While it is common for children to have petty feuds, things can quickly get out of hand once adults take sides. When parents start taking excessive measure to protect their children, they can end up causing a lot of issues. One family from Jefferson County has found out just how ugly things can get since their eight year old son has received a restraining order that is preventing him from going to school.
Eight year old Peyton Whitehead has lived in the same neighborhood as the Sutton family for quite a while, and the law has gotten involved due to childish arguments. The area is rather rural, so the kids in the neighborhood often wander around and play together. On August 31st, Peyton got into a fight with a seven year old and allegedly told him that he would “slice his head off.” Just a few days later, Cassandra Sutton claims that Peyton told an eight year old girl he was “going to murder her with a knife and throw her off a cliff.” Other incidents include Peyton claiming he could get his mother’s gun, saying he would kill a little girl’s dog, and threatening children with a baseball bat.
Due to all of these issues with Peyton tormenting neighborhood children, Sutton was able to get a restraining order that keeps Peyton from coming within 1,000 feet of six other children in the area. The court order also bans Peyton from Hillsboro Elementary school which he attended alongside the neighborhood children. Until the Whitehead family can go to their court date on September 20, Peyton is not allowed back in school. Instead, he was taken out of class by the police officer who delivered the restraining order.
While Sutton tells a story of Peyton terrorizing her children, his mother has a different story. Danielle Whitehead says that the Suttons are just mad at her family because she reported them for code violations in early January. Ever since the Whiteheads moved to the new neighborhood, they have been trying to get the other neighbors to follow local homecare codes. Peyton’s mother says that her son only said threatening things because he was being bullied by the other children. She claims that he is “the sweetest little boy you could meet in your life. He is new here and put up with the bullying as long as he possibly could.”
The superintendent at the Hillsboro School District has chosen not to get involved. Superintended Cornman explains, “Hillsboro schools is not going to become excessively entangled in matters that arise between parents and patrons of the community. The majority of the happenings were on the block which the kids live on … (it’s) two parents that are having difficulty resolving their issues.”
So far, it does seem like the argument between the adult Suttons and Whiteheads is getting in the way of Peyton’s schooling. Until his family can meet with lawyers and figure out how to lift the restraining order, he will remain at home. Even if he does go back to the public school with the Sutton children, his parents do not want him riding the bus anymore because they believe that he was being bullied excessively while the bus driver was too busy driving to monitor the children. There are also plans to seek counseling for Peyton, since what he said to the other children is truly concerning, even if the situation was inflated by a woman who disliked his mother.
Do you think this restraining order is justified, or is one woman going too far in her feud with another family?