ELYRIA — A young boy’s family members decided the best way to teach him not to steal was to force him to confess his criminal activity to the entire city.
After stealing items from a mall and being suspended from school, Trezahn Blaha, 12, had lots of free time on his hands. But his uncle, Ricardo Pamplin, wasn’t going to let the boy get away with his mischievous activity.
Instead of physically disciplining his nephew, Pamplin decided the best thing to do would be for Blaha to hold a sign up in the middle of downtown Elyria. This allowed thousands to see what Blaha had done wrong.
And on top of that, the heat didn’t make things any better. With temperatures approaching 80 degrees, Blaha, wearing all black, wasn’t enjoying his time out on the street corner. Either way, he agreed he was deserving of his punishment and thinks it could help him.
“I feel it’s a great thing to do to help children learn not to steal,” said Blaha.
While standing on the corner, passers-by had mixed opinions on whether or not the young boy should be standing on the corner.
In a second day seeing Blaha, one man jokingly yelled, “One day is a lesson, the second day is child abuse.”
“He just needs a little guidance right now,” said Kirkland Grantham, a former corrections officer. “I don’t want to see this happen anymore.”
There were also some people offering incentives for Blaha to do better. One man offered a basketball hoop if he worked off his fines and got on the right track. Others also offered ways for Blaha to work off debts.
For Blaha, the support from community members seemed to have the greatest effect.
“It makes me happy because people are showing me love and that they really care about me and don’t want me to go to jail,” Blaha said. “They want me to change my life around and do better.”
And assuming Blaha does do better in the future, he’ll be playing basketball instead of stealing and being forced to embarrass himself again on the street corner.
Blaha was allowed to tear apart his sign after promising to better himself.