BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

LOVELY — A Lovely resident went to jail for the alleged assault of a young boy who stepped up to protect his “papaw.”

Martin County Sheriff John Kirk arrested 41-year-old Christopher Lee Maynard April 16 on Little Peter Cave Road in Lovely, where he allegedly struck his 11-year-old nephew during a domestic dispute.

Sheriff Kirk’s investigation revealed Maynard was drunk and fighting with his father, and the boy intervened to protect his “papaw.”

“The little boy had blood and a red mark on his neck,” Kirk said. “His uncle said it’s his right to ‘make the boy mind,’ and he would whip him anytime he felt that he wanted to whip him. He said his brother, who is in jail, gave him permission to whip the child, to correct him.”

Maynard had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and admitted to drinking and whipping his nephew.

“He was under the influence, and he felt that it was perfectly legal for him to put his hands on that child,” remarked Kirk. “I made it perfectly plain to him that it’s not. He’s not allowed to make marks on him, not allowed to hit him on the neck and places like that.”

The sheriff charged Maynard with fourth-degree assault (domestic violence) with minor injury.

“That’s what alcohol leads to. It makes you do things that maybe you wouldn’t normally do,” Kirk said. “The Bible says, ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child.’ You have to correct a kid; someone has to be leading by example. You don’t go beating on a kid… God put them here and allowed us to have them. We have to guide them and bring them up in the way we would have them to go.”

He warned, “When you start beating on them, leaving bruises and marks and bringing blood, it’s a problem.”