Posted on 09/15/2020 8:19:00 AM PDT by TigerClaws
MORROW, Ohio (WKRC) — Some local high school football players are finding that their support for first responders is coming at a huge cost.
The boys are now suspended from their team after not heeding a warning to leave the Thin Blue Line and Thin Red Line flags that represent fallen firefighters and police officers off the field.
When the Little Miami High School football team took the field Friday, Sept. 11, a couple of players carried alongside the American flag a Thin Blue Line and Thin Red Line flags.
“Were you trying to make some kind of a political statement here?” Local 12 asked Brady Williams, a senior cornerback.
“No,” he answered quickly. “Not at all. I was just doing it to honor the people that lost their lives 19 years ago.“
Williams was holding the Thin Blue Line flag as he rushed onto the field Friday. His father is a police officer, and he says he wanted to honor all the cops who lost their lives trying to save others on 9/11.
Jarad Bentley carried the Thin Red Line flag.
“I was all for it,” he said. “Because my dad is a firefighter, and if it had been him killed on 9/11, I would have wanted someone to do it for him.”
The problem is, the boys had asked the school permission prior to the game and they were denied and told if they defied the order, there would be consequences.
“Listen,” Williams said. “I don’t care what my consequences are. Ss long as my message gets across, I’ll be happy.”
Williams and Bentley heard from the athletic director Monday afternoon and received an indefinite suspension. Local 12 had spoken with the superintendent a few hours earlier.
“We can’t have students who decide to do something anyway after they’ve been told that they shouldn’t be doing it,” said Gregory Power.
Power says he saw the flags as symbols of a political point of view and didn’t want to set a precedent.
“We did not want to place ourselves in a circumstance where another family might want a different flag to come out of the tunnel, one that may be [one that] many other families may not agree with from a political perspective,” Power explained.
After Williams’ mother took to Facebook, Power says he is finding a lot of people don’t agree with his point of view and have sent hate emails and voicemails. Williams and his teammates may be finding the benefits of standing up for a cause outweigh the cost.
On the contrary, I'd say they're trying to avoid BLM flags.
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/393/503.html
IIRC, I was still in the 8th grade when this was decided. I’ll be emailing this to the superintendent of that school district to remind him. I spent 24 years in the USAF trying to help prevent people from outside our country from imposing crap like this on us. I am really not liking seeing it come from inside this country. I was also a teacher for some time, a few years ago. I know this was covered in my teacher training. There is no excuse for this.
WRM, MSgt, USAF(Ret.)
I wonder what would happen to me, if I burned BLM flag or a gay “pride” flag.
I’m think that, had a black kid worn a BLM patch on his shirt or put a BLM sticker on his helmet, they wouldn’t have a problem with it.
Had a somewhat similar situation with my daughter when she was in high school a couple years ago (she’s a junior in college now). A young lady(?) wore a rainbow flag to school one day and made a very big deal of it. My daughter asked the ass’t. principal if he’d have a problem with her wearing an NRA flag, a Trump flag or a Gadsden flag to school. He, of course, being a proud union teacher, said, “No way, those would be offensive!” Said useless little prick and I had a very frank (and probably offensive) conversation.
I agree. The parents need to sue.
Text of the email I just sent to the district superintendent:
Mr. Power, I would like to bring something to your attention related to this headline. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/393/503.html I was still in junior high school what that decision was made by the US Supreme Court. I spent 24 years in the USAF trying to defend our country from folks outside the country that would have imposed such things on our people. I have been retired from the USAF for nearly 24 more years, and in that time, I took teacher training, and was again reacquainted with the ruling I cited above. Quite frankly, there is no excuse for your actions. You should know better, and your legal council should have advised you better. I suggest you reverse this decision, apologize to the students and their families, and hold remedial training for yourself and your entire staff so this doesn’t ever happen again in your district. If I’ve not heard that has happened within a reasonable time, I’ll be suggesting to the families that they file suit against you and your district for violation of their civil rights.
Contact info for the district is in this link: https://www.littlemiamischools.com/about-us/department-contacts-5/
Polite but pointed email might help him see the light.
Wow.
Excellent letter. Thanks from me, as I’m in Ohio.
Also I like your tagline. I use the term balkanization all the time to describe what’s happening, but many don’t understand it. As time goes on though, I now look forward to balkanization and have my 2 living locations staked out.
I hope all goes as planned.
Good letter. Legal “counsel” not “council” but you hit the right notes.
Telling them that this was forbidden in the first place was wrong. The punishment is extreme. Everyone knows if it had been BLM or some other leftist crap, it would have been allowed and even celebrated.
Apparently they’re getting a lot of feedback that they did not expect: https://www.facebook.com/LittleMiamiLocalSchools/
I’m thinking someone there doesn’t understand the First Amendment, and First Amendment rights of students. I’m about to repeat that email to the BOE person who signed that letter.
Well that was fast - Ohio High School reverses suspension of boys carrying flags
OMG, check out that letter...
There were “stances (sic) of insubordination”.
Stances?!?
Someone there can’t spell, either. Or proofread.
Ms. Grice,
Below is the text of an email I sent to Mr. Power, the school superintendent, earlier today. From the letter you had posted on FaceBook, it appears that you, also, are somewhat unfamiliar with the concept of First Amendment rights, and their application by students at school. This country, from it's inception, has had a problem with living up to our ideas. These young men were living up to those ideas. That is a positive good. Your prior restraint of their speech is not a positive good. Our children need to understand that we have not always lived up to our ideas, but that the ideas are good. Trying to silence them, and then punishing them for not staying silenced is another failure in that history. YOU need to help teach them to live up to the ideas, and not to allow any infringement on freedom of speech. Unless there was a riot in your small town that I'm not aware of, I do not see their actions as objectionable.
The text of my email to Mr. Power follows:
Mr. Power, I would like to bring something to your attention related to this headline. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/393/503.html I was still in junior high school what that decision was made by the US Supreme Court. I spent 24 years in the USAF trying to defend our country from folks outside the country that would have imposed such things on our people. I have been retired from the USAF for nearly 24 more years, and in that time, I took teacher training, and was again reacquainted with the ruling I cited above. Quite frankly, there is no excuse for your actions. You should know better, and your legal council should have advised you better. I suggest you reverse this decision, apologize to the students and their families, and hold remedial training for yourself and your entire staff so this doesn't ever happen again in your district. If I've not heard that has happened within a reasonable time, I'll be suggesting to the families that they file suit against you and your district for violation of their civil rights.
You have started the process I suggested, and I'd like to see it completed. If your district punishes those young men for standing up for what they believe, and exercising their First Amendment rights, you are missing the point entirely. If that is the case, a lawsuit against the district and its administration would be fully justified.
since it's too late to correct the spelling, I'm just leaving it as is. ;)
>> I am really not liking seeing it come from inside this country.
Corporate America sponsored BLM
The Rats encouraged the burning of cities and abuse of LEOs
The MSM celebrated the mayhem
There’s a serious Rat infestation within the fabric of our Country.
Unfortunate but serious truth there. Now, what do we do about it?
For starters, it must be illegal for federally licensed telecom providers to control the news. Basically the monopolized subscriber base is supporting the Leftwing media agenda. And that’s just wrong.
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