Would you turn your own child in? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

UKking · 04-29-2008, 02:32 PM

Quote:

An 18-year-old accused of planning to bomb his high school was charged Tuesday with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a possible life sentence, as more details of his potentially deadly plans emerged.

Ryan Schallenberger's journal contained an entry made last month that contained a timeline for an attack that included how he would lock his school's doors and where he would place more than five explosives in the building, prosecutor Jay Hodge said during a court hearing for the teen.

"The kid needs help, but this is a violent offense," Hodge said. "You can't put an entire community in fear and just walk away. In this situation, society requires jail time. There's no way to excuse or forgive what he did."

Hodge urged a mental evaluation for the Schallenberger, whom authorities have described as a straight-A student who has seemed confused since his arrest. Cuffed and shackled, the skinny teen with the wispy mustache smiled and gave a quick wave Tuesday to courtroom spectators who included his parents and some classmates.

Court-appointed lawyer William Spencer said the teen doesn't want to post bond or have a mental evaluation. He said that after meeting with Schallenberger a day earlier, he believed his client was competent to defend himself and understand the charge against him.

During the hearing in Chesterfield, prosecutors formally requested to change their charge from making a bomb threat to possession of bomb-making material, which carries a sentence of two to 15 years in prison. The federal charges will take precedent, however, and Schallenberger was whisked to a federal courtroom some 50 miles away to face those accusations and meet another defense lawyer.

Schallenberger was arrested Saturday after his parents called police because he had ordered 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate through eBay, authorities said. Ammonium nitrate is a fertilizer that was a component in the deadly 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

But CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports that by the time Schallenberger's parents began to seek help for their son, the bomb-making supplies that he had ordered using the Internet were already in the mail.

Authorities have said Schallenberger could have assembled deadly bombs within minutes with the materials they found. Police said they also the bombing plans in the journal including a hand-drawn map of the school, and the hate-filled diary lauded the Columbine killers. They also said they found an audiotape that Schallenberger wanted played after he died.

Hodge on Tuesday said the 50-page journal also contained some attempts at self-analysis and that the teen knew that what he was planning was wrong. "He had a temper," the prosecutor said.

The journal did not name a specific target for an attack nor did it specify whom Schallenberger wanted to harm.

Ashley Waters, one of Schallenberger's classmates, told the CBS Early Show, "What he did is completely out of his character. He's really nice, he talks to everybody, everybody talks to him. Nobody picks on him, so we don't really know what's going on."

Schallenberger's mother and stepfather, John and Laurie Sittley, sat behind him in the courtroom, his stepfather shielding their faces from the media with a white envelope. They have not commented publicly about the case and rushed from the courtroom after the hearing, but authorities have described them as heartbroken over the arrest. Their phone number is unlisted and their home off a dirt road about 10 miles from the school has "No Trespassing" signs posted.

Kevin McDonald, the acting U.S. attorney for South Carolina, said the federal weapons charge comes into play mostly because Schallenberger ordered materials that can be used for bombs through the mail. An EBay spokeswoman said the company is cooperating with the investigation and did nothing illegal.

Schallenberger also faces two lesser federal charges: attempting to use explosives on a building that gets federal funding, and using interstate commerce to obtain explosives to be used against people and property.

Hanna Huntley, an 18-year-old classmate who attended the hearing, discounted descriptions of Schallenberger as a loner in their school of 544 students.

"He had plenty of friends. He was a likable person. He was the type of person that, if you weren't happy that day, he'd make you smile. Thats why it was such a shock. He obviously kept all this bottled up," she said, describing how he made people laugh in her history class last year by singing songs from the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants.

School officials said three-quarters of the students attended school Tuesday, a day after more than half did not show up.

Source

I'd take them to visit with a therapist as well as alert the authorities. No child of mine is allowed to take others out of this world. And obviously, if it got to that point, I couldn't give them the help they needed to start with.

I bet that hurt so badly for them.

Jinn · 04-29-2008, 02:38 PM

My only reaction was to this:

Quote:

attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a possible life sentence

Seriously? "Weapon of mass destruction"? Next thing we know a pipe bomb will be a WMD. I think he should be sentenced and yes, I would've turned him in as a parent, but not for this crime, that's for sure.

genuinegirly · 04-29-2008, 02:39 PM

They did the right thing.

I honestly don't know how I would have responded if this were my child, seeing as how I have none.

I wonder if they're getting any flack from the community about this, seeing as how their son was so very likeable on campus.

lotsofmagnets · 04-29-2008, 05:37 PM

i´d say everyone on campus sounds to be as stunned as they do. i think most ppl would think (as i do) that they did the right thing.

Shauk · 04-29-2008, 05:42 PM

Quote:

"What he did is completely out of his character. He's really nice, he talks to everybody, everybody talks to him. Nobody picks on him, so we don't really know what's going on."

he's a frakkin psylon! aaaah!

ugh, that show is so awesome, it's based on crazy people.

Willravel · 04-29-2008, 05:58 PM

Dear CBS 5,
10 pounds of ammonium nitrate can't make a "weapon of mass destruction", you sensationalist fucks. I hope you all rot in hell.
Hugs and kisses,
Willravel

Back to the matter at hand. The warning signs are always there. The parents and school missed it.

MSD · 04-29-2008, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willravel

Dear CBS 5,
10 pounds of ammonium nitrate can't make a "weapon of mass destruction", you sensationalist fucks. I hope you all rot in hell.

Look at the legal definition -- it's something like any device with over 4 ounces of explosive propellant.

Willravel · 04-29-2008, 06:12 PM

U.S. Department of Defense, Proliferation Threat and Response 2001, "Message of the Secretary of Defense," refers to weapons of mass destruction as those with "...capabilities to inflict mass casualties and destruction: nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons or the means to deliver them." (page 4 on the screen)

"Mass casualties". I doubt that's a few dozen students.

ASU2003 · 04-29-2008, 06:33 PM

The media would make it seem like 'mass casualties'.

I'm not sure what I would do. I wouldn't turn them in if it was a life sentence. Or any jail time if they were just in a planning stage and no one got hurt. That would be a psychotherapist/mental health issue.

LoganSnake · 04-29-2008, 07:28 PM

If talking sense into him wouldn't help, I'd use physical force. I'm not turning in my child for anything. I'll even go as far as saying that if my kid was a terrorist, I'd cover up for him or her. Family places right at the top of my values.

mixedmedia · 04-29-2008, 07:37 PM

Of course I wouldn't turn my own kids in...but because it would be so out of character for them, I know would there to be some other explanation...a fiction.

But, that said, I'm convinced that some parents fall under the same delusory traps that battered spouses do...you don't want to believe the worst even though the signs are all around you.

levite · 04-29-2008, 11:12 PM

It's hard for me to imagine that any kid of mine would get so messed up as to be violent. And the only thing I would ever turn my kid in for is violence. That said, if it did happen-- God forbid-- then I would march that kid down to the police station myself.

telekinetic · 04-29-2008, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSD

Look at the legal definition -- it's something like any device with over 4 ounces of explosive propellant.

If Bush could get away calling IED's WMD's on a technicality without getting crucified, don't you think he would have by now?

Seer666 · 04-30-2008, 01:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willravel

"Mass casualties". I doubt that's a few dozen students.

Soon, young Willravel, you know the power of the dark side.

04-29-2008, 02:39 PM	#3 (permalink)
genuinegirly Eat your vegetables Super Moderator Location: Arabidopsis-ville	They did the right thing. I honestly don't know how I would have responded if this were my child, seeing as how I have none. I wonder if they're getting any flack from the community about this, seeing as how their son was so very likeable on campus. __________________ "Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq "violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

04-29-2008, 05:37 PM	#4 (permalink)
lotsofmagnets Upright Location: reykjavík, iceland	i´d say everyone on campus sounds to be as stunned as they do. i think most ppl would think (as i do) that they did the right thing. __________________ mother nature made the aeroplane, and the submarine sandwich, with the steady hands and dead eye of a remarkable sculptor. she shed her mountain turning training wheels, for the convenience of the moving sidewalk, that delivers the magnetic monkey children through the mouth of impossible calendar clock, into the devil's manhole cauldron. physics of a bicycle, isn't it remarkable?

04-29-2008, 07:28 PM	#10 (permalink)
LoganSnake We work alone Location: Cake Town	If talking sense into him wouldn't help, I'd use physical force. I'm not turning in my child for anything. I'll even go as far as saying that if my kid was a terrorist, I'd cover up for him or her. Family places right at the top of my values. __________________ Maturity is knowing you were an idiot in the past. Wisdom is knowing that you'll be an idiot in the future. Common sense is knowing that you should try not to be an idiot now. - J. Jacques

04-29-2008, 07:37 PM	#11 (permalink)
mixedmedia has all her shots. Location: Florida	Of course I wouldn't turn my own kids in...but because it would be so out of character for them, I know would there to be some other explanation...a fiction. But, that said, I'm convinced that some parents fall under the same delusory traps that battered spouses do...you don't want to believe the worst even though the signs are all around you. __________________ Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce

04-29-2008, 11:12 PM	#12 (permalink)
levite Minion of Joss Location: The Windy City	It's hard for me to imagine that any kid of mine would get so messed up as to be violent. And the only thing I would ever turn my kid in for is violence. That said, if it did happen-- God forbid-- then I would march that kid down to the police station myself. __________________ Dull sublunary lovers love, Whose soul is sense, cannot admit Absence, because it doth remove That thing which elemented it. (From "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne)

04-29-2008, 05:58 PM	#6 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	Dear CBS 5, 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate can't make a "weapon of mass destruction", you sensationalist fucks. I hope you all rot in hell. Hugs and kisses, Willravel Back to the matter at hand. The warning signs are always there. The parents and school missed it.

04-29-2008, 06:12 PM	#8 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	U.S. Department of Defense, Proliferation Threat and Response 2001, "Message of the Secretary of Defense," refers to weapons of mass destruction as those with "...capabilities to inflict mass casualties and destruction: nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons or the means to deliver them." (page 4 on the screen) "Mass casualties". I doubt that's a few dozen students.

04-29-2008, 06:33 PM	#9 (permalink)
ASU2003 immoral minority Location: Back in Ohio	The media would make it seem like 'mass casualties'. I'm not sure what I would do. I wouldn't turn them in if it was a life sentence. Or any jail time if they were just in a planning stage and no one got hurt. That would be a psychotherapist/mental health issue.