Pay the fine or swat your child
A Los Fresnos judge is leaving it up to parents to decide though to punish their kids for skipping school pay a hefty $500 fine or swat them with a paddle five times.
You may be surprised to find out, most parents are reaching out for the paddle rather than the checkbook.
Judge Gustavo Garza says most parents are choosing this option, as a way of disciplining their truant teens for cutting class.
Garza says it’s a statewide offense for students between the ages of 6 and 18 years of age to be absent from school, without a medical excuse.
Judge Garza says it seems to be working because Los Fresnos high school has an attendance rate to 98%.
“So parents are give the option. 99% have opted to exercise their own discipline.”
But the “spare the rod and spoil the child” approach has already sparked a few animosities.
Fox 2 news learns that Mary Vasquez and her husband, Daniel Zurita, have filed a lawsuit.
They allege in the lawsuit that judge Garza told Zurita to strike his stepdaughter repeatedly on the buttocks in open court. We will keep you updated on any developments in this story.

















Good for the Judge,a great idea.
About time… You hear about “Personal Responsabilty” and “where are the parents” all the time. Finally a Judge is giving parents back the tools they need to raise a child well.
I agree frank, Good Job Judge.
I agree. If my parents hadn’t loved me enough to swat me when I was kid I’d be lying dead in a ditch somewhere. I’m glad that there’s members of the law who agree that it isn’t a village that raises good kids, it’s good parents who use good parenting tools to REAR their kids. Good call, judge!