WEST WARWICK, R.I. --A seventh-grader who wrote an essay saying his perfect day would involve doing violence to President Bush is being investigated by the Secret Service. The unidentified boy from West Warwick turned in the essay on Tuesday, and his teacher alerted school officials. The assignment was to write about what he would do on a perfect day. Thomas M. Powers, Secret Service resident agent in charge in Providence, said the investigation is ongoing but the essay may have been a "cry for help." Threatening the president is a felony, he said. The one-page essay also said the student wanted to kill Oprah Winfrey, hurt executives at Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart and attack a Walgreens pharmacy, police and school officials told The Providence Journal. "His perfect day would be to see the destruction of these people," Schools Superintendent David Raiche said. If this kid is having issues, wouldn't it make more sense to get him into counseling, rather than having a full blown investigation into him, his life, every member of his family, and every person he's ever met, and is ever going to meet? But, hey, maybe the government should be wasting money; they've got enough of it after all! Come on everybody! Lets do like the government! Get out a 20 and a lighter!
Are we having freedom of speech yet? I wonder why we bothered exporting it to Iraq. Looks to me like Saddam Hussain was touting exactly the same product already.
I like this kid...vote him in to office maybe? What a brilliant list, especially for someone, who I assume is only about 12. Seriously though, this is a little unfair, asking someone what their perfect day is, is a personal thing, you can't rightly persecute them for being honest and open now can you?
Shh! Put on your tin foil hat, or you'll get the site shut down due to crimes against the president! (ie: calling him a toss peice)
Thats classic, that kid just wrote what most of us want to do. I mean look at the harm and destruction most of the companies and people he listed (aside from coca-cola..*sips his diet coke* ) have caused over their lifetime? I say he just picked it up from his crazy father that always rants about the government, kid needs family counseling, not an investigation.
I'm going to kill the prime minister*... Feels great that we say that in this country! But as others said, the boy just needs councelling, the SS are probably making the situation worse, and are taking this way too seriously, a waste of government money! *Disclaimer: That was a joke
Ok, I'm kind of mixed about this one. Having been in a similar situation back when I was i school, I would say that the school administration went a little too far in contacting the Secret Service. On that note, I don't think this is really the Free Speech issue that it's being made out to be. Was the kid just being a typical kid? Could be. Is the essay indicative of something deeper that requires counseling? Maybe. However, before you all jump on the "America-is-killing-free-speech" bandwagon, try to think of it from the school administration's point of view. Schools at the moment are in a very bad situation, and part of that is because the public in general is placing more and more responsibility on the school as a place to raise their children. Teachers no longer teach. Now they are expected to raise and look after the kids. If this essay had gone unreported, and if the child did eventually act out in a violent way, the media would be all over it. The school and the teachers would be crucified in the court of public opinion. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I think the school was more interested in erring on the side of caution. It's unfortunate that the media got involved regardless, because a lot of people are going to look past the issue and trump this up to a violation of Constitutional rights. In the article, it states that the boy was not charged with a crime. The school administration is suspending him temporarily pending psychological evaluation. The Secret Service did not go out looking for this kid. The school made the choice to report the incident, and the Secret Service did the investigation so that everything would be official. Again, think if the kid had done something and it came out that the Secret Service had chosen not to look into the matter. Again, the media would ba all over it. I suspect that the Secret Service will not persue the matter any further, having determined that there is no legitimate threat. The boy will undergo an initial evaluation to determine in there are any mental health issues to deal with, or if he was just being a 7th-grade boy. The case will be closed and life will go on. Remember, big bad America did not go looking for this kid in an effort to silence him. The school administration called the Secret Service, and they responded just as they should. -monkey
If things are so bad litigation and press wise in the states (Land of the free?) and the school reported the essay because he MIGHT have become a presidential assassin, and they MIGHT get bad press because of that, this is ridiculous. He is 12! Get some perspective! Dear lord I want to thump Bush and Blair with a big stick for being illegal warmongerers, but thankfully I am here in Britain and I do not expect MI5 to be bashing down my door because of this... (Waits for abseiler off of roof of 2 storey house)... Nothing, well I guess that I am safe...
This is a non-issue... the school can't take a joke is all. This happens all the time regardless of who is in the whitehouse.
That's very true, this does happen all of the time, regardless of who is President. But to say that the school just can't take a joke is a bit short-sighted. I do think that they jumped the gun (so to speak) by calling the Secret Service, but they were correct to take some form of action. Again, the school was erring on the side of caution; better to have the kid checked out than to just let him go on with so much hatred brewing inside, only assuming it was all a joke. Even then, it should have started with the school counselor and the parents. I know that if my child was writing those kinds of things I would want to know about it. -monkey
Saying that you want to kill someone isn't a threat. Telling the person that you're going to kill him/her is a threat. He didn't do anything wrong. The school's right to investigate a bit, but the secret service is total overkill.
I wonder how the kid will handle all of this. Instead of informing the counselor and the parents and handling the matter quietly, the kid now has to face his fellow classmates with the stigma of being "that guy," thanks in part to the media. All the other kids will now be keeping one eye on him all the time because their parents will likely tell them, "Oh, Johnny got arrested by the Secret Service, he's bad news just like those Columbine boys." By choosing the path they did, the school has now made his life that much harder. -monkey
All that the school needed to do if it had any concerns was tell the parents. This would be the appropriate, balanced response that would place responsibility for the child's actions back in the hands of those where it belongs. To be honest, I think the whole thing is blown out of proportion from the start. This was not a detailed account of how the kid plans to obtain a weapon, travel to Washington DC, by-pass security in this-way-and-that and blow what little brain Bush has all over the curtains of the Oval Office. He was just ranting. As disenchanted, frustrated 12-year-olds are wont to do. Which leaves us to examine why the school took the action it did. Well, they panicked. They suspended rational thought. I do not think this has anything to do with bad press, or feeling the pressure of accountability, but with an atmosphere of fear and paranoia that is being created in the current political climate of the US. Everybody is becoming increasingly afraid to be seen or heard to do anything that might in any way be construed as criticism of the current administration, lest you are branded "unpatriotic" or worse, a "terrorist sympathiser". The school was too busy distancing itself from the statements made by the boy ("killing the President? Whoa! Nothing to do with us, guv'!") to consider whether theirs was an appropriate and measured way of dealing with the situation.
seriously... i think the scariest place at the moment is the US. forget the terrorist threats and nuclear threats from the poor and relatively weak nations. What I am scared of is the underlying problems with the current most powerful nation in the world. And this is no quip, sarcastic remark or joke. I am seriously afraid of what kind of this country will and can do and get away with.. at least with the terrorist nations et al are transparant compared to the US.
Exactly. The first ammendment (freedom of speech) does have exceptions, this is NOT one of them. If he had said he will do that, then that is a threat. A call to violence such as someone giving a speach telling the crowd to go out killing people is one of those few legal exceptions. Sure it was stupid for him to say that somewhere where it could be documented, he didnt break any laws. Your going to be watched now
Will some one please think of the children *obligatory?* yah this is just blown out of proportion, I think I wrote stupid things like that as a kid (never quite so dramatic but whatever) it's just a case of boys being boys, as this kid probably has no means to carry out such an attack. If anything this boy has some anger issues and needs counseling. how many assasinations have been carried out by 12 year olds?
