Some Things Don't Get Better With Age

2/16/07 – Be warned. This news item will gross you out. It is as maddening as it is revolting. It's yet another case of an older woman having sex with a minor. The twist this time is that the people involved were 73 years apart. Not only was the boy in question 11 years old, he was in the foster care of this senior citizen.

Georgie Audean Buoy was just convicted of attempted sex abuse with the boy. She will only serve THREE years in a women's prison. WHY? Because she is old and the Powers That Be felt pity for her. They threw out some of the more serious charges that would have sent anyone else to prison for at least 8 years. Would she have received such pity if she were 40 or 50 years younger? 30 years younger? We see this treatment when older drivers crash into people as well. Remember George Weller? The almost 90-year-old driver who plowed through a crowd at a Santa Monica farmer's market in 2003, killing 10 and wounding 73? He walked away with 5 years probation. Not ONE day in prison. Why? Because he is old. Do you think a 20-year-old driver would have received the same mercy? After KILLING 10 people and wounding nearly 100?!?!

You do the crime, you do the time. I don't care how old you are. I don't care how sick you are. I don't care if you volunteer at church (as Buoy does). I don't care if you have 20 grandchildren who are going to have to visit you through a pane of glass.

The argument that these people are old and shouldn't have to die in prison is the most disgusting aspect of this and similar cases. What choice did the victims have in any of the crimes that were committed? Will the 11-year-old be healed in 3 years? He will carry the emotional scars of being assaulted by his only caretaker to his grave. If he lives to be as old as Buoy, that child is looking at a 74 year sentence for a crime he didn't commit. The people shopping for carrots in Southern California didn't have the choice of where they would die.

I was raised to respect my elders. I was also raised to use common sense. Seniors may often possess great wisdom that can be shared with the rest of us who have not experienced as much as they have. But they are also, clearly, still capable of committing crimes and atrocities just like anyone else.

If Buoy wasn't too old to assault a minor and Weller wasn't too old to drive, neither is too old to pay for the consequences of their actions.