© WCPOJeffery Williamson and his son, Justin.
Blanchester - An Ohio family is reeling after a father was arrested and lost his job because his 8-year-old son explored the neighborhood by himself. He could face up to six months in jail.
Justin Williamson, 8, recently decided to skip church without telling his father. When the church van came to pick him up on a recent Sunday morning, the boy instead walked a half-mile from his home to a local Dollar General store.
A local busybody called the police to report an unattended minor. The police rounded up Justin and then came after his father, Jeffrey Williamson.
"The next thing you know, [the officer] comes up to me and he says, 'You're under arrest,'" Mr. Williamson told WCPO. "My kids start crying their eyes out wondering why I'm getting arrested."
Mr. Williamson was arrested on a charge of "child endangerment." If convicted, he could potentially spend six months in jail.
"It's ridiculous to me that I was arrested for this," Williamson remarked.
His arrest was telegraphed on the front page of the local newspaper, and he subsequently was fired from his job. The kids are now instilled with a fear of police.
"Every time that we leave in our car or drive down the street or something like that, every time they see a cop in Blanchester, they freak out and say, 'Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, are they going to arrest you?'" he told the local news.
The harassment of the Williamson family over this innocuous victimless crime is an indication of how drastically parental rights have disintegrated in the USA.
Only a generation ago it would have been normal and acceptable for children to walk about the neighborhood as a mode of transportation and to keep themselves busy. Without warning, it has become a crime with the potential to ruin and break apart innocent families. Indeed, our grandparents would be shocked to see how completely their fundamental freedoms have been eroded.
Parents have allowed their children the freedom to roam in cultures across the world, and throughout all of human history. Sadly, modern statists in the so-called "land of the free" would prefer that it be viewed as a sign of abuse and neglect.
Don't call the police, for any reason, ever. That is, unless you'd like you or your friends/family members to be arrested, tazed, beaten, and possibly killed. Oh, and don't get too attached to your dog, either.
Still, this doesn't reduce the chances of them kicking down your door on one of their "mistake raids" (which are most likely deliberate terror operations).