Posted on 10/15/2006 3:31:37 PM PDT by calcowgirl
SACRAMENTO – Upset by the war in Iraq, Julia Wilson vented her frustrations with President Bush last spring on her Web page on MySpace.com.
She posted a picture of the president, scrawled “Kill Bush” across the top and drew a dagger stabbing his outstretched hand. She later replaced her page on the social-networking site after learning in her eighth-grade history class that such threats are a federal offense.
It was too late.
Federal authorities had found the page and placed Wilson on their checklist. They finally reached her this week in her molecular biology class.
The 14-year-old freshman was taken out of class Wednesday and questioned for about 15 minutes by two Secret Service agents. The incident has upset her parents, who said the agents should have included them when they questioned their daughter.
On Friday, the teenager said the agents' questioning led her to tears.
“I wasn't dangerous. I mean, look at what's (stenciled) on my backpack – it's a heart. I'm a very peace-loving person,” said Wilson, an honor student who describes herself as politically passionate. “I'm against the war in Iraq. I'm not going to kill the president.”
Her mother, Kirstie Wilson, said two agents showed up at the family's home Wednesday afternoon, questioned her and promised to return once her daughter was home from school.
After they left, Kirstie Wilson sent a text message to her daughter's cell phone, telling her to come straight home: “There are two men from the secret service that want to talk with you. Apparently you made some death threats against president bush.”
“Are you serious!?!? omg. Am I in a lot of trouble?” her daughter responded.
Moments later, Kirstie Wilson received another text message from her daughter saying agents had pulled her out of class.
Julia Wilson said the agents threatened her by saying she could be sent to juvenile hall for making the threat.
“They yelled at me a lot,” she said. “They were unnecessarily mean.”
Spokesmen for the Secret Service in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., said they could not comment on the case.
Wilson and her parents said the agents were justified in questioning her over her MySpace.com posting. But they said they believe agents went too far by not waiting until she was out of school.
They also said the agents should have more quickly figured out they weren't dealing with a real danger. Ultimately, the agents told the teen they would delete her investigation file.
Assistant Principal Paul Belluomini said the agents gave him the impression the girl's mother knew they were planning to question her daughter at school. There is no legal requirement that parents be notified.
“This has been an ongoing problem,” said Ann Brick, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in San Francisco.
Former Govs. Pete Wilson and Gray Davis vetoed bills that would have required that parents give consent or be present when their children are questioned at school by law enforcement officers. A similar bill this year cleared the state Senate but died in the Assembly.
Julia Wilson plans to post a new MySpace.com page, this one devoted to organizing other students to protest the Iraq war.
“I decided today I think I will because it (the questioning) went too far,” she said.
If the picture was of Hillary or Bill, she would have lost her freedom by now.
It's a political double-standard.
Because the law requires that every threat be investigated. If you don't like the law then you go to your Congress-critter and tell him that you want the law changed so that the Secret Service will not investigate all threats.
At the same time I'll go to the legislature and have your state laws changed so that the cops are directed to only respond to half the complaints of crimes and accidents.
Seem fair to you ?
"Yeah, she should be languishing away in prison. That will certainly set everything right. My disgust is reaching ever new heights these days."
Don't put words in my mouth. I never said anything about how prosecution should turn out, only that she should have been prosecuted.
You on the other hand believe that breaking the law, even when it is threatening to another person is ok if the person is_____ (fill in the blank). That is coddling of criminals.
If someone threatened your life would it be ok with you then? Or would you think about it more seriously?
AFter thoroughly investigating this young lady she seems pretty much in the line of Squeaky Fromme.
Remember the lady that made some remark about klinton and was subsequently arrested?
"I don't think any agent would arbitrarily tell the girl or parents that the Secret Service will destroy or erase an investigation file either. The file maybe closed but it ain't goin nowhere."
I agree. Especially after a threat on the life of the President that was published on the internet so it could have provoked others. That file will not be erased.
Don't be surprised if this girls name comes up in the future, possibly on a different subject.
Regular Manson type person.
Here in New Castle County Delaware they do that already...I think the record is more in the line of 25% response. 50% would be an improvement.
Or a young Bernadine Dohrn, perhaps?
this is more information concerning this story:
quote: "The group that got her in trouble was called something like "People who want to stab Bush" -- Julia said she doesn't remember the exact name because she soon changed it.
After an eighth-grade history lesson in which she learned that threatening the president is against the law, Julia said she changed the group name to "So Bush is an idiot but hey what else is new?"
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/38768.html
No, but I do believe the seriousness of the threat is indeed a pertinant element in this equation. Quite frankly, I don't believe her threat had any merit at all. It was in effect nothing more than a teenager over-emoting as teenagers are fond of doing.
Surely we haven't sunk so low that Clintonian abuses of power are now our guide? Who cares how Hill and Bill did it, because they are most certainly the last people we want to emulate.
Ah, not really.. dressed in a monks cowl and with her swastika scar on her forehead her innocence was somewhat hard to find. I had to kick her out of the gun shop I managed in Sacramento at least once a week... this occurred weekly before she took the potshot at President Ford.
However, Melas is missing the point. How is the Secret Service to know that this 14 year old is (1) fourteen, (2) not a real threat to the President, and (3) someone they can safely ignore without talking to her.
What is also missing from these reports is that this interview occurred just before President Bush made several appearances in the Central Valley including Stockton, Sacramento, and El Dorado Hills. The Secret Service is charge with assuring the President's safety... and that includes interviewing ANYBODY that has made a threat when the President is going to be in the area where those threateners reside.
I'm just a little 'ol citizen of this great Country--who's paying for those SS guys to be there. And, as their employer, I can stand up for my Country's behalf with a bit more spirit.
Oh, but that type of treatment of "those people" are okay for the libs in this country. It is only when our government (read - Republicans) become involved that it becomes a problem for them. Libs have zero morals when it comes to their behavior or the behavior of despotic regimes in other countries (as witnessed by the Libs sharing company with Castro and Chavez).
As for the parents not being present, I have my own issues with that, but I'm willing to bet that there is some arcane federal statute that exempts the Secret Service from Constitutional strictures during an investigation. I'm sure if the ACLU digs hard enough, and deep enough, they will find it...and it would probably go way back into the Clinton-Reno-jackboot-thugs era.
It's also a valid point that the Secret Service had no choice but to check her out, since anybody could pose as a 14 year old online.
The mother made a big mistake by not going to the school directly when the Secret Service showed up at her door first. I would have. She handled it by text-messaging her daughter and then bellyached that she wasn't present. What the heck did she think they were going to do? Bring the kid flowers?
"No, but I do believe the seriousness of the threat is indeed a pertinant element in this equation. Quite frankly, I don't believe her threat had any merit at all. It was in effect nothing more than a teenager over-emoting as teenagers are fond of doing."
I used to be a teenager and I used to know a lot of rowdy teens. I have never met one that did something this extreme.
I still say you are the type that coddles criminals, that is why some will never learn to stop being criminals.
Secret Service questions California teen over threats to Bush posted on her MySpace page
Thank God! little girls in california are SERIOUS national security threats!
far more threatening than the prospect of terrorists strolling accross our southern border with a "suitcase nuke" under an arm
Your speculations about me personally are without relevance, so I don't see why you bother posting them. Surely we can have a discussion without becoming personal. At least I know that I'm able to do so.
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