BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS (AP) -- A Los Fresnos family is going to court to prevent a Cameron County justice of the peace from ordering spankings in his courtroom.
A lawsuit filed today alleges Justice of the Peace Gustavo "Gus" Garza told a 14-year-old girl's stepfather to strike her repeatedly on the buttocks in open court.
If he didn't, the judge said the girl would be found guilty and fined $500 for truancy.
The lawsuit by Mary Vasquez and her husband, Daniel Zurita, described the paddle provided by Garza as large and heavy and fashioned from a thick piece of lumber.
In an affidavit, Zurita says that when he was through, the judge told him he had not struck the girl hard enough. Read on...
The debate on spanking has been ongoing for years, but I think this takes things to a whole new level. Does a judge have the right to order a parent to repeatedly paddle their child -- at home or right in the courtroom? I personally don't believe physical violence is necessary in raising a child, and think this judge has either lost his capacity to be rational or gets off on watching children being spanked...or both.
