Posted on 11/10/2004 6:14:18 AM PST by brbethke
BY TAMMY J. OSEID
Pioneer Press
Three zoo school students face charges for using a bat to beat another student who taunted them about being John Kerry supporters days after the contentious election.
The 17-year-old Apple Valley victim was assaulted Thursday in a Minnesota Zoo parking lot near Apple Valley's School of Environmental Studies, better known as the zoo school. Chad McKay, also 17, stood over the victim attempting to protect him.
"It's a good thing to see young people interested and excited about politics," said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom. "It's obviously very disturbing to see this kind of violence over it."
The argument began earlier in the day Thursday with a discussion about candidates the minors had supported for president, Backstrom said. The two victims supported President Bush.
"We were sitting in the computer room at school, and there was kind of a political debate," said Chad McKay of Arden Hills. "Some people said only gay people vote for Bush." Chad said the victim said "only gay people would vote for Kerry because he supports gay marriage."
Backstrom said the victims then "called the other guys some names."
Chad said later in the afternoon when he and the victim were walking to their cars they heard their three senior classmates yelling at them, according to the police report.
Chad got to his car, but the three 17-year-olds attacked the victim, he said, hitting him in face, including with a baseball bat and kicking him. One boy had a padlock wrapped around his finger, Chad said.
"I got out of the car, basically got on top of (the victim) telling them to get away," he said.
The suspects ran to the car and fled by the time Apple Valley police arrived at 2:20 p.m.
The victim, a senior, was treated for cuts and bruises at a medical clinic and released. "He got pretty messed up," Chad said.
The juvenile with the bat was charged with second-degree assault, a felony. Another was charged with misdemeanor fifth-degree assault for fighting and a third with misdemeanor disorderly conduct. "He was a bystander who jumped into the fight," said Monica Jensen, spokeswoman for the Dakota County attorney's office.
All three will appear in court on the charges within three weeks.
It's believed to be the only election-related beating in Dakota County.
Any assault is also unusual at the 400-student magnet school at the Minnesota Zoo for students interested in the specialized science and environmental programs, principal Dan Bodette said. Juniors and seniors from the district's four high schools apply for spots at the magnet school, which offers classes in marine biology, ornithology, eco-architecture and indigenous philosophy.
Minnesota Zoo zookeepers teach some classes, and many classes use the zoo grounds for field research.
Another article about the intolerant left..... When will this stop????
ROFLOL!!!
What a line..!!!
Although, I'm thinking J. Heinz Kerry took a beating this last election..!!
The great state of public schools.
"It's a good thing to see young people interested and excited about politics," said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom.
What an effing idiot.
We can surrender to them ALL the Big Cities, zoos, meth clinics, abortion shops, bath houses, can't we?
Sounds like future IUPAT workers to me. Size them up for black yellow t-shirts and get them praticing ripping up little girls signs.
The "gay" word is now used as a derogatory term for anything that is different or not liked. My daughter has used that term to describe teachers whom she doesn't like, for food she doesn't like, etc, etc. - I don't approve of the use of the term, and I have told her so, I also told her it could get her into trouble at school.
Hey!!
I LIKE zoos!! : )
I think few people are aware of an ongoing struggle in education.
Note the name of where this took place: Apple Valley's School of Environmental Studies
That's not the same as Environmental Science. Environmental Studies includes things like activism, etc. Many people are vigorously opposing the attempts to water down the science side of academic programs and still call them science. When I'd receive a résumé from a prospective entry-level environmental candidate, I had to be careful to determine which type of training they'd received in school--environmental science or merely environmental studies.
The author gets things right, saying "...the specialized science and environmental programs..." later in the article. That's not to say that environmental can't be science, but it's clear that this program treats them separately, and does both.
So, if any of you have children interested in environmental stuff and they want to major in it, be sure they get a real degree, not just a sheet of paper.
LOL... agreed...that's one hilarious line, and your follow-up is so true, too...though not sure if it fits for Dakota County.
our schools have become a real zoo.
???
Which is precisely why they want us all to be unarmed.
Very good catch, Gondring. I'm an engineer who despairs at the science and math background kids come out of schools with today, and I blew right past that reference.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
At least they're not fundamentalist, redneck, bible-thumping Christians or 'values voters', who are the greatest threat to America and the world.
When I first went to college, way back in the Dark Ages, I thought I wanted to major in wildlife biology, as ecology had not yet become a recognized discipline. Fortunately for the world I could not hack organic chem, and therefore changed majors to something far less intellectually demanding: Journalism.
I shudder to think that I *could* have stuck it out in some modern mushy discipline like "eco-activism," and that, naieve and arrogant liberal twerp that I was back then, I could have done a *lot* of damage if I had.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.