Paranoia Runs Deep

[Occhidiangela]

Aspiring Horror Writer Arrested in High School

The frag pattern from Columbine High School seems to be spreading. I must confess that I don't know a lot of facts in this case, and I have not read what it is the school officials and cops, not to mention his kinfolk, were all upset about . . . but my brain is screaming "what ever happened to the exercise of judgment???"

Have we let Osama inside of everyone's head? That's a win for him, if he can get Americans to do stupid stuff (NTSA anyone?) and call it reasoned defense against terrorism.

Daniel Boone wept.

Poole told LEX 18 that the whole incident is a big misunderstanding. He claims that what his grandparents found in his journal and turned into police was a short story he wrote for English class.

Wow, Granny rats out the kid. Is this tough love, or the culmination of years of their grandkid being a werido who is scaring the heck out of them? No details. But narking out your own kin? Something seems to be rotten in the State of Kentucky . . .

As a matter of importance, family loyalty aside, let's take a look at education in Kentucky and ask about priorities.


Poole disputes that he was threatening anyone.

"It didn't mention nobody who lives in Clark County, didn't mention (George Rogers Clark High School), didn't mention no principal or cops, nothing,"
said Poole. "Half the people at high school know me. They know I'm not that stupid, that crazy."

If he is a senior in high school, and if that is a verbatim quote, I'd ask the folks at George Rogers Clark High School, and his family, to consider working on fundamental skills, such as speaking English, as a priority. Fix the basics, eh? He won't learn good grammar in prison.

Should Edgar Allen Poe have been arrested for writing "Telltale Heart?" After all, it was about murder . . . which is a felony in the state of Kentucky, Maryland, et all. :P

Occhi

[Walkiry]

Quote of choice from the article:

Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony.

:blink:

Of course, the next step is to capitalize on it, raise a big stink to get some media coverage, then cash in "writting a book so good that even the police got scared when reading it".

Or is that no longer possible under the attentive watch of Big B^H^H^H^H^Hthe FBI?

[Daemon]

*Waves from a distance to Freedom*


-D

[[wcip]Angel]

I wrote a story once, about orcs and warriors, ballistas and grande battles containing as gratuitous violence as an 11-year old can come up with. Thank God it was too crappy to be published anywhere, or I'd be facing 25 to life before I hit puberty!

So, just out of curiosity, where is the line drawn? When is a piece of fiction simply fiction and not a terrorist threat? We now know zombie-killing qualify as a terrorist-act, and should be omitted in future writings. What if there were talking frogs, yellow elephants and that bird from Lion King played by Mr Bean? Would it still qualify as a real threat if these characters were to slip on a banana peel and kick the proverbial bucket?

Insanity! It's not just for mental pasients anymore!

[Nystul]

Something doesn't add up here. If Granny doesn't trust the kid, I'm not about to take his side of the story as fact. Either he is a troublemaker, or he has the worst grandmother in the world, and the former case seems more plausible. But if the writing is really as he describes, surely the case will be dismissed. Or at least, I would hope so! A story about killing zombies with no mention of real names or real schools does not represent a plausible threat in my book.

[[wcip]Angel]

Well the judge did raise the bail. That's not exactly an indication of dismissal?

[Occhidiangela]

If Granny doesn't trust the kid, I'm not about to take his side of the story as fact.  Either he is a troublemaker, or he has the worst grandmother in the world, and the former case seems more plausible.  [right][snapback]69652[/snapback][/right]

Indeed, which point seems glossed over in the story. I am hoping to see a few follow ups: he just might be a weirdo.

As was Poe. ;)

Occhi

[Occhidiangela]

Original Story

First report, the scoop, was apparently by the Winchester Sun.

Seen in this light, the alleged zombie writings may be a bit of media misdirection, and my concerns of a piece of Columbine frag pattern closer that I thought. Again, the hard thing to do regarding any such story is to get facts, rather than impressions.

Occhi

[Occhidiangela]

Original Story

First report, the scoop, was apparently by the Winchester Sun.

Seen in this light, the alleged zombie writings may be a bit of media misdirection, and my concerns of a piece of Columbine frag pattern closer that I thought.  Again, the hard thing to do regarding any such story is to get facts, rather than impressions.

Occhi
[right][snapback]69655[/snapback][/right]

EDIT: From dvorak.org blog . . .

"That said this post shows up on the ZeroIntelligence Blog:

That’s my school. Consider this if you’re wondering about the boy’s creditbility: his initial story was that it was a short story for vocational school (yeah, the place where you learn carpentry and welding, not creative writing). Then it switched to an English assignment. Funny thing is, he doesn’t have an English class this semester. He’s also been involved in a number of fights and assaults on campus. His sister is even worried because she read what he wrote and she says it’s no zombie story. He had the sites of the cameras on campus mapped out and had timed out how quickly the police could arrive on campus. Heretofore, his grandparents have done everything they could to keep him out of jail.

Maybe granny was right.

Occhi

[Mithrandir]

Freshman year of high school, a classmate wrote a story about "going Columbine" on our school for our English class and was suspended for a week. The topic for the short story was "anything you wanted"... except that I suppose.

He was a bit on the quiet side but was a good, normal guy and I don't think anyone disliked him. It jaded him against our school's administration when his cries of "it's just a story, you said I could write on anything, I was just trying to show how under the right circumstances that could be anyone" fell on deaf ears. He left at the end of the school year.

I still feel bad for him, thinking back on it now. He got royally screwed over by bureaucratic bullsh*t.

[jahcs]

So having a school as the setting for a story is illegal? What a bunch of hogwash! Kids write stories set in familiar settings. The story is about zombies, a work of fiction. According to the author there is no mention of specific people or schools. (And yes, the school and the students guardians definitely need to help with the fundamentals of english.)

Without specific threat or expression of intent there should be no crime commited. Wishing something bad would happen to someone is not a crime, acting on that wish would be.

If this kid would have been out of High School nobody would have thought twice about them writting stories set at a school. I guess if your last name isn't King or Clancy you aren't allowed to write fiction.

Edit: First part of the post was written just after Daemon's post. Did the reporter actually read the kid's story? Is it specific enough to be considered a threat? Does it really have zombies in it? Is the blogger's identity confirmed? Are the first and second news stories about the same issue?

[Mithrandir]

EDIT:  From dvorak.org blog . . .

"That said this post shows up on the ZeroIntelligence Blog:

That’s my school. Consider this if you’re wondering about the boy’s creditbility: his initial story was that it was a short story for vocational school (yeah, the place where you learn carpentry and welding, not creative writing). Then it switched to an English assignment. Funny thing is, he doesn’t have an English class this semester. He’s also been involved in a number of fights and assaults on campus. His sister is even worried because she read what he wrote and she says it’s no zombie story. He had the sites of the cameras on campus mapped out and had timed out how quickly the police could arrive on campus. Heretofore, his grandparents have done everything they could to keep him out of jail.

Maybe granny was right.

Occhi
[right][snapback]69656[/snapback][/right]

All right, all sympathy for the kid has been retracted. Thanks for the link Occhi.

[Occhidiangela]

So having a school as the setting for a story is illegal?  What a bunch of hogwash!  Kids write stories set in familiar settings.  The story is about zombies, a work of fiction.  According to the author there is no mention of specific people or schools.  (And yes, the school and the students guardians definitely need to help with the fundamentals of english.)

Without specific threat or expression of intent there should be no crime commited.  Wishing something bad would happen to someone is not a crime, acting on that wish would be.

If this kid would have been out of High School nobody would have thought twice about them writting stories set at a school.  I guess if your last name isn't King or Clancy you aren't allowed to write fiction.

Edit:  First part of the post was written just after Daemon's post.  Did the reporter actually read the kid's story?  Is it specific enough to  be considered a threat?  Does it really have zombies in it?  Is the blogger's identity confirmed?  Are the first and second news stories about the same issue?
[right][snapback]69658[/snapback][/right]

Ain't that the hell of it? I bit on the Lex18 story and posted here. I did a little more looking after Nystul raised a "this smells funny" flag. Should have done that in the first place. My bad.

Yes, they are about the same school, the same student. And what I need to emphasize is that there is quite a bit more to the story than either story reports.

It looks as though I expended a bit of energy leaping to a conclusion.

Oops.

Occhi

[LochnarITB]

It looks as though I expended a bit of energy leaping to a conclusion.

Oops.
[right][snapback]69673[/snapback][/right]

Shame on you for being human. :P Heck, some days jumping to conclusions is the only exercise I get. :D

[pazuzu]

It's still hard to determine the facts here.
If he's been actively trying to recruit other people for a shoot out at school, it's obviously a crime. However, if all they have to go on is a paper from a private journal, it can hardly be called a 'threat', crime or whatever.

Heck, I've made detailed plans for armed assaults on local supermarkeds, just for the fun of it. I've never actually meant to do any such thing, but I get a kick out of creating realistic scenarios that involve tactical planning.
Should I be arrested for planning a crime?
There could be several reasons for making such plans. Now, I'm not saying the kid's innocent, I'm saying it's impossible to know.

[jahcs]

Selective reporting and sensationalism are becoming real problems. The loss of ethics in journalism is a real issue for me. Report the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

A man in Renton had a dye pack placed in his withdrawl and it went of when he exited the bank. He has a 2nd degree burn on his thigh and when it went off he thought he had been shot, so he called 911. The police asked him if he had robbed the bank, he said no. Things got sorted quickly and he got medical treatment, now he's waiting on the bank for an apology. The bank refuses to comment. The afternoon anchor on the news channel headlined the story as "Bank customer gets suprise with cash." Then the evening anchor came on and headlined the story as "Local man cashes check and is treated like a criminal." The website is showing the afternoon anchor's headline.

To see this story go to NWCN.COM (you may have to register with the site)

Bank customer gets surprise with his cash

03:48 PM PST on Thursday, March 3, 2005


KING Staff

Arturo Santiago reports

LAKEWOOD, Wash. - A Lakewood businessman was mistaken for a bank robber after he cashed a check and the teller gave him a dye pack with his cash.

The businessman, Rajiv Diwan, was walking out of the bank Wednesday with the cash in his pants when the dye pack exploded.

He put his hand in his pocket, and when it came out red he thought he had been shot.

He called police, but they didn't respond quite the way he expected.

"They asked me 'did you just rob the bank?' and I said 'no, I didn't,'" he said.

He was taken to a hospital and given a hazmat shower for the dye-pack paint, which had a strong ammonia smell.

He's now recovering from a second-degree burn on his thigh - and waiting for an apology from the bank.

"I got no explanation, they said they were just investigating what had happened," he said.

Calls to Bank of America's headquarters in San Francisco were not returned.

There is a different local network news channel broadcasting out of Seattle that will show almost anything during their broadcast. Violence, death, drug use, they seem to show almost anything. It doesn't seem to be helping their ratings much either.

[Guest]

edited

[Nystul]

Heck, I've made detailed plans for armed assaults on local supermarkeds, just for the fun of it. I've never actually meant to do any such thing, but I get a kick out of creating realistic scenarios that involve tactical planning. 
Should I be arrested for planning a crime?
[right][snapback]69687[/snapback][/right]

By local supermarkets you mean the actual supermarkets in your area, right? Then yes, I would say you should be arrested. Surely it would at least justify searching your property and bringing you in for questioning. You probably wouldn't be charged with anything, unless you happen to also be a gun collector or have a few bags of fertilizer laying around or something...

[pazuzu]

Ok, admittedly, you have a point. Although it seems absolutely ridiculous to me that I should be arrested (as I know there's no harm ment), the cops do have a job to do and they would have to investigate it.
<pretending there actually was a point to what I wrote>
Still, I'm certain the newspapers would have presented me as a badass gangster, no matter the facts.
</pretending>

Oooooh, I just realized I'm actually a criminal! I checked, and it turns out such planning is indeed illegal here in Norway. :blush:

[Bam-Bam]

Ain't that the hell of it?&nbsp; I bit on the Lex18 story and posted here.&nbsp; I did a little more looking after Nystul raised a "this smells funny" flag.&nbsp; Should have done that in the first place.&nbsp; My bad.

Yes, they are about the same school, the same student.&nbsp; And what I need to emphasize is that there is quite a bit more to the story than either story reports.

It looks as though I expended a bit of energy leaping to a conclusion.

Oops.

Occhi
[right][snapback]69673[/snapback][/right]

It seems to me that the media/blogs, and even many of us (I am not immune) are all too willing to jump to conclusions on partial information colored by our own preconceived notions (think orientation in the OODA loop, or paradigms in the Covey sense). If you think have a pre-conceived notion that authority figures are over-reacting to recent events (Columbine, 9/11) and stepping all over individual liberty, then it is all too easy to color incomplete facts with your own orientation. I know I have been guilty of this on more than one occasion.

A good reminder for all of us to keep our minds open to all the facts, and understanding how our own inclinations can color our decisions or conclusions. Thanks for the reminder Occhi.

Bam-Bam