Pen mightier than pellet

An adage written in 1839 is still true today. The adage is "The pen is mightier than the sword," authored by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

The writer's age doesn't appear to weaken a pen's power; nor does it matter if, in actuality, the "sword" is a BB gun.

In Oregon, Wisconsin, a father has been charged "with one felony count of child abuse" for shooting his 9-year-old son in the buttocks with a BB gun, a charge the father admits to. The boy was blocking the father's view of a television show and didn't respond quickly enough to the father's demand that he move.

County investigators learned of the shooting from the boy's elementary-school teacher. The boy wrote about the shooting incident in an essay the teacher assigned. The teacher turned the essay over to the investigators.

In the essay, the boy wrote that being struck by the BB pellet was "the most painful thing I ever felt in my life." The pellet effected a dime-sized welt.

The father has been charged with child abuse once before in 2005.

If convicted, the father can be sentenced to up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.