Secret Service Question Students

KRON 4 ^ | May 7, 2003 | KRON 4

[VivaVilla]

OAKLAND (KRON) -- Some teachers in Oakland are rallying behind two students who were interrogated by the Secret Service. That followed remarks the teenagers made about the President during a class discussion. The incident has many people angry.

For years the classroom has been the setting for the free expression of ideas, but two weeks ago certain ideas led to two students being taken out of class and grilled by the United States Secret Service.

It happened at Oakland High. The discussion was about the war in Iraq. That's when two students made comments about the President of the United States. While the exact wording is up for debate, the teacher didn't consider it mere criticism, but a direct threat and she called the Secret Service.

Teacher Cassie Lopez says, "They were so shaken up and afraid."

Now, other teachers are coming to the aid of the two students and crying foul.

"I would start with the teacher, she made a poor judgement," Lopez says.

Teacher Larry Felson says, "What we're concerned about is academic freedom and that students have the right to free expression in the classroom."

Even worse, they say, is the fact that the students were grilled by federal agents without legal counsel or their parents present, just the principal.

"When one of the students asked, 'do we have to talk now? Can we be silent? Can we get legal council?' they were told, 'we own you, you don't have any legal rights,'" Felson says.

"We don't want federal agents or police coming in our schools and interrogating our children at the whim of someone who has a hunch something might be wrong," Lopez says.

The union representing Oakland teachers requires that students be afforded legal counsel and parental guidance before they're interrogated by authorities. It's too late for the two involved in this incident, and teachers say it's something they'll carry with them for years.

"I tell you the looks on those childrens faces. I don't know if they'll say anything about anything ever again. Is that what we want? I don't think we want that," says Lopez.

[Cultural Jihad]

"Boo hoo hoo. The gestapo is running amok, since the communist lawyer's guild isn't allowed to obstruct an investigation!" LOL!

[Brandon]

Yeah, but if you're not under arrest, you're free to get up and leave whenever you want. It doesn't sound like these kids were. I'm not saying that I believe the USSS guys said what the kids claim, though.

[Cultural Jihad]

Yeah, but if you're not under arrest, you're free to get up and leave whenever you want.

And you practice Constitutional law in the State of California?

[Woahhs]

OK. Many Freepers, given the same details and story, will give the Bush Secret Service the benefit of the doubt while dogging the Clinton Secret Service. This really has nothing to do with the USSS. It is all about knee-jerk partisan reactions to current events. That?s just my sense of the situation.

No they wouldn't. That's why I asked what you were getting out of such an implication. While your sense of dramatic irony might be gratified by such a fantasy, the truth is not.

We are not the opposite side of the sheeple coin. We are those the Founders intended to speak to through their writings. Marxist dialectic only applies here if the ignorant and the informed are the thesis and antithesis.

[Experiment 6-2-6]

And you practice Constitutional law in the State of California?

Actually, it's Criminal Law too.

And if you AREN'T under arrest, you are free to leave. The investigators don't tell you that. They don't have to. It doesn't gets them questions answered.

They didn't have to answer any questions. But they could be arrested and detained for further questioning with attorneys present at a later date.

[FairOpinion]

Apparenlty the teacher made a judgment that it was a threat, not merely a criticism:

"That's when two students made comments about the President of the United States. While the exact wording is up for debate, the teacher didn't consider it mere criticism, but a direct threat and she called the Secret Service. "

[FairOpinion]

I found an earlier article, which gives more detail about the comments. Sounds like a threat to me.

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/05/1607366.php


"English teacher Sandy Whitney said she called the Secret Service after two boys in her English class, both 16, made comments about getting a sniper to "take care" of Bush. "

[FairOpinion]

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/05/1607366.php

"English teacher Sandy Whitney said she called the Secret Service after two boys in her English class, both 16, made comments about getting a sniper to "take care" of Bush. "

---

More from the older article:

"Under federal law, making a threat against the president's life is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison."

[Cultural Jihad]

Anyone talking about getting snipers to take care of the President is not going to be coddled with lawyerly talk, or fawned over by the ACLU or any other communist front. As the agent said, 'We own you.'

[FairOpinion]

And a second other article:

http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10669~1369217,00.html


English teacher Sandy Whitney said she called the Secret Service after two boys in her English class, both 16, made comments about getting a sniper to "take care" of Bush.

The way Whitney remembers it, John "said something like 'We need a sniper to take care of Bush,' and Billy said, 'Yeah, I'd do it.'"

[FairOpinion]

Don't tell me you believe the article or the kids reports?

Clearly they are trying to make the SS look bad, after all they obviously hate Bush so much, they would like to see him killed and said so, and now you take their words for the events?

[WaterDragon]

The schools are in a pickle. They don't want students questioned by the authorities, but they periodically (beginning in the Clinton years) have students who become murderous toward school staff and other students.

[Bonaparte]

"Something is missing in this story."

The truth is what's missing.

[Brandon]

I don't practice law anywhere, but I know enough to know that if a law enforcement officer detained me, would not let me leave, AND refused to allow me to contact an attorney, at the end of the day I would own that law enforcement officer's home. Also, just for the record, California law wouldn't enter into it in this case. These were Federal agents investigating allegations of a Federal crime.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

...students have the right to free expression in the classroom...

I tested my right to free expression many times in grade school and Sister Marjorie responded with her right to slap me upside the head.

[Jay D. Dyson]

What these kids said may or may not be irrelevant. What's important is what the teacher in question reported to the Secret Service.

If the teacher reported words to the effect of a threat on the President's life, then the Secret Service was obligated to investigate to confirm or rule out the allegation.

I honestly don't see what the massive whoop is here.

-Jay

[DLfromthedesert]

I was referring to the comments allegedely made by the Secret Service personnel; if true, it does NOT speak to professionalism, but faux machoism.

Nothing to do with me personally.

[DLfromthedesert]

I don't know whether it's true; all I'm saying that if they truly said what is alleged, they were wrong. Of course if the kids said something that was construed as truly threatening the life of the President, it needed to be addressed.

I admit to having said similar things a few years back about a different president (in moments of anger) with no intention of acting on what I said.

[templar]

I'd laugh like a hyenia at anyone, including secret service that said that to me. It's so far out of line it's ridiculous

Might be a good idea to closely examine provisions is the Patriot Act and other anti terrorist laws passed recently before you laugh at them. Depending on the exact circumstances, they (the SS) may have been telling the truth (remember, we were at war with Iraq at the time). This isn't the 20th century anymore, you know.

[Amelia]

Even worse, they say, is the fact that the students were grilled by federal agents without legal counsel or their parents present, just the principal.

"When one of the students asked, 'do we have to talk now? Can we be silent? Can we get legal council?' they were told, 'we own you, you don't have any legal rights,'" Felson says.

Apparently Felson is working on secondhand information, but it's possible the comment was not made at all, and it's not clear whether it was made by the USSS agents or school personnel in any case.