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Huge Brawls between Somali students and Lewiston, Maine high schoolers
Lewiston Sun Journal ^
| September 12, 2002
| Lindsay Tice
Posted on 09/12/2002 8:28:18 AM PDT by gulfwarvet
School officials fielded anxious phone calls from parents Wednesday, one day after a fight between a Somali student and another teenager broke out at Lewiston High School and turned into an afternoon melee off school grounds.
What were trying to do now is assure parents that we have a very safe school, said Principal Patrick ONeill.
Record-setting heat and community friction have caused tensions to rise recently in the 1,250-student high school, officials acknowledged. But, said Superintendent Leon Levesque, The school has been very calm.
On Wednesday, disruptions to the school came not from fights but from rampant rumors about weapons and further fights following Tuesdays brawl near Marcotte Park, in which police arrested two men, neither of whom was a Lewiston High School student.
Its completely consumed our day, said Levesque.
Lewiston police patrolled the area around the high school after school let out Wednesday afternoon. There were no fights.
Everything was very peaceful and smooth, said the school systems Somali community liaison, Mohammed Abdi. He expected similar patrols to continue through the week.
As scheduled, Lewiston High School students will spend this week talking about Sept. 11, its aftermath and effect on Americans attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants. No special assemblies or events were planned to address Tuesdays incident.
According to ONeill, the confrontation started when a teenager who did not attend Lewiston High School followed a Somali student into the schools lobby and taunted him. ONeill said he interceded as the argument became physical and the Somali boy tried to restrain the other teen.
As is school policy, ONeill suspended the Somali student for three days for his part in the fight. He told the other teenager to leave school property or he would be arrested.
According to police, the high school fight generated a large brawl at 2 p.m. near Marcotte Park. That one involved more than four dozen people.
Levesque said the high school has worked hard to combat rumors and to ease racial tensions there since Somali immigrants began moving into the city a year-and-a-half ago. But friction within the community has begun to cause renewed tension within the school.
While Levesque couldnt predict whether such friction would lead to more battles at or around Lewiston High School, he hoped to see community leaders identify the issues causing the most contention and come up with resolutions soon.
I think probably we need to look at this from a community perspective, he said.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Maine
KEYWORDS: lewiston; maine; somali
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To: sparkydragon
Why did you? Why didn't you tell the authorities to take their teen court (Kangaroo court) and shove it, that this isn't the way it works in the real world?
141
posted on
11/25/2002 3:57:46 PM PST
by
ladylib
To: sbhjr
just this particular disenfrachised populationThere are billions of people in the world in "disenfranchised populations", we can't possibly support them all, why this group? And what does that do for the many more Somalians (or others) who don't get out? Is their country at all improved? By leaving instead of fighting for freedom in your own country, those left behind are just as bad off as they were, maybe worse.
142
posted on
11/25/2002 4:03:42 PM PST
by
FITZ
To: sbhjr
Once again, the Somalis in Lewiston are refugees from Georgia's welfare rolls. They weren't being "persecuted,terrorized, and possibly murdered" in Atlanta. They were drawn to Lewiston by more generous welfare benefits. If I'm "mean" for not having compassion for parasites, that's just a shame. Cry me a river. I don't like shameless/prideless thieves. Do you?
To: Phillip Augustus
think it's time for America and Europe to "just say no" to third world immigration.They can't. It's considered racist to protect one's heritage and culture if your are European. It's okay for Mugabe to "purify" his country though. We have cowards for leaders. This won't stop until America looks like Mogadishu and Calcutta.
To: redhead
"I'm confused. If the Somali MUSLIMS are killing and torturing and enslaving Somali Christians, how come it's the Somali MUSLIMS who are refugees? Did I miss a chapter somewhere?"
DUH.Yes you missed the religion of peace rational.That means any Islamic, anywhere is perpetually a victim, untill they accumalte enough of a majority to install sharia law.
Somali Christians would probably assimulate in the USA in a generation or two.Muslims, from anywhere, never will.
To: ladylib
I didn't. The couple of cases I got like that my closing argument was "I was unaware of the situation. We are only asking for the minimum." After the first two I got like that I walked out and didn't go back. There wasn't much else I could do really. The only adults involved in Teen Court were the judges, the coordinator and a few volunteers. The rest of us were kids. Part of the problem was that they charge wasn't really "fighting" anyway. It was "disruption of classes." The fun thing about my school district was that they somehow determined that a student could be disrupting classes across the street in another city after school. Being involved in a fight would get you charged. It didn't even matter if you just stood there and took it. If you were there and didn't manage to extricate yourself from the situation you were just as guilty as the person(s) beating you up. Welcome to Zero-Tolerance.
To: sparkydragon
How could you be disrupting school if you weren't there? This district sounds like it should be hauled into a real court of law, not a kangaroo court that supposedly is going to make parents of students think that the school is actually accomplishing something.
If I were a student and charged with being in the presence of a disruption, I'd get the hell out and never go back.
147
posted on
11/26/2002 2:04:05 PM PST
by
ladylib
To: sbhjr
For the most part refugees do not go or stay on welfare; they get jobs and pay taxes and become members of their new communities; and, eventually, American citizensPerhaps you missed the fact that only 40 of the 400-500 "refugees" were employed?
10% sure doesn't seem like "mostly" to me!
To: ladylib
Yeah, well. Like I say, welcome to Zero-Tolerance. For this reason, and many more, I've decided to homeschool. Although, just to set the record straight, Teen Court is not affiliated with the school district. As a teen one can also take care of minor traffic tickets and shoplifting. This particular city allowed an actual ticket to be written for fighting at school, complete with required court appearances. After you showed up at Municipal you were given the option of pleading guilty or no contest to have the offense not go on your record in exchange for community service. Most took the option not to fight it, but they didn't have to.
To: sparkydragon
Could you plead innocent?
150
posted on
11/27/2002 12:03:50 PM PST
by
ladylib
To: ladylib
Teen Court was punishment only. A defendant has to first plead guilty or no contest at the municipal level to even get into the program. You could plead innocent at the municipal level, but most of these kids don't think there is any way to fight the charge and their parents insist they plead guilty so they can go to Teen Court and not have the infraction on their record and they don't have to pay the fine. In Teen Court you only have to pay $20 in court costs and do whatever community service is required in your sentence. If you default on your service you have to go back to municipal to pay the fine, but if you go through and finish the service you are excused from the fine.
To: sparkydragon
What a racket. Just go along with the community service so it doesn't go on your record even if you're innocent. Must give kids a good feeling about the American justice system.
I'd think that after an experience like that I would hate my school so much I'd flat out leave for something else.
152
posted on
11/27/2002 2:58:07 PM PST
by
ladylib
To: ladylib
I was a senior. I did my time, got my diploma, and got the hell out. Part of the problem is that it was as much the parents pushing the kids as the kids agreeing to it. Would you want to pay Johnny's speeding ticket if you were his mom? Especially if he was underage and driving without your permission.
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