The brilliance of zero tolerance: student expelled for butter knife - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

MSD · 10-21-2007, 09:34 AM

http://www.abcnews4.com/news/stories/1007/465601.html

Quote:

A Berkeley County student is kicked out of school for bringing a butter knife to campus.
"I know I made a really stupid decision but I don't think I should be expelled for it."

Amber Dauge says that stupid decision was taking a butter knife to school. Amber ran out of the house to meet the bus while making a sandwich. When she realized she had the knife, she put it in her bookbag..then put it in her locker at Goose creek High school. She forgot it was there...until a few weeks later ..when the knife fell out of her overstuffed locker.

"A kid behind me yelled out a comment that I was going to stab someone with the knife and everyone started laughing and the teacher saw it", Amber told us.

The teacher told the principal and Amber was suspended and recommended for expulsion.

She attended an expulsion hearing last Thursday..and it was made official.

"We got the paperwork for the expulsion Friday in the mail. So they had sent the paperwork out before they had even doen the hearing saying she was expelled", says Amber's mother Kristi Heinz.

The Berkeley County school district has a zero tolerance policy. But is it too harsh?

"I don't think zero tolerance is the right thing. I really don't. Every situation has it's own circumstances," says Steven Heinz, Amber's father.

Amber realizes she could have made a better choice like leaving the on the porch at home or actually giving it to a teacher.

"I knew i was gonna get in trouble but I didn't think I was was gonna get expelled."

Amber can appeal. Her parents will write a letter to the superintendent and will attend the next school board meeting on Tuesday.

Zero tolerance is when words on paper make decisions instead of letting people judge what's right. The unjustified paranoia surrounding school violence is absurd, and the mass media are entirely to blame. I don't like to jump to conclusions and assume racism, but I'd put pretty good odds on a guess that the girl is black. It may come out that she has a long disciplinary record, in which case zero tolerance was used as an excuse to get rid of her because teachers didn't want to deal with her but had no real reason to do anything over minor violations.

Anyone who made this decision is an idiot and should be stabbed in the eye with a school-afe #2 pencil along with the idiot who screamed that she was going to stab someone.

Willravel · 10-21-2007, 09:42 AM

1) Non-discretionary enforcement
2) ?
3) The Matrix

flat5 · 10-21-2007, 09:42 AM

albania · 10-21-2007, 10:02 AM

"Amber Dauge " + "Amber's mother Kristi Heinz" + "Steven Heinz, Amber's father"= married highschooler or typo. Anyway, high school brings back flashbacks of stupid plastic sporks; god it makes me want to stab someone with my butter knife. I wonder how many kids they lost each year before they implemented that in my high school.

Let me get on point, expelling someone over a butter knife is pretty stupid. 0 tolerance policies are also pretty stupid. People can make mistakes and circumstances do matter.

flstf · 10-21-2007, 10:04 AM

I would think that a sharp pencil or pen would be a better weapon than a butter knife. Are they still allowed in school?

ziadel · 10-21-2007, 10:11 AM

I feel so much safer now that shes off the streets.

1010011010 · 10-21-2007, 10:18 AM

This is the same school district that had the local police force run a live fire anti-terrorism drill on the local highschool... without telling anyone at the school?

Jetée · 10-21-2007, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziadel

I feel so much safer now that shes off the streets.

That's actually the other way around; now that she is not preoccupied and burdened by the confines of a schoolhouse, she is now free to roam the neighborhood, potentially armed and docile.

SSJTWIZTA · 10-21-2007, 10:54 AM

i remember when i would take my pocket knife to school, occasionally a teacher would see it, but no one seemed to care. But then again, i used it as a tool and it was before all of these violent incidents taking place in schools.

MSD · 10-21-2007, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1010011010

This is the same school district that had the local police force run a live fire anti-terrorism drill on the local highschool... without telling anyone at the school?

No, that was Burlington Township, NJ. This one did a drug raid with armed officers.

Quote:

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate...al/7430579.htm

Posted on Sat, Dec. 06, 2003

17 students file suit over school drug raid
Group seeks money for damages, injunction against another such raid
By LAUREN LEACH
Staff Writer

Seventeen Stratford High School students are suing the city of Goose Creek and the Berkeley County school district in federal court, alleging police and school officials terrorized them in a drug raid last month.

Individuals named as defendants in the suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Charleston, include: Stratford High School principal George McCrackin; Berkeley County school superintendent Chester Floyd; Goose Creek police Chief Harvey Becker; and Goose Creek police Lt. Dave Aarons.

The suit also names the city of Goose Creek, its police department and the Berkeley County School District as defendants.

School officials declined to comment on the details of the lawsuit but expressed regret about the incident.

The Nov. 5 raid by police and school officials has created a national firestorm, in part because it was caught on videotape by the school and made available to a local television reporter.

Stratford officials have said they had reason to believe drugs were being sold in the hallway before classes started, but no drugs were found in the raid.

Some Stratford students were arrested on drug-related charges earlier this year.

In the lawsuit, the 17 students asked for an unspecified amount of money for damages and an injunction against another such raid.

They also asked for a declaration that their constitutional rights had been violated.

The suit charges the students’ Fourth and 14th Amendment rights were violated. The Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unreasonable search and seizure; the 14th forbids states from depriving “any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”

The suit also levels charges of assault, battery and false arrest.

McCrackin “planned, ordered, orchestrated and executed the Nov. 5 raid on the Stratford campus,” the suit said.

The school district, the police department and McCrackin bear responsibility for what happened, the suit said, in part because they failed to train and supervise their employees prior to the raid.

The suit also said McCrackin “has made clear” that the raid “will be and is the standard policy for Stratford’s administration.”

When contacted Friday, McCrackin said he had not received any information about the lawsuit. “Even if I had, I can’t comment,” he said.

Floyd said he heard about the lawsuit Friday afternoon and did not have a copy of the suit, but described the matter as “very unfortunate.”

“We’ve had local, state, national and international news coverage on this,” Floyd said. “It’s a month old. I’m trying to get everything back to normal. I’m sorry it all happened. I’m sorry it’s a lawsuit.”

In the suit, the students provide details of what happened to them on Nov. 5 when police burst into the school to conduct the raid. Maurice Harris, a 14-year-old freshman, said one officer pointed a gun at his face. “Maurice can still see the end of the barrel looking him in his face,” the suit said.

The suit comes one day after Ninth Circuit Solicitor Ralph Hoisington of Charleston turned over the case to South Carolina’s attorney general. His announcement angered parents who attended the news conference at Goose Creek City Hall.

Attorneys for the students said Hoisington’s decision played no part in the decision to file suit.

“It was already going to happen,” said Dwayne Green of Charleston, one of the students’ attorneys. “I share the concern that many members of our community have that children shouldn’t have to go through those types of tactics or procedures. I think there is a general concern that no one would want that to happen to their children.”

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a South Carolina native, traveled to the Lowcountry this week and announced plans for a Dec. 16 rally to protest the drug raid.

Ustwo · 10-21-2007, 11:32 AM

As always remember its one side of a story.

What the story calls a butter knife could be a carving knife and the student may have a history of disciplinary problems.

While I don't trust nanny state legislation, I trust the press to be accurate in this kind of story even less.

roachboy · 10-21-2007, 11:51 AM

so wait: you are defending expelling a student for having a butter knife in her locker, ustwo?

you cannot be serious.

Plan9 · 10-21-2007, 11:54 AM

Wow, this story reads like:

"Somebody pull my finger!

I'll release a WMD."

(gets expelled from school)

The_Jazz · 10-21-2007, 12:13 PM

I agree with Ustwo.

We have one side of the story. We have no picture of the knife. If it is a butter knife, the explusion is ridiculous. If it has a sharp edge, it is not.

The drug case is ... nothing. There are no details, other than one kid had a gun pointed at him. We know of no circumstances other than that.

Show me the knife of describe it, and I'll jump on the bandwagon. Without that, it seems a little premature to take a side.

Plan9 · 10-21-2007, 12:21 PM

Any "knife" can be sharp.

Hell, a spoon can be a knife.

Anything can be dangerous.

Zero tolerance is a crock.

Mens rhea over mala prohibita.

These are kids, for fuck's sake.

Hektore · 10-21-2007, 12:26 PM

Speaking of the 14th amendment, isn't this:

Quote:

"We got the paperwork for the expulsion Friday in the mail. So they had sent the paperwork out before they had even doen the hearing saying she was expelled", says Amber's mother Kristi Heinz.

a violation of due process. I know schools get some exceptions in certain circumstances, but I don't think they get an out on this. In my high school a kid who phoned in a bomb threat was expelled without even having a hearing. After his parents got a lawyer involved he was allowed to return for precisely that reason. Of course my high school had a due process clause right in the rulebook, maybe that's not the case everywhere?

Ustwo · 10-21-2007, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roachboy

so wait: you are defending expelling a student for having a butter knife in her locker, ustwo?

you cannot be serious.

You need to reread my post.

roachboy · 10-21-2007, 12:35 PM

Quote:

You need to reread my post.

i did read it, ustwo, and that's why i asked the question.
can we not have this kind of exchange?

SSJTWIZTA · 10-21-2007, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crompsin

Any "knife" can be sharp.

Hell, a spoon can be a knife.

Anything can be dangerous.

Zero tolerance is a crock.

couldn't agree more.

Willravel · 10-21-2007, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ustwo

You need to reread my post.

You asserted that the butter knife was probably not a butter knife, and only cited that you don't trust "the press". I'd call that an attack on the article as an act of defense of the zero tolerance policy.

Ustwo · 10-21-2007, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willravel

You asserted that the butter knife was probably not a butter knife, and only cited that you don't trust "the press". I'd call that an attack on the article as an act of defense of the zero tolerance policy.

I did no such thing.

I said there was a possibility.

Before one gets all outraged about this kind of thing, we need to have more then the families word. I doubt a lot of investigative reporting went into this, there is no comment from the school and there are no witnesses. Just what the family said happened.

If you view that as a defense of the zero tolerance policy, well I can't change how you think, but nothing in my post should lead one to think such a thing unless they assumed that was my position to start which would be erroneous.

If anything that should be clear as I state I don't like nanny state legislation, which I think this is a symptom of, nor do I trust the press on this kind of story.

I'm not sure how that can be confusing. The Jazz knew what I was talking about without effort.

Plan9 · 10-21-2007, 01:11 PM

Common sense (oh, no - not that) asserts that a reasonably prudent person would know the difference between a dangerous "dagger-like" implement and a butter knife.

The media is nutso, but they're not nutso towards the tame.

Sure, they said butter knife... they had WANTED to say machete / dagger / dirk / shiv so bad it hurt... but all they had was butter knife.

It was probably a butter knife.

McCarthyism at its greatest.

Willravel · 10-21-2007, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ustwo

I did no such thing.

I said there was a possibility.

You missed the "probably" in my post. Please reread.

inBOIL · 10-21-2007, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Zero tolerance is when words on paper make decisions instead of letting people judge what's right. The unjustified paranoia surrounding school violence is absurd, and the mass media are entirely to blame.

I don't think the school officials really believe that a butter knife justifies expulsion, I think they're afraid of lawsuits brought by the unjustifiably paranoid. They may worry that granting an exception to the policy (which is probably way too strictly worded or unflexible) this time will result in them having to grant an exception later, when there's a real threat. They may also be worried that in the unlikely event that this girl does eventually hurt someone, some idiot is going to start screaming about how it was preventable and the authorities ignored an incident that was a clear warning of her violent tendencies. It's fear of motivated idiots that seem to drive these decisions more than any legitimate concern for safety.

Plan9 · 10-21-2007, 01:30 PM

So now the idea of a potential crime is worse than crime itself?

Shit, I'm moving to Canada.

Ustwo · 10-21-2007, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crompsin

Common sense (oh, no - not that) asserts that a reasonably prudent person would know the difference between a dangerous "dagger-like" implement and a butter knife.

The media is nutso, but they're not nutso towards the tame.

Sure, they said butter knife... they had WANTED to say machete / dagger / dirk / shiv so bad it hurt... but all they had was butter knife.

It was probably a butter knife.

McCarthyism at its greatest.

No they want outrage. Girl suspended for steak knife doesn't sell papers.

They don't care where the outrage is, even if its over BB guns that look like real weapons, or a butter knife. Reporters want that spin.

The_Jazz · 10-21-2007, 03:56 PM

Everyone that knows what the knife looks like please take one step forward.

That's what I thought.

Nice rush to judgement folks.

Willravel · 10-21-2007, 04:14 PM

Butter knife means a knife that is used to spread butter. They feature a dull edge and rounded point of some kind, as butter does not require a sharp edge to separate or spread. This particular kind of knife is not generally considered dangerous at all. So unless we're assuming that channel 4, which is well respected in the Bay Area, is fabricating facts about stories, it's not unreasonable to understand that they are in fact describing a dull, and generally safe knife.

Not only that, but this story has precedent. In 2005, in Omaha there was a fifth grader who brought a butter knife to school and was suspended due to the zero tolerance policy.
http://www.ketv.com/news/5027982/detail.html

This is an image of the knife in question for the second story. Notice the dull edge and rounded point, that are characteristics of a butter knife.

dksuddeth · 10-21-2007, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hektore

Speaking of the 14th amendment, isn't this:

a violation of due process. I know schools get some exceptions in certain circumstances, but I don't think they get an out on this. In my high school a kid who phoned in a bomb threat was expelled without even having a hearing. After his parents got a lawyer involved he was allowed to return for precisely that reason. Of course my high school had a due process clause right in the rulebook, maybe that's not the case everywhere?

students have no rights, or so i've been told dozens of times on this forum.

DaveOrion · 10-21-2007, 05:01 PM

Anything can be turned into a weapon. So we'll just have all the kiddies go to school nekid, can't have any clothing, belts, shoelaces.....all potential weapons. No pens or pencils.....potential weapons.....remove all metal of any kind which could be fashioned into a weapon......no books either....potential weapons. I'm off to Canada too.....maybe Europe, will the last free American please bring the flag with you when you leave........

Hyacinthe · 10-21-2007, 06:39 PM

Don't forget cards Dave - I managed to scar a guy with a library card, I was pretending they were ninja stars and threw them at him.

Luckily I was not at school.

zero tolerance policies sound like BS to me but then again at my school about 75% of the population carried a weapon of some kind, we had knife fighs atleast once a month. No one was ever serioualy injured though.

Plan9 · 10-21-2007, 06:53 PM

They let you have library cards!?

Those things have edges like butter knives.

...

Damnit, I wanna see this "knife" now. Real bad.

Sion · 10-21-2007, 07:54 PM

hell, a big enough tub of butter could be a weapon...if you shove someone's face into it and hold them there.

just sayin...

MSD · 10-21-2007, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crompsin

The media is nutso, but they're not nutso towards the tame.

Apparently you missed a story a couple of weeks ago where a table covered with airsoft guns was an "arsenal of machine guns."

LazyBoy · 10-21-2007, 08:26 PM

She needs to be locked up for life

-Will

Challah · 10-21-2007, 08:54 PM

You have to be kidding me. A properly sharpened pencil is more dangerous than a butter knife - I've seen someone get stabbed in the hand with a #2. Anything can be used as a weapon, sure, but the butter knife in question wasn't being used as one. Makes no sense.

BlackIce · 10-21-2007, 09:30 PM

I think its sad we live in a society that has to fear their own children to the point where "Zero Tolerance" has to be implemented. Ugh people are so afraid and trying to cover their own asses, they'll mess up anyone's life, no matter how young they were

Seer666 · 10-22-2007, 04:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSelfDestruct

Apparently you missed a story a couple of weeks ago where a table covered with airsoft guns was an "arsenal of machine guns."

That backs his statement of "The media is nutso, but they're not nutso towards the tame." They don't down play something, they up it. So airsofts become machine guns. Machine guns never become pellet guns though.

Hektore · 10-22-2007, 05:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dksuddeth

students have no rights, or so i've been told dozens of times on this forum.

If i'm not mistaken students rights are only limited in two circumstances: when the excersizing of said right would 'disrupt the education process' and when it would pose a danger to other students/faculty etc. I fail to see how due process can possibly violate either one of those principles.

Before someone says, that under the policy a butter knife presents a danger to other students, I agree. Under the policy it does present a danger, but that gives them grounds only to suspend her temporarily, I fail to see how she can be expelled without a hearing.

I would like to hear the rest of this story, too bad it's now a day old, and since everyone has already forgotten about it we won't hear anything ever again. Gotta love the 'news'

Push-Pull · 10-22-2007, 06:41 AM

Geez, I used to carry around a butterfly knife when I was in high school. It was great for cleaning out my fingernails, opening the shrink wrap on my new records, and cleaning out my teeth after a steak or burger. Imagine what I could have done with a butter knife!

Anyhow, I digress. It seems that this "0 tolerance" is a convenient way for the school boards to keep from having to actually think. You know, about intentions, motives, abilities, etc. At least they're focused on educating these kids instead of prosecuting them.....

10-21-2007, 09:42 AM	#3 (permalink)
flat5 Very Insignificant Pawn Location: Amsterdam, NL	.. Last edited by flat5; 05-03-2008 at 01:18 AM..

10-21-2007, 10:11 AM	#6 (permalink)
ziadel Myrmidon Location: In the twilight and mist.	I feel so much safer now that shes off the streets. __________________ Ron Paul '08 Vote for Freedom Go ahead and google Dr. Ron Paul. You'll like what you read.

10-21-2007, 10:18 AM	#7 (permalink)
1010011010 Psycho Location: Virginia Beach, VA	This is the same school district that had the local police force run a live fire anti-terrorism drill on the local highschool... without telling anyone at the school? __________________ *Simple Machines in Higher Dimensions*

10-21-2007, 10:54 AM	#9 (permalink)
SSJTWIZTA Master Thief. Master Criminal. Masturbator. Location: Windiwana	i remember when i would take my pocket knife to school, occasionally a teacher would see it, but no one seemed to care. But then again, i used it as a tool and it was before all of these violent incidents taking place in schools. __________________ First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for me And there was no one left to speak out for me. -Pastor Martin Niemoller

10-21-2007, 11:32 AM	#11 (permalink)
Ustwo Pissing in the cornflakes	As always remember its one side of a story. What the story calls a butter knife could be a carving knife and the student may have a history of disciplinary problems. While I don't trust nanny state legislation, I trust the press to be accurate in this kind of story even less. __________________ Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

10-21-2007, 09:42 AM	#2 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	1) Non-discretionary enforcement 2) ? 3) The Matrix

10-21-2007, 10:02 AM	#4 (permalink)
albania Psycho	"Amber Dauge " + "Amber's mother Kristi Heinz" + "Steven Heinz, Amber's father"= married highschooler or typo. Anyway, high school brings back flashbacks of stupid plastic sporks; god it makes me want to stab someone with my butter knife. I wonder how many kids they lost each year before they implemented that in my high school. Let me get on point, expelling someone over a butter knife is pretty stupid. 0 tolerance policies are also pretty stupid. People can make mistakes and circumstances do matter.

10-21-2007, 10:04 AM	#5 (permalink)
flstf Easy Rider Location: Moscow on the Ohio	I would think that a sharp pencil or pen would be a better weapon than a butter knife. Are they still allowed in school?

10-21-2007, 11:51 AM	#12 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	so wait: you are defending expelling a student for having a butter knife in her locker, ustwo? you cannot be serious. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite

10-21-2007, 11:54 AM	#13 (permalink)
Plan9 I Confess a Shiver	Wow, this story reads like: "Somebody pull my finger! I'll release a WMD." (gets expelled from school) __________________ *Whatever you can carry.* "You should not drink... and bake."

10-21-2007, 12:13 PM	#14 (permalink)
The_Jazz Asshole Administrator Location: Chicago	I agree with Ustwo. We have one side of the story. We have no picture of the knife. If it is a butter knife, the explusion is ridiculous. If it has a sharp edge, it is not. The drug case is ... nothing. There are no details, other than one kid had a gun pointed at him. We know of no circumstances other than that. Show me the knife of describe it, and I'll jump on the bandwagon. Without that, it seems a little premature to take a side. __________________ "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin "There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush "We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

10-21-2007, 12:21 PM	#15 (permalink)
Plan9 I Confess a Shiver	Any "knife" can be sharp. Hell, a spoon can be a knife. Anything can be dangerous. Zero tolerance is a crock. Mens rhea over mala prohibita. These are kids, for fuck's sake. __________________ *Whatever you can carry.* "You should not drink... and bake."

10-21-2007, 01:11 PM	#22 (permalink)
Plan9 I Confess a Shiver	Common sense (oh, no - not that) asserts that a reasonably prudent person would know the difference between a dangerous "dagger-like" implement and a butter knife. The media is nutso, but they're not nutso towards the tame. Sure, they said butter knife... they had WANTED to say machete / dagger / dirk / shiv so bad it hurt... but all they had was butter knife. It was probably a butter knife. McCarthyism at its greatest. __________________ *Whatever you can carry.* "You should not drink... and bake." Last edited by Plan9; 10-21-2007 at 01:16 PM..

10-21-2007, 01:30 PM	#25 (permalink)
Plan9 I Confess a Shiver	So now the idea of a potential crime is worse than crime itself? Shit, I'm moving to Canada. __________________ *Whatever you can carry.* "You should not drink... and bake."

10-21-2007, 03:56 PM	#27 (permalink)
The_Jazz Asshole Administrator Location: Chicago	Everyone that knows what the knife looks like please take one step forward. That's what I thought. Nice rush to judgement folks. __________________ "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin "There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush "We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

10-21-2007, 04:14 PM	#28 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	Butter knife means a knife that is used to spread butter. They feature a dull edge and rounded point of some kind, as butter does not require a sharp edge to separate or spread. This particular kind of knife is not generally considered dangerous at all. So unless we're assuming that channel 4, which is well respected in the Bay Area, is fabricating facts about stories, it's not unreasonable to understand that they are in fact describing a dull, and generally safe knife. Not only that, but this story has precedent. In 2005, in Omaha there was a fifth grader who brought a butter knife to school and was suspended due to the zero tolerance policy. http://www.ketv.com/news/5027982/detail.html This is an image of the knife in question for the second story. Notice the dull edge and rounded point, that are characteristics of a butter knife.

10-21-2007, 05:01 PM	#30 (permalink)
DaveOrion Playing With Fire Location: Disaster Area	Anything can be turned into a weapon. So we'll just have all the kiddies go to school nekid, can't have any clothing, belts, shoelaces.....all potential weapons. No pens or pencils.....potential weapons.....remove all metal of any kind which could be fashioned into a weapon......no books either....potential weapons. I'm off to Canada too.....maybe Europe, will the last free American please bring the flag with you when you leave........ __________________ *Syriana*...have you ever tried liquid MDMA?....Liquid MDMA? No....Arash, when you wanna do this?.....After prayer...

10-21-2007, 06:39 PM	#31 (permalink)
Hyacinthe Psycho Location: Australia	Don't forget cards Dave - I managed to scar a guy with a library card, I was pretending they were ninja stars and threw them at him. Luckily I was not at school. zero tolerance policies sound like BS to me but then again at my school about 75% of the population carried a weapon of some kind, we had knife fighs atleast once a month. No one was ever serioualy injured though. __________________ "I want to be remembered as the girl who always smiles even when her heart is broken... and the one that could brighten up your day even if she couldnt brighten her own" "Her emotions were clear waters. You could see the scarring and pockmarks at the bottom of the pool, but it was just a part of her landscape – the consequences of others’ actions in which she claimed no part."

10-21-2007, 06:53 PM	#32 (permalink)
Plan9 I Confess a Shiver	They let you have library cards!? Those things have edges like butter knives. ... Damnit, I wanna see this "knife" now. Real bad. __________________ *Whatever you can carry.* "You should not drink... and bake."

10-21-2007, 07:54 PM	#33 (permalink)
Sion Dumb all over...a little ugly on the side Location: In the room where the giant fire puffer works, and the torture never stops.	hell, a big enough tub of butter could be a weapon...if you shove someone's face into it and hold them there. just sayin... __________________ He's the best, of course, of all the worst. Some wrong been done, he done it first. -fz I jus' want ta thank you...falettinme...be mice elf...agin...

10-21-2007, 08:26 PM	#35 (permalink)
LazyBoy Insane Location: Memphis Area	She needs to be locked up for life -Will __________________ Life is nothing, everything.....and something in between...

10-21-2007, 08:54 PM	#36 (permalink)
Challah Crazy Location: Canada	You have to be kidding me. A properly sharpened pencil is more dangerous than a butter knife - I've seen someone get stabbed in the hand with a #2. Anything can be used as a weapon, sure, but the butter knife in question wasn't being used as one. Makes no sense.

10-21-2007, 09:30 PM	#37 (permalink)
BlackIce Upright	I think its sad we live in a society that has to fear their own children to the point where "Zero Tolerance" has to be implemented. Ugh people are so afraid and trying to cover their own asses, they'll mess up anyone's life, no matter how young they were

10-22-2007, 06:41 AM	#40 (permalink)
Push-Pull I'll ask when I'm ready.... Location: Firmly in the middle....	Geez, I used to carry around a butterfly knife when I was in high school. It was great for cleaning out my fingernails, opening the shrink wrap on my new records, and cleaning out my teeth after a steak or burger. Imagine what I could have done with a butter knife! Anyhow, I digress. It seems that this "0 tolerance" is a convenient way for the school boards to keep from having to actually think. You know, about intentions, motives, abilities, etc. At least they're focused on educating these kids instead of prosecuting them..... __________________ "No laws, no matter how rigidly enforced, can protect a person from their own stupidity." -Me- "Some people are like Slinkies..... They are not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs." -Unknown- DAMMIT! -Jack Bauer-