From Weekly World News, 25 November 1997, now available to read at Google Books:

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(From this free birching gallery)

An article from the 29 November Indiana Star first, then a selection of comments with the authors’ reminiscences of whackings:

Some old-time school principals wax nostalgic about a day when paddles were proudly displayed and students in trouble were given the choice of a spanking or a call home.

Nostalgic, because Indiana has pretty much put away the paddle. Corporal punishment is still legal in Indiana — and plenty of parents still favor the occasional whack — but the trend has decidedly been toward using other forms of punishment. In some cases, districts have passed policies that ban the practice. But in many other cases, principals simply have chosen on their own to retire their paddles.

Of 44 school districts in Indianapolis and surrounding counties, only three say they have paddled students in the past year. And one of those districts is moving toward putting a stop to the practice. All told, about 15 local public school students were paddled in the last year.

Debate followed on a local forum.

Jillybean: “When I was in school and I graduated in 1993, there was paddling. It was more of a wake up call and an embarassement that we acted up, thought we were big and bad, and were called out on it. It wasn’t a hard paddle but it was a clear defination of straighten your act up.”

Evie: “The Indianapolis Public Schools had paddling when I was growing up. We lived around the corner from the school & if I ever got in trouble at school, the school only had to call home & my Mom ( a stay at home parent) would walk to school & spank us in the classroom or the principal’s office. None of us were ever spanked  at school. However, our brother( the oldest of 4) was always getting spanked! The 3 of us (girls) watched & learned and therefore we never  got punished at school! If we ever got spanked or paddled  at school, we also got it at home!”

IrishDuchess: “I remember getting the paddle in school and I do think they should use it more.”

Retuters, 14 December, reports from Afgoye, Sudan:

Hizbul Islam fighters summoned hundreds of residents to a field, where a rebel judge announced that… two men had confessed to murder and adultery. A woman who had confessed to fornication had been sentenced to 100 lashes, he added.

Local man Ali Gabow told Reuters. “The lady who had been with the second man was only given 100 lashes because she said she had never married.”

Al Shabaab, and to a lesser extent Hizbul Islam, are fighting the government to impose their harsh interpretation of Islamic Sharia law across the drought-ravaged country.

(From this free whipping gallery)