kentucky government schools and police

[Kanchou]

have nothing better to do apparently...



http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=2989614&nav=EQlpWjof

[TortoiseAWD]

Kid writes a story about "brrrraaaaiiiinnsss". Kentucky authorities need to get some.



I fear the tree of liberty wants water.



Tort

[White95Max]

That`s rediculous.

[DaGonz]

A question for the judge, police and school officials...



When was the last time zombies attempted to take over the school?



They must have read the journal after attending a Wes Craven Film Festival!

[Eliot Ness]

If if was just a story about "Zombies" then yes, it is ridiculous. But that`s what *he* says it was about. I think I`ll reserve judgment until whatever he was writing about is (if ever) printed, rather than just accept his explanation. After all, it was his own family that determined something in his writings raised enough of a "red flag" to turn them over to the authorities.



If I was arrested for something like that you can bet I`d be trying to explain it away too. To put it in a different light, the reason cited in another news story was the family member thougt he was trying to "recruit a gang to take over the school." Seems a bit different than a story about "Zombies". For the other side of the story read this:



http://www.wkyt.com/global/story.asp?s=2998292&ClientType=Print



I would hope the family has a better handle on the emotional stability of this student than what we have read in a couple of short internet articles.



Let`s say that *his* version of the story is just an attempt to justify it as a misunderstanding. That the police had been given this information directly from a concerned family member and failed to act upon on it. Then go one step further and say some innocent students/teachers were actually harmed by his planned actions. The press would have a field day against the police for their inaction.



All I`m saying is that we don`t know what he actually wrote about, his background, or the reason his family turned this info over to the police. Until then I think we should reserve judgment until we have all of the facts. Just my 2 cents....

[Kanchou]

it was his grandparents found some of his writings at home, and they were the ones that called police.



Police say its a plan to take over the school, but the texts of what is written has to be speculative at best.



the problem here is the Kentucky Law supposedly covering this:




A threat directed at a person or persons or at a school does not need to identify a specific person or persons or school in order for a violation of this section to occur...



so who gets to decide when speech is a threat, eh? Who gets to say that?



so much for free speech in Kentucky. I guess if the state decides some speech is `threatening` you`ll be a felon...

[69-912]

Oh geez

[Accumulator]

I too think this one might be a little more complicated that first meets the eye. I don`t like to assume I can see what`s really going on based on a few sound-bites from the media.



Were the kid`s rights violated- what about his privacy and right to free speech? Is he being railroaded for some reason?



Yeah, that statute is *awfully* vague and does seem to impinge on free speech. What *is* a "threat" and what isn`t and who gets to decide?



But evaluating the law and deciding about this particular incident are two different issues.



While I could do with about 99.9% less governmental involvement in *everything*, if I had kids in school with him, I`d sure want somebody to look into this. As Eliot Ness said, it was his own family that sounded the alarm (and I don`t automatically assume that grandparents are clueless/senile/whatever). It`s not just the disenfranchised losers who go berserk. Maybe it was innocuous fantasy/"monster movie" stuff, but it doesn`t strike me as a perfectly normal fantasy for an 18 year old either. And it seems that the people who`ve actually read it take it seriously.



If it really is a big misunderstanding then let`s hope the system works the way it`s supposed to. And if it`s *not* a misunderstanding, the let`s hope for the same thing.