H.S. Football Players SUSPENDED from Team After Waving Thin Blue and Red Line Flags on Field on 9-11 Anniversary (VIDEO)

Two Ohio high school football players were suspended from the team after they ran onto the field on 9-11 with thin blue line and thin red line flags in support of the anniversary.

The thin blue line flag represents support for police officers and the thin red line flag represents support for fire fighters.

For the record:
** 50 police officers were killed in New York in the 9-11 attacks.
** 343 fire fighters were lost in the attacks.

The boys were honoring 9-11 victims and their fathers who work as a police officer and a fire fighter.

One player, Brady Williams, whose father is a police officer said he wanted to honor the all the cops who lost their lives on 9-11.

Jarad Bentley, whose father is a firefighter, carried the thin red line on the field and waved it before the game.

Didn’t say that. But they could go to the bus lines and discuss the problem rather than ignoring the bus company and then other people start complaining when the people are not allowed to use the bus when they were told it would happen. You’ll notice one of the kids said he didn’t care if he was punished. So he got kicked off the bus without any possibility of playing while under suspension. The article didn’t say indefinitely or permanently.

I said first trying to settle on ways to accomplish goals. When our patriots lost their lives in the War for Independence they had talked a long time with the Brits. But for more than a decade before the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775, tensions had been building between colonists and the British authorities. But they were talking.

Do I think either of the opposing sides is right here...no. But until the one in charge has their mind changed, the call is theirs and they take the responsibility for it. The same as the kids take responsibility for their call.

What they need to discuss is not the bus driver, the athletic director, but the policies of the school district that he doesn’t write and has agreed to follow when it is not life or safety threatening at the time. He only represents the district, not run it. And the kids broke the rules, intentionally, and should be punished in a way consistent with the district policies.

The kids wouldn’t be suspended for taking the opportunity to discuss it at length with the people in charge of the district and decisions made based upon facts and not just ignoring district policies. What makes us different is that we have the ability to reason. Hopefully, that would have come into focus. Both sides may be guilty here, but only one side broke the rules.

rwood

This is the text of both emails I've sent to the district this morning:

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.

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