Posted on 09/02/2014 8:35:52 AM PDT by chessplayer
A 23-year-old teacher at a Cambridge, Maryland, middle school has been placed on leave and—in the words of a local news report—"taken in for an emergency medical evaluation" for publishing, under a pseudonym, a novel about a school shooting. The novelist, Patrick McLaw, an eighth-grade language-arts teacher at the Mace's Lane Middle School, was placed on leave by the Dorchester County Board of Education, and is being investigated by the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office, according to news reports from Maryland's Eastern Shore. The novel, by the way, is set 900 years in the future.
Sheriff Phillips told the newspaper that, in addition to a K-9 sweep of the school (!), investigators also raided McLaw's home. "The residence of the teacher in Wicomico County was searched by personnel,” Phillips said, with no weapons found. “A further check of Maryland State Police databases also proved to be negative as to any weapons registered to him. McLaw was suspended by the Dorchester County Board of Education pending an investigation and is no longer in the area. He is currently at a location known to law enforcement and does not currently have the ability to travel anywhere.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
There must be more to this story.
Better start locking up all the novelists who fantasize about resisting government tyranny then.
Right Matt?
I'm not sure a young teacher ... with a profession subject to scrutiny .. would publish something that damaged him as a human being.
that is true .... I think they passed a law you can’t smoke in certain neighborhoods ... or something like that
He’s apparently been disappeared. Nice.
Just checked the book out on Amazon. Free speech advocates are pushing it on to the bestseller list! My goodness, the book is set in the year 3000, or something. Hope he gets a film contract - stranger things have happened.
Yup.
They raided his home. On the allegation of what crime?
I can understand the school taking disciplinary action against him as an employer, but what is the basis for getting the legal system involved, complete with search warrant? That he wrote a book? When did that become a crime?
This is questionable especially as it’s the Atlantic, but what if it IS true? Fundamentally transformed.
They raided his home. On the allegation of what crime?
I can understand the school taking disciplinary action against him as an employer, but what is the basis for getting the legal system involved, complete with search warrant? That he wrote a book? When did that become a crime?
I remember a story like this on the morning talk show on KVI when I was in Seattle. The host and callers were getting all angry and I thought then, “there must be more to this story”. Sure enough there was. And when I heard it, suddenly it made sense and it suddenly became a “dog bites man” story. But that doesn’t get people riled up. ;-)
Even conservative talk radio is, at the end of the day, in it for the money.
And sometimes I think these sort of articles are “stupid” tests - testing to see who will get all riled up on scant facts.
The book was published in 2011, before he was hired by the school!
The difference is Beslan was about 10 years ago and in Checkyna where the author's book is some years in the future and on us soil.
What if what is true?
Oooh, Amazon reviewers have said he’s a black man and it’s another attack on black people. The cops should have thought of that before they hauled a NOVELIST off to the psych ward.
The book in question, or one of them.
Every single one of the comments appears to have been added after this arrest. Indicating it probably wasn’t wildly popular prior to that. :)
He’s apparently been disappeared. Nice.
Yup. And libs are crying raaacism by the cops because the guy is black.
Someone pointed out that Steven King wrote “Carrie” while a schoolteacher. Happily, that was before we became crazy.
What about people who make wildly popular horror movies?
Or the people (and schoolkids) who set up horrific Halloween houses of realistic gore and mayhem as fundraisers?
“Cambridge Parents React To Teacher On Leave, School Searched For Weapons”
“Parents WBOC spoke with Tuesday agree with the sheriff, saying it is better to be safe than sorry.”
“I don’t think it’s extreme; I’d rather them be safe than later on down the road if something would happen, then everyone would wonder why nothing was done. I am good with that; I really appreciate them taking the time out to make sure the kids are safe,” said Robin Stanley.
“It’s good to know and that way the kids know that they will be safe when they go to school. They do the drills regularly, but it’s good to do the sweeps anyway because you never know,” said Lori O’Connor.
Since it is better to be safe than sorry they should close down the entire school system to avoid any possibility of a thermonuclear event in the chem lab.
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