going to court. However, the magistrates gave them severe warnings of "If you show your faces here again, I'll know you meant business. And so will I."

As we walked out, the secretary turned to one magistrate and said, "It's kind of rare for you to believe their story."