To the Editor:
My son has fragile x syndrome, the leading cause of mental retardation with other mental deficits. When he lived at St. John’s Villa, as many of our handicapped do, he was arrested on many occasions for acting out as many handicapped have a tendency to do. He was treated like a criminal for being who he was and could not rationalize his behavior like you or me. He appeared in Judge Johnston’s courtroom on many occasions. Judge Johnston was rude and misunderstanding of my son. The punishment of being kept in jail and using weekends in jail as punishment was pretty harsh. My son was not sure in his mind why he had to be there. It was heartbreaking to go to see my mentally handicapped child crying and not understanding why he had to be there! I believe there are other ways to deal with our handicapped and locking them up in jail is not the answer!
I found a new group home to move my son to about a year ago. While at lunch with the St. John staff in a public place, my son saw Judge Johnston and said, “hi” and told he was moving. Mr. Johnston clapped his hands and said, “guess you’ll get to meet the judges in the county you’re moving to.”
Mr. Johnston continued to go on and the staff found a seat as they were appalled a judge acted this way. They were highly offended by this and when they told me, it made me quite ill. I would like to say on behalf of my son that many of his behaviors have diminished since his move from this area. He is doing quite well. The staff where he lives truly do care for him and handle incidents in home. I agree with Mr. Sommer from North Canton that Judge Johnston should not be retained as judge. He is rude and antagonistic not only with regular people, but also with mentally handicapped people.
Peggy Carrick
Dellroy, OH
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