Godly judges spring paddling pastor

In these times when activist judges contemptuously flout God's laws, it's refreshing to see that there are still a few courageous, God-fearing judges who are willing to stand up and fight for biblical values. That's what happened on Friday when the Florida State Second District Court of Appeals freed a pastor who had been unjustly punished for laying his holy instrument of Godly discipline to a little girl's behind.

Two days before our nation's 225th birthday, Paul Eric King, a Port Charlotte, Florida pastor and school administrator, was arrested for assaulting an 8-year-old girl with a wooden paddle. The beating was so righteously brutal that it left a four inch by eight inch impression composed of welts and bruises on her unruly buttocks. Upon being found guilty in the subsequent trial, Pastor King was sentenced to a year of community control and four years' probation. That verdict was overturned when the appellate judges ruled that the beating wasn't severe enough to meet the child abuse guidelines set by the Red Guard's Committee on Disciplinary Standards for the Glorious Christian Cultural Revolution.

The Herald-Tribune reports:

The state appeals court in Lakeland reversed a Port Charlotte pastor's felony child abuse conviction for paddling a student with a wooden board.

The appeals court ruled Friday that the 2001 paddling was not a felony.

Paul Eric King, a pastor at Harborview Church for 10 years and a teacher and administrator at Charlotte Regional Christian Academy, was sentenced to a year of community control and four years' probation for the paddling, which left the student with bruises and welts.

King's sentence also included psychological and anger counseling. He testified that the 8-year-old girl was a disciplinary problem and deserved to be paddled. Church members attended the trial in support of King.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that spankings that cause significant bruising or welts do not meet the legal requirements of felony child abuse. That charge requires "more serious beatings," according to the appeals court, which cited other cases in its three-page opinion.

King's wife, Kendra, said on Friday that she and her husband heard about the ruling this week, but didn't want to comment.

Judge Thomas E. Stringer, the appellate judge who wrote the opinion, said that one of the disciplinary policies at the academy is corporal punishment and that parents sign consent forms that allow the punishment.

King struck student Kimberly Malloy twice with a wooden paddle. The girl had bruises for two weeks. The pastor said Kimberly had been cheating in his class and had had other disciplinary incidents in the span of one week.

Ronnie Pipkin told authorities the paddling left her daughter with "a mark about 4 inches wide and 6 inches long." Pipkin could not be reached for comment Friday.

The paddling took place in a classroom away from other students and was witnessed by King's wife and a school volunteer, who later described the incident as "shocking."

"I've seen kids get spanked and, yes, their faces get red and they do cry," Helen Norman, the volunteer who witnessed the spanking said in 2001. "But this child screamed and her face became beet red. It sent chills up my back -- I can just imagine what it did to her butt."