March 02, 2005


The Dickhead Brigade

From Glenn over at A Brooklyn Bridge, this just in:

A George Rogers Clark High School junior arrested Tuesday for making terrorist threats told LEX 18 News Thursday that the "writings" that got him arrested are being taken out of context.

Winchester police say William Poole, 18, was taken into custody Tuesday morning. Investigators say they discovered materials at Poole's home that outline possible acts of violence aimed at students, teachers, and police.

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.

"My story is based on fiction," said Poole, who faces a second-degree felony terrorist threatening charge. "It's a fake story. I made it up. I've been working on one of my short stories, (and) the short story they found was about zombies. Yes, it did say a high school. It was about a high school over ran by zombies."

Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony. "Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it's a felony in the state of Kentucky," said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill.

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."

On Thursday, a judge raised Poole's bond from one to five thousand dollars after prosecutors requested it, citing the seriousness of the charge.

Poole is being held at the Clark County Detention Center.

So, now fiction is making the grade as allegedly terrorist material? This kids grandparents ought to be ashamed of themselves...unless there's something that they know that the rest of America didn't.

Perhaps in Left Blogtopia we should all start penning bad narratives about alien terrorists from the planet Kronlax Prime who want to expand their dominion by eating their enemies brains, and subjugate their breeding stock. Style points for atrocious grammar (I'd win) and any writing that better than Jonah Goldberg's.

I think I'll call my first novellette "Revenge of the Brain-Eating Kronlaxians", and set it in a small southern town, where the Kronlaxans are sending mind-waves to make the local PD and a judge behave like complete asses. Nah...no one would ever believe it.

posted by Jo Fish on 03.02.05 at 06:36 AM





Comments:

Yeah, the zombies are taking over, all right ....

posted by: Lex on 03.02.05 at 10:06 AM [permalink]



With this kind of criteria, Stephen King's writing career would have been nipped in the bud back in high school. As I recall, he wrote a short story about a high school kid taking his whole classroom hostage and titled it Rage.

The Thought Police are now out in full force it would seem.

posted by: Morrigan on 03.02.05 at 12:16 PM [permalink]



Yep...just look at what happened to that Harvard President...

posted by: on 03.02.05 at 12:17 PM [permalink]



I think I'm scared more of the thought police than the zombies.

Guess those fictional horror books at school libraries are the next to be banned.

posted by: jillian on 03.02.05 at 12:22 PM [permalink]



I guess Winchester Kentucky just doesn't have a lot of crime problems. The biggest crime of the decade seems to have been writing in a private journal. Kudos to the grandparents for violating the privacy of an 18 year old school senior. I guess in Kentucky you can be old enough to join the Army and visit strange foreign countries, and kill the inhabitants, but not old enough to keep your thoughts and writings private.

posted by: Lurch on 03.02.05 at 01:33 PM [permalink]



You don't have to go to strange lands to kill inhabitants. And since yesterday, you don't even have to be responsible if you are under 18.

posted by: on 03.02.05 at 04:37 PM [permalink]



The cult of narcissism has won. Christopher Lasch warned us, Sam Vaknin writes brilliantly about it, but our politics, policing, and public discourse are dominated by sociopathic malignant narcissists who are destroying society and crave only one thing: unchecked freedom to be insane, sadistic monsters.

Joe McCarthy, Dick Nixon, Woody Wilson, J. Edgar Hoover, Ronnie Reagan, Prescott Bush, Adolf Hitler, Madame Blavatsky, and all the wingnut bloggers who currently champion your indefatigable intolerance and hatred, rest in peace: you have won.

posted by: OTB on 03.03.05 at 12:53 AM [permalink]



From across, the pond in Great Britain, Kentucky seems an awfully strange place. It's not that much better here though...

posted by: Elizabeth on 03.04.05 at 08:12 AM [permalink]



As Jo said, "unless the grandparents know something that the rest of America doesn't." Well, maybe they do. Only an excerpt of the journal is provided in the story, so who knows exactly what was in the full text of the journal. It obviously scared the grandparents enough to call the police and turn in their own grandson.
Look back at Columbine. The warning signs were there for the parents to see, but they chose to ignore them. If the story really is just made up, it will come out in trial and the entire journal will be read and a jury can decide if this kid had the intent to carry out some of the described acts.
As for the privacy issue, most states - except Oregon now - say that if a child lives under your roof, there is a much lowered expectation of privacy. It's the job of parents or guardians to make sure that the kid grows up correctly - and that also means making sure the child doesn't go out and kill people in his high school (as absurd as that sounds).
I don't like "Big Brother" and I value my privacy as much as anyone, but who better than parents to moniter children? It's their job.

posted by: RR on 03.07.05 at 02:05 PM [permalink]



Lurch, as you are probably more aware than I am on this issue, if you are in high school and there is a draft, you can't be drafted until you graduate or cease going to school. So, the kid could have dropped out of high school and joined the military, but I'm sure that the privacy of military personnel is even lower than this kid enjoyed.

posted by: RR on 03.07.05 at 02:09 PM [permalink]






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