>From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
>Reply-To: virus@lucifer.com
>To: "Church of Virus" <virus@lucifer.com>
>Subject: Re: virus: Re: virus-digest V3 #109
>Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999 10:10:37 -0400
>
>>kids were given a
>>chance to turn around when they made a mistake.
>
>But, too often, they are allowed to make the same 'mistake' again and
>again. Or the 'mistake' is overlooked in the first place. Or the
>'mistake' is called a mistake.
>
>I graduated from high school in '69. One 'mistake' was all anyone
ever
>got. But then, there were no guns, no gangs, no great violence, no
>knives, although it was said that Jimmy Carson had a switchblade he
got
>from a magazine. And I skipped gym a lot.
>
>Now, I did not say that possession was intent, nor that any possible
>weapon _is_ one without intent.
>
>And each case is unique. Yours sounds benign.
>
>I am not an administrator, and I do have kids, two, and both in
public
>schools. A weapon in possession of a student is _grounds_ for
expulsion.
>Your case deserves a hearing, and I wish you the best- ten days seems
>long for a hearing, we still have the 'speedy trial' clause in the
>Constitution, I think- but if a knife or a gun had dropped out of his
>bag, hey, out he goes.
>
>But I am not the typical granola Cantabridgian you may have classed
me
>as. But, then, you seem swift to judge.
>
>>to get old stickers off his car
>
>Now, in this here region, the tool for that is called a scraper, and
>usually has a retractable blade. A 'box-cutter' here is also called a
>utility knife, and while it _may_ have a retractable blade, it don't
>necessarily, and this is the weapon of choice in the slashings that
have
>occured in this area.
>
>In this here region, having a 'box-cutter' is very easily taken as
>'possessing a weapon', and yes, in this day and age, it is facile,
and
>not at all fascist, to assume possession of such a weapon carries
some
>intent to use it. Like I said, deserves a hearing. It is the realm of
the
>fascist to deny hearings, and to deny testimony. It is fascist to
call me
>a sexist, for instance.
>
>
>**************************************************
>"Being an atheist is a matter not of moral choice,
> but of human obligation." - John Fowles
> ×××××××××××××××
> Wade T. Smith --- morbius@channel1.com
>===== http://www.channel1.com/users/morbius/ =====
>