Posted on 12/17/2007 12:36:23 PM PST by DFG
OCALA, Fla. -- A 10-year old Ocala girl brought her lunch to school and a small kitchen knife to cut it. She now faces a felony charge after being arrested. The school and the sheriff's office disagree on the reason for the arrest.
School officials say the 5th grader was brown-bagging it. She brought a piece of steak for her lunch, but she also brought a steak knife. That's when deputies were called.
It happened in the cafeteria at Sunrise Elementary School. The 10-year-old used the knife to cut the meat.
(Excerpt) Read more at wftv.com ...
Good grief!
What the hell. What happened to PB&J for kids sack lunch.
Oh yea and Zero-tolerance does more harm then good.
Are there kitchen utensils of any kind on the school property?
Whew. That was a close call. Good thing the authorities were able to deflect this mass-murderess’s plot.
TC
At first glance, I thought the TV station was WTFV which would’ve been oddly fitting. At least she wasn’t drug running, like passing out aspirin or something. I bet those charges would be worse.
Thus what happens when Teachers are not allowed to use common sense.
Sheriff’s just blindly enforce any law...what happened to unjust laws and the duty of LEO to use their brain?
Shhhh, don't mention that! They'll have to give the kids nothing but vitamin-fortified gruel!
It was no more a weapon then a baseball bat used by a baseball team to play baseball.
Both can be pretty deadly if used as a weapon, but if not used that way, they are not in fact weapons.
RUN AWAY!!!
steak? not fair, my mom never sent me with anything but PB&J.
“What happened to PB&J for kids sack lunch.”
Threat of lawsuits from some students with peanut allergies has banned peanut products from some schools.
That said, What’s wrong with bringing a piece of leftover steak to school for lunch?
Old story:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1939699/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1939701/posts
How many knives do you have in your school?
This is why public schools should not exist. They hire fools to run them.
I used to think that a good way to bring about the repeal of stupid laws would be to strictly enforce them to create a backlash. Having seen where zero-tolerance is going, I gave up on the notion.
Dozens, and that doesn’t count the ones for knife-throwing class.
K-WHAT? Unbuilt Maui TV station lands questionable call letters
FR flashback
What happened to PB&J for kids sack lunch.
Peanut butter is probably banned due to a student years prior with a food allergy.
The Orlando Sentinel version of this story says that the girl cried when she was arrested. I think she’s been scarred for life by the system. Time to abolish the system.
Since when did we as a nation become afraid of 10 year-olds with cutlrey?
Ask for a trial by jury. They'll teach those LEO's and LE (liberal educators) some lessons.
They can't "use common sense" - if they make ANY judgement outside of the strict zero-tolerance policy, they will not be backed up by the school and will be personally liable for any consequences that occur due to their "common sense" judgement.
I'm not saying it's smart, or right, I'm just saying that's how it is. Once again, blame lawyers.
Gov. Crist would be smart to pardon her and get it over.
A good way to get ANY stupid law/rule revoked is to make it apply to those who make the rules.
However, for the most part, they insulate themselves from this.
If the knife had a serrated blade and a black handle it was an “Assault knife”.
"She did not use it inappropriately. She did not threaten anyone with it. She didn't pull it out and brandish it. Nothing of that nature," explained Marion County School Spokesman Kevin Christian.
But a couple of teachers took the utensil and called the sheriff. When deputies arrived, they were unable to get the child's parents on the phone, so they arrested her and took her to the county's juvenile assessment center.
The school district needs to write a quick check. If it’s too small, the sheriff should dig into his wallet.
Another example of socialists run amok. Why everyone in this country doesn’t homeschool or send their kids to parochial/private schools, I’ll never know! Why put your children into the clutches of the proto-communist NEA?
Two government entities fighting over which can overreact more to a non-event.
I have mixed feelings on this.
On the one hand a little common-sense from school officials (and police) should be excersized. what in the heck do they want her to use, a plastic knife?
On the other hand, a steak knife is not a butter knife and could easily inflict serious damage if used as a weapon.
If the girl’s parents knew she was taking a steak knife to school, they should have known better given the times in which we live. How ‘bout cutting up the steak before leaving for school?
Did it have a bayonet lug, or would that be redundant on a knife?
Detachable serations?
“Would ya’ please pass the jelly?”
Get old sparky warmed up.
When I went to high school (70's) I probably carried my small swiss army knife in my pocket about 60% of the time. It was a "mini" with only two blades that was very handy. If I saw a teacher trying to cut something I wouldn't have thought twice about offering the pocketknife to them and the teacher wouldn't have thought twice about accepting it to do the job. It was as natural as a wallet, chewing gum, spare change or any other thing people carry around in their pockets. Now you get ARRESTED for it?
Perhaps a bright orange tip could have avoided such confusion and panic
SWAT needs to be called in.
Note my tag line.
“Zero Tolerance” is amok by definition. Everybody cheers it at first, cuz we’re gonna kick some “bad guy” ass. And then the reality of it sets in.
It’s a felony to bring a “weapon” into a school, I assume.
Not sure, but I know having one at a gun fight is a capital offense.
“... a steak knife could easily inflict serious damage if used as a weapon.”
So could a compass (the kind used to draw circles).
All that she needed to say was that she wanted to use it on George Bush. Not only would she have escaped punishment, but the publik scewl teechurz would have given her all A’s this year.
In the early 70s I wore a 4” Buck folding hunter on my belt to school every day.
Never once thought of it as a weapon, and nobody every asked me about it.
Her true crime: Real meat on a school campus
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