Interesting Free Speech Issue....
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Topic: Interesting Free Speech Issue....
Posted By: Hades
Subject: Interesting Free Speech Issue....
Date Posted: 02 December 2005 at 2:25pm
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http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/12/02/student.threats.ap/index.html - Suspended star ballplayers wrote of setting teacher on fire
Student journals spark legal fight Suspended star ballplayers wrote of setting teacher on fire Friday, December 2, 2005; Posted: 10:32 a.m. EST (15:32 GMT) SANTA ANA, California (AP) -- In classroom journals, two star football players wrote in graphic detail about killing their high school English teacher by dousing her in gasoline and setting her on fire. But in court papers, they say their teacher told them those entries would never be read, so they should be considered private thoughts, not threats. Scott McKnight, 17, and Sam Smith, 18, were not criminally charged, but were suspended and face expulsion. An Orange County Superior Court judge is scheduled to rule Friday on whether the full journals should be sealed or open to the public. McKnight and Smith and their parents say in a court complaint that teacher Alyssa DiSomma violated their privacy by reading the journals. They argue they should be allowed to attend school as they await their expulsion hearing. The students were suspended October 20 after DiSomma reported the entries to school officials. The case has divided Tesoro High School in the affluent suburb of Rancho Santa Margarita, where the teens were ranked among the top football players in Orange County. The entries refer to gluing the teacher naked to a wall and cutting off her feet, and killing her family while she watches, according to court documents that quote partial excerpts. The teens' family members have said the two wrote the entries as a prank and egged each other on. "I am planning on coming in your room late one night while you're still working," reads one partial entry. "I will smother you in gasoline and light your head on fire." Orange County Superior Court Judge Corey S. Cramin ruled that the journal entries could not be considered private. The court also upheld the teens' suspension. "Private thoughts lose their identity as such when they are reduced to writing as part of a class assignment and turned into the teacher for grading," Cramin wrote in the ruling last month. The court said it couldn't keep McKnight and Smith from playing for the Tesoro Titans pending their expulsion hearing -- but the two were benched anyway because of California Interscholastic Federation rules. By the time the disciplinary process is finished, the season is likely to be over. An expulsion hearing was postponed until late December at the request of the boys' attorneys. David Smollar, spokesman for the Capistrano Unified School District, said that efforts by the boys' attorneys to "play to public opinion" have hurt the district's ability to conduct a normal disciplinary process. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. |
Replies:
Posted By: oreomann33
Date Posted: 02 December 2005 at 2:36pm
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If you want to kill someone you get a gun and shoot them not douse them in gasoline.
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Posted By: cdacda13
Date Posted: 02 December 2005 at 2:42pm
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The teacher said they would not be read, therefore the teacher lied. |
Posted By: pbdude985
Date Posted: 02 December 2005 at 2:47pm
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wow thats pretty crazy ------------- 
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Posted By: Jim Paint
Date Posted: 02 December 2005 at 3:25pm
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I don't think this is really free speech, if this was said in open it would be a threat. But if it was a joke that they just did between themselves, they shouldnt get in trouble, as it was private. On a seperate note, my friend did that to a lesser degree. We had to right about a first memory, and he wrote about his dad getting mad. And then to end the entry, it said "I will always have this scar to remind me, if I should ever forget." The scar was actually from a baseball game, and he wrote entries like this for a semester. Then parent teacher night kinda showed her that his parents weren't like that at all. Kinda funny. ------------- 
saepe fidelis |
Posted By: Tae Kwon Do
Date Posted: 02 December 2005 at 3:28pm
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I bet the two kids are not the smartest of the class... ------------- 
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Posted By: Sammy
Date Posted: 02 December 2005 at 3:56pm
But a teacher doesn't have to fufill that. It isn't the same as a doctor and patient. ------------- 
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cdacda13 wrote:Posted By: Da Hui
Date Posted: 02 December 2005 at 4:21pm
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I dont think it was a threat, they where writing a story. not say "I am going to come decapitate you, drink your blood, and fill my bathtub with it" to her, they just wrote a violent story using a familiar name ------------- 
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Posted By: choopie911
Date Posted: 02 December 2005 at 4:47pm
| My grade 12 english teacher had a dream about me trying to kill her... |
Posted By: Heres To You
Date Posted: 02 December 2005 at 5:12pm
If the teacher lied, it's her fault for looking. ------------- |
Posted By: Koolit32
Date Posted: 02 December 2005 at 6:21pm
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as in all schools the issue is them not being able to be star football players OMGOSH |
Posted By: DBibeau855
Date Posted: 02 December 2005 at 10:09pm
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Well legaly, if it was just one kid writing in his journal, it wouldnt be a threat, just a journal entry, but because it was between the two boys, that excuse goes out the window.
I think perhaps its just that they are a little stupid, i doubt it was meant as a threat. They are just a couple of idiot kids. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/DBibeau855/?chartstyle=myspacecolors"> 
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Posted By: Tae Kwon Do
Date Posted: 03 December 2005 at 10:08am
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Bingo. If it was a couple of loser emo kids in the back doing this, and they got cought and kicked out, nobody would care. You make it a couple of star football players who cant play now, and its suddenly an issue. -------------
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Posted By: bluemunky
Date Posted: 03 December 2005 at 11:23am
My thoughts exactly. -------------  
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Posted By: Da Hui
Date Posted: 03 December 2005 at 11:27am
yep -------------
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Posted By: Hades
Date Posted: 03 December 2005 at 12:51pm
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Well then, maybe it is a lesson in life that Jock > Emo kids.
And someone please show me an Emo man with a hot lady on his sleeve.... Is it even possible? |
Posted By: Zesty
Date Posted: 03 December 2005 at 1:21pm
| On the whole teacher's are losers, kinda like cops....people for some reason think or would hope I guess that they have better morals than the average person, but they're most the time worse. |
Posted By: Tae Kwon Do
Date Posted: 03 December 2005 at 1:28pm
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Even if it was, you couldnt tell the guy from the girl..... -------------
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Posted By: Hitman
Date Posted: 03 December 2005 at 4:33pm
And how many metal fans get hot ladies? All they have is long greasy hair and various tattoo's of meaningless images that look bad ass. ------------- |
Posted By: Cedric
Date Posted: 03 December 2005 at 4:35pm
That guy gets all the girls. ------------- 
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Posted By: Snake6
Date Posted: 03 December 2005 at 4:37pm
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^^^Really? He looks like a homosexual person to me.
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Posted By: Hitman
Date Posted: 03 December 2005 at 4:38pm
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Homosexual is the new heterosexual.
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Posted By: Zesty
Date Posted: 03 December 2005 at 5:02pm
Seriously, I'm skinny, and that guy is straight up unhealthy....I'm sure he's a strict vegetarian, and would just love to explain all the reasons it's superior...all the while showing off his 4" arms and pale-ass, unhealthy complexion. But I don't doubt he does get all the chicks, these breezies have no class nowadays. |
Posted By: Cedric
Date Posted: 03 December 2005 at 8:09pm
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The cocaine doesn't help him gain weight either. -------------
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Posted By: Zesty
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 10:17am
| ^That explains why he gets all the girls, he has the good drugs, nice |
Posted By: Bunkered
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 2:15pm
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Screw cocaine.
Marijuana > cocaine. ------------- 
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Posted By: Heres To You
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 2:19pm
I beg to differ. ------------- |
Posted By: Tae Kwon Do
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 2:20pm
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Not usuing drugs > Using drugs. Now, Bunkered, tell me a thousand and a half reasons why I am just brainwashed by DARE... -------------
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Posted By: Skillet42565
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 2:21pm
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Im a metal dude, and I dont have greasy hair OR tattoos. If you go to heavy metal shows, their are quite a few hot ladies there. Therefore, in conclusion.. Death Metal > Emo.Posted By: Bunkered
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 2:38pm
I have used both, and I personally would MUCH prefer to smoke a bowl than snort a line. -------------
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Posted By: Heres To You
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 2:40pm
I was just kidding, but Rick James says cocaines better.... ------------- |
Posted By: Bunkered
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 2:44pm
That is a life choice, and perhaps for you it is true. However, it is not your right, nor anyone else's to tell me what to put into or do to my body. I don't think everyone that doesn't do drugs is "brainwashed by DARE," but I do believe that a lot of people are. I have no problem with anyone who is knowledgeable about drugs (whether from research or experience), and doesn't do them. What I have a problem with is people who rely solely upon the AdCouncil and Drug Free America's TV ads, in combination with DARE, for their information on marijuana and other drugs. -------------
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Posted By: Hitman
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 2:46pm
Yeah but I get the feeling that you, a metal fan, doesn't get any hot ladies. I'm more poking at Hades. I thought he consider himself a sex-pert.
He of all people should know that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. ------------- |
Posted By: bluemunky
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 3:13pm
Bah. Do both of them at the same time. Chronic pwns. -------------
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Posted By: rednekk98
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 6:04pm
| I don't know, I've seen plenty of greay metalheads with white trashy girlfriends who could be hot if someone cleaned them up a bit and they didn't shop at Wal-Mart. |
Posted By: Da Hui
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 6:33pm
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Surprisingly it does, ill get a picture tommorow -------------
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Posted By: bluemunky
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 7:04pm
For some reason I expect a badly photoshopped picture of you with some supermodel next to you... -------------
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Posted By: ANARCHY_SCOUT
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 7:43pm
------------- Gamertag: Kataklysm999 
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Posted By: Hades
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 8:47pm
Indeed you are correct. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I was making a joke that apparently didnt go across well with all that read it. But in half seriousness, I could show tons of Metal performers with super model wives/ celebrity girlfriends but I dont see the same for Emo musicians. That might be because I dont pay any attention to them in the people watcher mags... |
Posted By: Heres To You
Date Posted: 04 December 2005 at 9:18pm
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So what if they were the star football players? They bring the school more attention and more money from games. If Bill Gates did something you would care, but what about the paper pusher at microsoft whos got the 9 to 5. I don't see you doing anything there. ------------- |