Pining for the good old Rodman days

STEVE SMITH

That was a close one. For a while there, with the Newport Beach area

calmed somewhat by the departure of Dennis Rodman from his beach

party house, there was speculation as to who was going to take his

place as the king of encounters with Orange County law enforcement.

Fortunately, young Gregory Haidl has stepped up to the plate.

In case you missed it, Haidl, 19, awaiting retrial on charges of

raping an unconscious minor girl, was arrested on Thursday and

accused of having sex with a different minor girl. This time,

according to the accounts I’ve read, the girl was awake and no

videotape has yet been found.

This time, his sex with a minor girl is considered a misdemeanor

because the age difference between the two is less than three years.

Haidl was arrested Thursday and bail was set at $100,000. He was

released Thursday evening.

The whole thing began on Wednesday when Sheriff’s deputies

answered a noise-complaint call at a house in San Clemente. There,

they found Haidl and another boy hiding in the backyard. Three

teenage girls were also at the home and so was a small amount of pot.

But here’s the kicker. Released from the deputy’s clutches on

Wednesday, pending an investigation, Haidl drove himself home.

He has a car! Greg Haidl has a car!

It’s hard not to believe that his parents have determined that the

best way to deal with a boy who was videotaped doing disgusting

things to a minor girl at his father’s house in Corona del Mar, who

has been detained three other times by deputies for activities

including trespassing and vandalism, and who has clearly demonstrated

that he has no sense of the perilousness of his own situation, is to

give him complete freedom to move around and get into more trouble.

Is there any parent reading this who would not have locked this

kid away in his room under house arrest until his case blows over? Is

there any parent reading this who would have given this kid a car to

drive? And is there any parent reading this who would not have said,

“Sorry, pal, this time around, you’ll have to find your own bail

money. We’re going to let you sit in jail, while you contemplate the

consequences of your actions, while you try to understand the

connection between the soldiers in Iraq who are fighting in the name

of this great nation and your utter contempt for the freedoms we hold

so dear.”

Apparently, there are two of them.

Maybe you would have given him a car, but probably just to drive

back and forth to the soup kitchen, where you would have insisted he

work as penance for his actions. Maybe you would have given him the

use of a car just once, so he can go down to the closest branch of an

armed services office and set up an enlistment to take place as soon

as he is acquitted, out of prison or off probation.

Where is the parental outrage? When do we see the point where this

kid is no longer rewarded for his bad behavior but is dealt with

swiftly and sternly? Where is the defense attorney who is ensuring

that Haidl lay low until his next trial is over to avoid more bad

press?

Don’t hold your breath. What you’ll continue to see, based on his

parents’ past behavior, is coddling. And that’s too bad, because in

survey after survey, going back decades, one of the things kids want

most from their parents -- as strange as it may seem -- is limits.

Kids actually want parents to tell them which behaviors are

unacceptable.

And I just love the hiding in the backyard part. What a hoot! I’ve

had two acquaintances over the years who were police officers, one

with the Los Angeles Police Department, the other with the Beverly

Hills Police Department. And while our conversations don’t make me an

expert, I know that the common belief is that innocent people don’t

run, and innocent people don’t hide.

Hiding in the backyard doesn’t make Haidl guilty, but it sure

doesn’t make him look like a Boy Scout, either.

And then there’s the pot. Anyone who is already out on $100,000

bail who arrives at a home or anywhere else where pot is around or

where illegal activities are taking place should run away. Not walk,

run.

Not long ago, I addressed a letter writer who wrote that we live

in a “rape culture.” I still don’t believe that we live in a “rape

culture,” whatever that is, but my case weakens when we see the

parental handling of boys such as Haidl and when we see in two

high-profile cases -- this one and the Kobe Bryant case -- that the

best defense is a good offense; that is, to convince the jury that

the victim asked for it and that perhaps the real victim in the case

is the accused, not the accuser.

Two high-profile cases won’t change my mind. For every Haidl or

Bryant case, there are countless others that receive little or no

press, in which the accused is convicted and sent away by a jury that

will not stand for this crime.

In the meantime, I hate to say this, but I’m starting to miss

Dennis Rodman.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(949) 642-6086.