Posted on 11/10/2004 8:49:24 AM PST by Doomonyou
SRJC teacher found dead
Instructor's 'kill the president' e-mail assignment controversial
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
By PAUL PAYNE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Michael H. Ballou, a Santa Rosa Junior College instructor questioned last year by the Secret Service over a controversial assignment involving President Bush, has died, the Sonoma County coroner said Tuesday.
The 49-year-old political science instructor died Saturday at his Guerneville home where he lived alone, Sheriff's Sgt. Will Wallman said.
The cause of his death is under investigation, but detectives have ruled out homicide, Wallman said. "There's nothing to say he died at the hands of another, but, otherwise, the book is wide open."
He said an autopsy has been conducted and authorities await the results of toxicology and microscopic tissue tests.
A neighbor discovered the body.
Ballou, who also spelled his name Ballow, was a part-time teacher at the junior college's Petaluma campus and had been on the faculty since 1990.
Ballou was born in Ogden, Utah. He had a master's degree from Brigham Young University and a bachelor's degree from Weber State College, an SRJC spokeswoman said.
He became embroiled in controversy in the summer of 2003 when he assigned students to compose an e-mail with the words "kill the president" in the body of the text.
Ballou said he was trying to demonstrate to students' fear of government and the "growing police state."
Although he said students were instructed not to send the message, one e-mailed it to the Washington office of Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena. Within days, Secret Service agents arrived to question Ballou .
Ballou defended his lesson, saying he meant no harm to the president. In a newspaper column, Ballou said the response proved his point.
Students supported him, saying it was a valuable experience. But faculty, administrators and parents weren't impressed. Robert Agrella, the college president, said he was "ashamed and embarrassed," and fellow teachers wrote letters to the editor, calling the assignment irresponsible. However, administrators stopped short of disciplinary action.
"He was a pretty controversial guy," Agrella said Tuesday.
Try living in the belly of the beast. I'm surrounded.
See my #100...I think I made a teensy-weensy mistake.
That's a kewl moniker......Doom on !
I realize that. All I was saying was that the message did not necessarily reflect any sort of political statement on his part, though it certainly could have.
Since I am capable of doing some pretty stupid things myself, I am just willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
You have my condolences. I was passing through there two years ago and popped in on one of their "No blood for oil" rallies in the city center. What a bunch of complete nuts!
On the flip side - I'm very proud that so much of California voted for President Bush. If we could just purge the areas West of the Coast Ranges of the vermin that infest that beautiful state....Cali would indeed be in play!
Yes!
Any bets to cause of death involved an overdose of something like meth and a lowered immune system due to Hiv/Aids.
Reaping what you sow = karma and this trumps 'politics' though the two are not necessarily separate
PBS will air a conspiracy documentary on this.
Then you would be 'purging' this conservative from Mendocino.
Yours is a noble sentiment, not arguing with that, but I think there are times when joy at an enemy's passing is at least understandable, if not appropriate. Rats are slowly becoming our mortal enemies and I think we're going to end up fighting them someday.
Did you see post 11 on that thread? Several follow asking him to cite his source!
...does anyone else wonder why he was compelled to use an alias?
Yep, as I said this was an ultimately harmless exercise. If you disagree show me who got hurt. As I recall I also said it was ill advised which seems to be your position so what's the rant all about?
Hmm...priors?
Geez...the exercise was not that the kids should threaten the president but that by just writing the words and putting them out in a closed circle (as opposed to posting them to the WH website, and btw, he did not even instruct them to send the message to anyone at all) they will draw attention. I see value in letting our kids know that there are elements in our officialdom that are watching through the window....and as you quoted me, I said it was ill-advised. I do stop short though of saying, as others here have, that he deserved to die for his stupidity, is that what bothers you?
Well, if I dropped my wallet in the downtown area, I'd kick it all the way to the city limits before I'd bend over and pick it up.
bet Halliburton managed the pipeline that delivered fuel to the getaway vehicle.
It's a great place to live outside the high prices and the politics, kinda hard to believe that the Great Ronaldus Magnus Reagan came from CA!
On the flip side - I'm very proud that so much of California voted for President Bush. If we could just purge the areas West of the Coast Ranges of the vermin that infest that beautiful state....Cali would indeed be in play!
If LA, SF, Marin and Sonoma counties would slide into the ocean during an earthquake, CA would be a RED state again!
As a suicide/crisis counselor (and former student at SRJC) I find no joy in people killing themselves, don't get me wrong. (Tagline refers to the political left's suicidal policies).
Disclaimers aside, the very real damage/hurt is to our political discourse which is coarsened and to the copycats who have been repeating this *kill the president* mantra for over a year (see Guardian, UK, etc, etc). Maybe this guy originated it, maybe not. Sooner or later some unhinged loser will try to be a 'hero' and act on it. People act on their thoughts and violence can be 'inspired' by twisted,hateful words and thoughts. In my business we take words very seriously. I would not hesitate "committing involuntarily" an individual who utters such words- as a danger to others. In this case maybe his twisted words caused him to end his life.
No rant intended, just concern for the health of our political system and the safety of ALL of our leaders.
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