Lessons in responsibility need to start at home

Finally for me, there is a new subject to throw my disgust at.

For those who may have read my previous ranting and ravings, then

you know one of my favorite subjects of my diatribes is no longer a

valid subject of discussion around these parts.

Of course, that subject of social revulsion is the person with

multiple tattoos and with piercings everywhere on his body, including

parts of the anatomy that this paper will not print. But

unfortunately -- fortunately -- Dennis Rodman is no longer fodder for

my blasts.

He is trying to get back into the NBA and thus, he has been laying

low and trying to rehabilitate his image. Yeah, right.

But now, we have another well-to-do subject of public scrutiny.

He’s not self-made as good-old-boy Dennis was. He’s a common example

of a son of a rich, politically connected person, and he’s someone

who does not believe he has to live by the rules, especially because

his daddy is rich and is the assistant sheriff of Orange County.

Yes, oh, thank you so much for the rise of Greg Haidl to the top

of the charts!

But before I start on poor, prosecuted, little, innocent Greg

being victimized by Jane Doe, as represented by the defense in his

recent trial, I just have to spout a little about parenthood,

responsibility and accountability.

But before I go there, I find it interesting that one of the

defense attorneys in that trial may have gotten a bit of moral vision

and has declined to participate in such a travesty of defending this

kid in a second trial. Maybe values do matter to some people around

here. I believe they do.

Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl raised his son in his

home with his wife, right? I want to know what the heck Greg was

taught about values and morals? Did he learn everything he knows from

his parents? Maybe, since Don Haidl is buying the best attorneys

money can buy, he is defending the lessons that his son learned?

Of course, maybe it is just family love that defends the abhorrent

actions of a family member, no matter if they’re right or wrong. But

then again, maybe it is just money, or enough of it, that will make

everything OK. Values?

The values of this ordeal are just a repetition of what we saw in

the O.J. Simpson trial and others like it. The system values

expensive legal representation over justice.

If it were your son, would you defend him no matter what? Could

you afford to do so? And what is your take on personal

responsibility? Maybe, if you have enough money and the right

connections, all this wouldn’t matter. It sure doesn’t matter for the

son of the Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, that’s for

certain.

Family values in certain circles in Newport Beach are nonexistent

and may well be indicative of society overall. But when it comes to

leadership, responsibility, and the future for all of us, it all

starts at home. Money might pay for expensive attorneys, but it sure

doesn’t pay for what is right.

Then again, it might help to be brought up knowing what is right

and wrong.

I look at my some of my neighbors and friends, and I do know, for

certain, that some people here in Newport Beach do have good values,

have well-to-do means, and can raise their children with love and

attention that will produce the type of people that this world wants

and needs.

PAUL JAMES BALDWIN

Newport Beach