After the temporary enjoyment provided by Dropkick Monkey (story below), the real world came rushing back with a vengeance in the form of this story about the dumbest people who serve in a position of influence.
Short version of the story. 10 year old kid brings her lunch to school – in this case a steak. Since most well mannered youth are taught not to grab a steak bone by their hands and gnaw on it like a hyena, she also brings a knife in which to cut the steak.
Now, a reasonable but anal teacher may see a 10 year old with a knife and help her cut the steak so she doesn’t get hurt. A somewhat unreasonable and grudge-laden teacher may take the knife away and get her a plastic one. An extreme nutcase *may* give her detention. But you have to be psychotic to do what these teachers and sheriffs did.
Not only did they take the steak knife, they:
- Had her Arrested
- Took her to the county’s juvenile assessment center
- Suspended her from school for 10 days
- Filed FELONY charges against her for weapons possession.
The Spokesman for the school is named Kevin Christian. He had this to say, "Anytime there’s a weapon on campus, yes, we have to report it and we aggressively report it because we don’t want to take any chances, regardless." Let me repeat – the girl is 10 years old. Kevin – I’m sorry, but you’re stupid.
Now, lest you think everyone in Ocala is this insane, I bring you good news. In a poll on the WFTV’s web site, the vote (at the time of this writing) was about 2850 to 150 that the school district’s punishment was too severe. (No word yet whether the 150 people who voted "No" are being supervised for dementia.)
One can only hope that the people in charge of the school board and sheriff’s office down there are voted out of office in the next election by a similar margin.
Was the little girl’s knife really the only weapon at the school?
Were there no other knives in the kitchen, no scissors in the classrooms, no baseball bats, no glass bottles, no electrical cords, no plastic bags and rubber bands, no soap and tube socks, no plastic wrap and running water, no two liquids that in quantities greater than 100ml could be combined to make an explosive? If not, then why single out a 10-year old when the school principal is obviously a greater felon.
Perhaps someone needs to demonstrate for Mr. Cristian *exactly* how many of these items commonly found in schools can be used as weapons.
It really is sad that cases like this continue. At what point do we label the human mind a weapon and start punishing people for dreams and thoughts? This steak knife was a tool and can only be considered a weapon when brandished like a weapon. That this teacher had the child arrested seems a violation of the childs civil rights and that seems to me the real crime here.