Who does this help, and how? Public schools are child abuse.

What are the charges? Assault with a crayon? Telling the truth? (Who is it who must not die?)

How does this differ from "Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary,”

Except for that last being an incitement to union violence uttered by a Democrat.

When I was in 8th grade, a friend and I smoked some oregano (at home after school) to be cool. Of course, the next day at school he told everyone, and showed a baggy of it all around. I was hauled into the principal's (Denny Pace was his name) as the leader of the Orange County drug cartel, handcuffed to the chair for almost an hour. Two uniformed police and then a detective, who all determined it was oregano, said no law had been broken, but I still got a suspension.

What really helped in this situation was my Dad, who was dying of cancer, showed up straight out of the hospital drugged up on morphine to set me straight. He was wobbly, in pajamas, slippers and a t-shirt.

Up to this point I was an honor student who never had an ounce of trouble. Had I been the principal, who knew of my family's situation and reputation, I think a good talking to about the dangers of falling into the wrong crowd with marijuana would have sufficed.

This makes me sick. These people are just deranged.

Wait a minute. If the school decided to take no action (and good on them), then how did the police find out? What am I missing here?

Amy, this is an important topic for discussion. Sad that so many right-wingers, like MarkD are attracted to your site, as they replace an important discussion with non-sensical attempts to link every imaginable topic back to issues that threaten their sense of political, social and economic superiority.

"Wait a minute. If the school decided to take no action (and good on them), then how did the police find out? What am I missing here?"

That is exactly what I was wondering. Someone somewhere in that school decided that this kid needed a "lesson" and called the police. That's the only thing I can figure.

I mean, part of be gets being "cautious" considering that mass school murders have happenned, but this is a severe overreaction. Once the situation was evaluated and it became clear that this boy is no threat, it should have ended there. Why the charade of "arresting" him? To make people feel safer? Safe from what? The Crayola bandit?

My lawyer would be on that school like white on rice.

Sad that so many right-wingers, like MarkD are attracted to your site

We were lectured, non-stop for two weeks about "uncivil, heated rhetoric leading to violence" and yet there are so many who lectured us on that who will, in a heart beat, turn and call for direct action against those they deem opponents.

Over matters of policy that should be subject to debate. Physican, heal thyself.

Interfering with the staff and studets of an education facility.

That what he was charged with, who does following your doctors advice to draw picture interfere with anything?

The teacher sent the boy to the office over the content of the drwing after he was done, no for diobeying the teachers orders

Why the hell did the parents plead out on this?

God I hate people

There is no reason to pick the kid up at night and subject him to that.

There is no reason to not have the kid's parents bring him in the next day (except that would allow time for an attorney to act.)

The kid has a therapist, the cops/da should be speaking to that person (with parents permission) to determine what's up.

I'd like to think that if that was my kid, the cops would be arresting two people that night. But that they would also find their antics on YouTube immediately thereafter.

(And why youtube when Qik, Ustream, and other sites let you instantaneously broadcast live video from your phones.)

I hope the kids parents end up owning the city.

As lujlp pointed out already... How is this "Interfering with the staff and studets of an education facility?" The kid was throwing the drawing away!
I must say, though, I'd probably be pretty paranoid about disturbed kids if I were a teacher. I'd certainly be uncomfortable having a kid in my class who had fantasies about killing me. And, having read the article at the link, it seems the kid is in therapy for ADD or learning disorders, not necessarily social issues.

The kids parents allowed him to plead guilty and enter a 'diversion' program

"She says she told her son to cooperate and tell the truth,"

Mistake #1 Clam up, especially for something as stupid as this. Anything you say, can and WILL be used against you, even if you're 11.

"but was horrified when they told her they were arresting him and then handcuffed him and hauled him away in a patrol car."

Mistake #2 Did they have a warrant or was this based on the kid's statements? See #1

"His mother says she begged police to let her drive her son to the police department and to let her stay with him through the booking process but they refused."

Cops mistake #2 First being arresting the kid at night. But, he might go postal! Aka, we're bored and don't want to risk our lives going after real criminals.

This is a minor, they can't question him without parent or lawyer. Congratulations to the cops and schools for making a few more enemies for life.

And people wonder why I have no love for the striking teachers in Wisconsin? Public education deserves to die. Oops, was that uncivil?

If it were me, I couldn't have resisted the urge to demand a jury trial. It would tickle me to see a prosecutor trying to cross-examine a scared-to-death 11-year-old boy, while looking over his shoulder at the jury's reaction.

"Public schools are child abuse."

agreed.. And that is why I homeschool.

I was in a Facebook conversation about this yesterday, since this isn't all that far from me. One of the people posting there seemed to know a bit about the inner workings of the department.

Apparently the Denver police (Arvada is a suburb and likely of the same opinion) would rather arrest someone for something stupid than take a chance they will be sued for not doing their jobs. It seems it's more of a pain in the ass to get hauled into civil court time and again and having to pay out than it is to go to federal court for violating someone's rights. Yeah, it's stupid, but, there you go. This way too, if they do get sued they can say it was some rogue officer who wasn't doing what he was supposed to be doing. Nice, huh?

I got that second hand, but judging from what I've seen of the Denver police department's problems lately it sure explains a lot.

I feel bad for this kid. He was just doing what his therapist told him to do, and he gets arrested. I'd be amazed if he ever trusted another adult again.

From the local police department:
http://arvadapd.org/join-our-team/

They're the real heroes!

"Public schools are child abuse."

Careful now, those public ed lovers will get you committed for insanity, you're talking about their holy sites. Major newspaper editorial in my state called a congressional candidate who said that during last fall's election just utterly silly and proved the candidate was crazy.

I shudder what would happen to me or many other kids I knew growing up if we had these facist paranoid teachers and cops. Hell, the kid is in therapy for anger issues? No other boys ever drew pictures of guns, exlosions or anti-teach rhetoric? Just dope him up on ritalin!

Now I understand Wisconsin!

If you're too stupid/fearful to make even the smallest common-sense decision on your own - OF COURSE you will want a labor union on your side, tenure, and guaranteed pension.

"interfering with staff and students at an educational facility"

Gee Whiz! Had this been a law where I lived I'd have never made it out of fifth grade, and be currently residing in jail. That was mine and every other student's goal in Middle School....see just how far we could deride the class. I sat on that bench outside of the principal's office because a teacher didn't want to deal with my haphazard smart-ass mouth. When the bell would ring, he'd come out of his office, shake his head, and tell me to go to my next class. It looks like I was breaking that particular law at least fifty times a day.

This is how far you, the adults of this country, have let your country go.

Nobody came here. Nobody invaded. Instead, you insisted that the valedictorian be treated exactly like the thug, that children have "rights" apart from the protection of their guardians.

You've done everything possible to shunt responsibility off to the police, administrators -- anyone but yourselves.

And now you're hurt. "Whaat? How did this happen?"

The above is exactly how.

This is how far the country has come: In 1967, on Merritt Island, FL, home of Kennedy Space Center, I could be found out by myself in a small outboard, or out in town on my bicycle for 12+ hours a day when school was out. My uniform: sneakers, shorts, sheath knife, sunglasses.

Yes, sheath knife. It was usually my Dad's Ka-bar. I was 12.

In 1973, I was in marching band. I drove my truck onto school property for band practice, with a 12-gauge Winchester Model 1200 in the back window. Band practice was fun.

Now, you are determined that every male is out to rape women and children, steal everything you own, shoot you into hamburger and infect you with STDs - bcause you only watch the evening news, and you haven't noticed that the steady diet of hysteria has sickened you more surely than anything Gary Taubes doesn't recommend.

You shut up about single mothers because someone will think you have no compassion. You'll vote for the guy who promises you the most money from other people.

I have a pistol which serves as a three-pound thermometer. How people act around and talk about it tells me clearly what they think about me, their neighbor, their other neighbors and the idea of their own personal responsibility. Because you know... responsibility, just like laws, are for other people.

End rant. Still true.

If the police and government officials don't want angry adults to eventually start using them for target practice, they should cease with these shenanigans against our children.

Oops, was that uncivil?

>Ben David

What? This kid is 11. What about any of this has any relevance to the Wisconsin situation?

"If the police and government officials don't want angry adults to eventually start using them for target practice, they should cease with these shenanigans against our children."

What are you complaining about?

You elected the police chief, the Sheriff, the school board. At civic meetings, these things don't come up - possibly because you've thought in the past that the rules would never apply to your children. Those rules are for other people. Right?

And who will discipline your children? You don't. Watch the news. Go to the Starbucks Amy likes and watch the brats. Watch them on an airplane.

Talk to my officemate's sister, the teacher, instructed by a parent about the toddler learning to tie his shoes: "That yo job."

-----

I hope the unrest about public sector unions leads to an examination of public sector jobs and pay, but I don't think it will - much less extend to the public figuring out that their neighbors can't be trusted with the public till.

We are betrayed by people just like us, who have discovered that it is easy to steal from anonymous people.

Wisconsin teacher makes a ton of money off tax revenue? Huh. The taxpayers can afford it. I can download music for free, too. The music business can afford it. I can treat people I don't know like animals, even their children, because I don't know them, and they can take it.

It's tied together. Anonymity, and the fiction that we are all "equal", reduces our worth and our efforts to bowing before a rule book set up for the lowest of us.

And wow. We meet that expectation all too often.

He's just lucky he didn't draw one stick figure lying on top of another one. At least he's only up for a misdemeanor and not on a sex offender registry for life.

Gods I feel for this kid! Imagine the confusion and fear he went thru, doing *what he was told to do* and being punished for it. His Mom was a twit, but then, she has learned a valuable lesson here as well.
I homeschool my younger daughter after dealing with all the BS my eldest went thru. (I was a single Mom when the Mermaid was growing up, HS wasn't an option, but her teachers and principals got to know me *very* well.)
One thing I learned was, the worse a child acted out, the less likely a school was to do anything about their behavior. The fact that this boy was a good kid doesn't surprise me at all. If he had been in remedial classes, with a RAP sheet as long as your arm, and from the projects, none of this would have happened from my experience.

We used to sing this song:

Row row row your boat, gently down the stream,
throw your teacher overboard
and listen to her scream!

Now we'd go to jail...

Sean asks:
What about any of this has any relevance to the Wisconsin situation?
------------------
Neanderthal mindset of the adults involved...

Sean asks:
What about any of this has any relevance to the Wisconsin situation?
------------------
1) Neanderthal mindset of the adults involved.
2) Their continued "service" in a government capacity, due to tenure and other protections.

Wow, I upset someone by calling out the double standard applied to leftists in positions of power. I'll be sure to give myself a star, I mean swastika, on my calendar for today.

Aren't the right winger's supposed to support arresting people for doing something the state doesn't like, even if there is no law against it?

I would characterize myself as a "small l libertarian", but that's too right wing for "Me".

OK, Me, 'fess up. Are you a teacher? A union member? A politician? A cop angered at the thought people have rights? Why make no attempt to refute what I wrote, instead of tossing out the imagined all-powerful insult? How about adding racist?

I do think that this young man is old enough to be taught not to yell "fire" in a crowded theater, so to speak--but this was perhaps a bit much.

If you read much about serial killers/spree killers what you find over and over again is that they were raging on the inside and having thoughts of killing but were too afraid to say anything. Jeffery Dahmer wanted to torture since he was a small child but was afraid to talk to his dad. Turns out his dad had rage and killing thoughts too, but had managed not to act on them. Jeffery Dahmer could have been turned away from his horrific crimes with proper parenting.

So yes, this stuff needs to be taken seriously. It needs to be determined whether or not this is an actual cry for help, and if not, kids need to know how this stuff might be taken by other people. Cause and effect and all that.

I can't help but think that they've gone a step closer to creating a school shooter, not stopping one.

When harmless expression is treated as violent outburst, people no longer have anything to lose by being violent.

Jeffery Dahmer could have been turned away from his horrific crimes with proper parenting.

Really?

I will admit some people are made monsters by lifes experiances, but some people are just born that way. And in either case need to be put down