. . . Thank God someone has decided to make an issue of a weird ruling in Mason Municipal Court. Earlier this year Judge George Parker acquitted a psychologist of assault. The man had admitted he went to a 14-year-old girl's house, pulled down her underwear and spanked her. Police reported the girl sustained bruises on her buttocks and thighs. The psychologist said he had permission from the child's grandmother.

Now Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education (PTAVE), a California advocacy group, is attacking the ruling. Last week Tom Johnson, special projects coordinator for PTAVE, distributed literature at the Mason and Hamilton County courthouses.

Corporal punishment of students, up to and including high school seniors, remains legal in 25 districts in Ohio, according to PTAVE. The group worries about the implications of the Mason case.

"Under a standard as lax as Judge Parker's, is there any reason why a male school principal in one of these districts, having clear in loco parentis status as well as express license to use physical punishment, should have any qualms about administering 'bare butt' spankings to unruly female students, at least up to age 14?" the PTAVE literature says.

PTAVE opposes the use of physical violence against children. For information about the group, visit www.nospank.net/101.htm.