Student arrested for threatening school with zombie invasion
Student Arrested For Terroristic Threatening Says Incident A Misunderstanding
Updated 14 March 2005: Some of Poole’s journal writings revealed in court session.
Updated 24 March 2005: Poole makes bail, released from holding center.
Updated 30 March 2005: Poole re-arrested for violating terms of bail.
Updated 15 July 2005: Grand Jury indicts Poole for misdemeanor charge, not felony.
Updated 28 July 2005: Poole pled not-guilty. Lawyer files to have charges dismissed.
Updated 04 October 2005: All charges dropped but Poole still on probation. Details at bottom of post.
William Poole, a junior at George Rogers Clark High School, was arrested Tuesday for making terroristic threats against his school.
Poole told LEX 18 that the whole incident is a big misunderstanding. He claims that what his grandparents found in his journal and turned into police was a short story he wrote for English class.
“My story is based on fiction,” said Poole, who faces a second-degree felony terrorist threatening charge. “It’s a fake story. I made it up. I’ve been working on one of my short stories, (and) the short story they found was about zombies. Yes, it did say a high school. It was about a high school over ran by zombies.”
Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony. “Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it’s a felony in the state of Kentucky,” said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill.
The short story did not mention Poole’s school, any teachers, the principal or any cops, officials or students.
His bail was raised from one to five thousand dollars at the request of prosecutors because of the “seriousness of the crime”.
There is no mention of the school itself being involved here. This madness seems to be 100% from the police.
Winchester Government contact information:
Mayor Dodd Dixon
Chief of Police W.M.Jackson II - Phone: 1-859-745-7400, Fax: 1-859-745-7404
(Tip credit to Tori in Texas)
UPDATE 14 March 2005
Details of student’s writings revealed
Police disclose contents of writings allegedly threatening school takeover
Winchester Police Detective Steve Caudill read from Poole’s journal during a hearing last Tuesday. It’s difficult to get a picture of just what is in the journals as the portions reported are disjointed quotes and reports of police opinion. Police claim that the journal shows Poole’s plan to organize a gang called the “No Limit Soldiers” based in four locations or zones. These zones are Clark County, Barbourville, South Carolina and New York City.
This is a serious concern? The police are actually thinking that an 18 year-old junior is actually planning to start a nationwide gang?
Detective Caudill also read an excerpt from the apparent master plan:
Another excerpt, read by Caudill, states, “All the boys sit down at the kitchen table and start planning it out. They wrote down how many teachers, students and guards were at the high school. Also, how long it would take police to get there. They wrote down what was needed and how they was going to do it. They agreed right there they they would all die together.”
He continued, “They yelled, ‘kill them,’ and all the soldiers of Zone 2 started shooting. They are dropping every one of them. After five minutes, all the people are laying on the ground dead.”
A poorly written violent story set in the past tense is the basis of holding and charging Poole? Lending credence to Poole’s claim that these are works of fiction were several other fictional stories in the journal.
A separate story, titled “War” was described by Caudill as “futuristic,” and referred to a group of people sitting down at a kitchen table, where they plan a takeover of a school, determining how long it will take for police to arrive on the scene. “They will all die together,” Poole wrote.
Futuristic violent bad writing. This doesn’t impress me as a cause for alert. Perhaps it is the recurring kitchen table theme that has the police so worried.
Nowhere in Poole’s writings did he refer to a specific school. It also did not list any specific targets, making only general references to teachers, students and school security.
Detailed plans for raising a nationwide gang of soldiers. So detailed that they demand the writer be held in prison on high bail to protect the populace from the accused. Plans so intricately detailed that the only thing they lack is…well…all of the details.
Incidentally we’ve found out why Poole never published a story in the school newsletter. He was warned not to try.
According to Caudill, Poole told police that a teacher at GRCHS read the piece called the “Overview,” and warned that Poole could be in trouble if others at school saw it. Consequently, Poole reportedly told police that he left his writings at home. The teacher told Caudill he did not see any of the journal entries that police confiscated.
So Poole had already taken this fiction story to a teacher for feedback. That doesn’t seem like the normal way that a gang mastermind develops his secret plans.
Poole might be a troubled youth and it’s a sure thing that he is not a very good writer but I’m more sure than ever that this is a horrendous overreaction by Kentucky police.
(Tip credit to Icarus)
UPDATE 24 March 2005
Poole released from jail on bond
Jeffrey Russell, Louisville, posted a $5,000 bond at 3:40 p.m. Saturday to have Poole released from jail. The two never met before Saturday. Russell told The Sun that he acted on behalf of an unidentified individual in California who has an interest in civil rights and heard about Poole’s case on the Internet.
“(The person) has an interest in a non-police state,” he explained.
Poole’s release has sparked the rumor mill in this small community. As reported by reader Icarus the community believes his bail was arranged by CNN and that Poole has threatened deadly force against his family and the town. Given the police readiness to arrest him in the first place I find it highly doubtful that Poole has actually threatened anybody and remained out of police custody.
(Tip credit to wr)
UPDATE 30 March 2005
Teen Accused Of Threatening School Re-Arrested
Poole was seen near a Clark County elementary school, a violation of his bail. The judge signed an arrest warrant and he was re-arrested on Monday.
A close family friend told LEX 18 that Poole was acting harmlessly when he was seen with another teen at the school, and that the other teen was picking up his sister there. The excuse didn’t fly with the judge, who immediately signed a warrant for Poole’s arrest.
On the plus side this should at least put a stop to the rampant rumormongering going on in the community. Poole has been accused of everything from fleeing the state to threatening dismemberment of his grandparents to readying a homicidal attack on the school. See this post by James Bow for an excellent recap of the known facts of the case.
(Tip credit to Sharon)
UPDATE 15 July 2005
Jury hands down Poole indictment
Poole had been charged with a second degree felony - terroristic threatening. The Grand Jury disagreed.
But the grand jury declined to indict Poole on that charge and instead returned an indictment charging him with attempt to commit terroristic threatening - a class A misdemeanor.
Poole’s future, though still not rosy, is now considerably brighter.
(Tip credit to Sue.)
UPDATE 28 July 2005
William Poole pleads not guilty to attempted threatening charge
Poole’s lawyer seeking charge dismissal
Pool has pled not-guilty and his public defender, Brian Barker, has filed to have the charges against him dismissed and have him released from prison. Poole was originally charged with second-degree felony terroristic threatening but this was reduced to a misdemeanor charge of criminal attempt to commit terroristic threatening.
Barker argues that an overt act must occur in order to be charged with criminal attempt. “Some sort of act or conduct is required to prove that a defendant is serious about carrying out his intentions,” Barker states in his motion. Barker claims that Poole was not indicted on any act or conduct, rather for an alleged statement he made.
“Apart from the legal arguments, the notion of an ‘attempt to threaten’ is an absurdity,” Barker writes. “As a practical matter, how does a person attempt to make a threat? The mere concept is nonsense.”
Barker filed a second dismissal motion claiming the statute is unconstitutionally vague. A third motion filed requests that Poole’s bond be reduced from the current $75,000 as this is an unreasonably high amount for a misdemeanor charge.
(Tip credit to Gina)
UPDATE 04 October 2005
Poole walks free after charge dropped
On August 2, Clark County District Court Judge Brandy Oliver Brown dismissed all criminal charges against Poole and released him on two years of restrictive probation.
Brown agreed with Poole’s attorney, Brian Barker, who claimed the grand jury’s indictment failed to state a criminal offense. Barker argued criminal attempt would require an overt act on Poole’s part, something he says prosecutors failed to demonstrate.
Even Assistant County Attorney John Keeton was forced to concede the point. He told Brown there is no documented record of a conviction anywhere in Kentucky on a charge of attempt to commit terroristic threatening.
Simply put, there is no such crime as attempting to commit terroristic threatening.
Brown normally does not grant shock probation but did so in this case to maintain control over Poole. If he had served the last two months of his contempt of court sentence he would have been free and clear. By allowing him to get out of jail early, Brown can set restrictions on his freedom for another two years.
This is a bit disturbing to me. No crime was committed. Poole was on parole against charges that did not legally exist. He violated the terms of that parole and received criminal punishment for doing so. Now he is being monitored by a judge for two years for the crime of disobeying a judge while falsely accused by the state. Note that he did not commit any crime when he was originally out on parole, he just didn’t do what the judge told him to do.
Sorry, dweeb (regarding April 7, 2005 06:49 PM comment). The law really is a bit scarier than you had thought.
(Tip credit to CJ Hylton)
Really, what bothers me most about this is the fact that even his grandparents have turned into stool pigeons by the state. Society has gotten the fear factor driven so hard into our collective heads that instead of discussing the journal with their grandson, they turned it over to the police. Turn it in first, ask questions later. That’s pretty damn scary to know that even if Big Brother isn’t watching you 100% of the time, he has conditioned other family members to be watching you, too!
I guess possession of Lewis Carroll’s classic “Jabberwocky” during a poetry reading in a KY school would be a felony too. “The vorpal sword went snicker-snack!”
“ANYTIME you make any threat or POSSESS MATTER involving a school or function it’s a FELONY in the state of Kentucky.”
Idiots!
And if they’re taking zombies as a credible threat, just imagine what they’d make of mumwraths.
Wow! All I can think of is the movie, Miracle on 34th Street… if an agency of the gov’t recognized Santa as real, then he was. If the Kentucky gov’t recognizes zombies as real, does that mean there are really zombies in Kentucky? The only zombies I see are the ones in charge, and only because they are certifiably brain dead.
I will never live in KY; imagine hordes of brain dead bureacrats running around!
Okay I understand that there will always be doubts and questions as to what we read in the articles. But In this case I have to assume that the story was a bit different then the writer suggests. I find it too hard to believe that his grandparents would turn him in for a story that is obvious fantasy. There is a huge chunk missing from this. I would like to read the story to know for sure.
I hope Travis is right.
If not Steven King better be sure he never sets foot in Kentucky.
Based on what happened to this boy for writing a short story I’ve no doubt poor Mr. King will be gunned down by the authorities. With all the threats he’s made over the years he’s a much more imminent danger than an Alkaeda terrorist with a bomb wrapped around his/her waist.
This is the worst case I’ve heard of yet.
My children will never, ever attend government school. This is insane.
Nah. The worst post by far this month was the one where a school district and a sheriff’s deputy assigned to the “school” accused a first grader of being a drug pusher because she took dirt and weeds she found on the school grounds, put it in a bag, and gave it to a classmate.
That one deserves some sort of prize.
You’re smart to think twice about public schools for your kids, however. I bet a lot of parents whose kids are victims of these policies wish they thought twice about public schools LOL.
Or maybe, just maybe, he really _was_ forming an undead army to take over the school. Think about it!
Alarmist: What makes you think that wouldn’t be an improvement?
Detective Caudill is not qualified to be night watchman at the town dump, much less a detective. Good judgement is a requirement for any productive employment.
The “judge” who increased the bail is also deserving of contempt. I wouldn’t let him judge a rotten tennis shoe contest.
Now, this is a classic example of how stupid this society has gotten. What kind of credible threat is a zombie? I mean… I know we see a lot of weird stuff here in this day and age, but I think we (or “we” with stable brains at least) can all agree that zombies do not exist…
And if zombies ever overrun a high school anywhere in this country… during the day when kids are in school… then please, someone make me eat crow.
Sheesh, people. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
What idiots. Just another reason why I am going to home school my kids.
The grandparents are just as stupid.
“It’s a fake story. I made it up.”
“It was about a high school over ran by zombies.” A George Rogers Clark High School junior arrested Tuesday for making terrorist threats told LEX 18 News Thursday that the “writings” that got him arrested are being taken out of…
NuclearDruid,
More accuruately, walking down the street with a letter about a PTA meeting is a felony in Kentucky. After all, that is “possesing matter involving a school.”
–adam
A friend of mine has a t-shirt that has the Bill of Rights on it, with the words “Void where prohibited by law” stamped in red across it. I guess that stamp would be referring to Kentucky.
Let’s get in touch with the grandparent fuckwits.
Yahoo people search for Poole in Winchester, KY.
http://phone.people.yahoo.com/py/lg:us/lc:us/psPhoneSearch.py?FirstName=&LastName=Poole&Business=&City=Winchester&State=KY&PostalCode=&srch=bas&total=12&index=1
http://www.counterpulse.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3121
http://www.sternfannetwork.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52236
Only the Narc Division of the Police have e-mail published…
http://www.winchesterky.com/most_wanted/wanted_index.phtml
wpdnarc@winchesterky.com
A lot of other “official” Winchester, KY e-mails here..
http://www.winchesterky.com/quick_ref.phtml
*Mayor Dodd Dixon
City Hall, 32 Wall Street
Winchester, KY 40391
Phone: 1-859- 744-9815
Fax: 1-859-745-4590
Email: ddixon@winchesterky.com
Chief of Police - W. M. Jackson II
16 South Maple Street
Winchester, Kentucky 40391
Phone: 1-859-745-7400
Fax: 1-859-745-7404
For God’s sake, be careful what you say to these folks!!
—
Maybe if folks write The Smoking Gun, they can get the police report and a copy of the essay… editor@thesmokinggun.com
This got an on-air mention by G.G. Liddy on 2/28/05. Mr. Liddy, apparently reading from the WLEX 18 Report, stated that the young man was apparently guilty of “Poor english: using a double negative…”
Quote: Poole disputes that he was threatening anyone.
“It didn’t mention nobody who lives in Clark County, didn’t mention (George Rogers Clark High School), didn’t mention no principal or cops, nothing,”
said Poole. “Half the people at high school know me. They know I’m not that stupid, that crazy.”
Per the WLEX 18 report: Poole is being held at the Clark County Detention Center. Why haven’t his teachers bailed him out if it was a school report?
Hmm.. I found the school’s web-site; which had a link to the local online paper..
http://www.clark.k12.ky.us/grc/
http://www.winchestersun.com/articles/2005/02/24/local_news/news01.txt
They give an entirely different impression. Wonder which will prove out..
Student jailed for alleged school takeover threat
By TIM WELDON/Sun Staff Writer
Winchester police have arrested a George Rogers Clark High School junior whom they allege was attempting to organize an armed takeover of the school.
William Poole, 18, of 426 E. Broadway, was arrested at GRCHS Tuesday. Acting on a tip from a family member, police reported that he was attempting to “recruit a gang to take over the school,” according to Detective Berl Perdue.
The threat involved the use of weapons, according to Purdue. “He didn’t have a gang, but he was attempting to organize one,” he said. Purdue added that no threat was made against a specific individual.
GRCHS Principal John Atkins said he could not comment on whether Poole has been in disciplinary trouble at the school due to confidentiality reasons. He did comment that, “I know him.”
Police recovered writings in which Poole allegedly attempted to convince other students to participate in an armed takeover. He was being held this morning at the Clark County Detention Center. During a hearing in Clark District Court this morning, Poole’s bond was increased from a $1,000 to a $5,000 cash bond based on a prosecution motion.
Atkins said he has been unable to share some information with students and staff about the incident due to the continuing investigation. Classes continued normally Wednesday and today and there have been no problems, Atkins said.
“We did not have any concern that students had weapons at school,” he said. “We don’t know who’s included in this. That’s what we’re working on, to see if there were other individuals involved. … We’re not sure that there are.”
- Managing Editor Jennifer Ginn contributed to this story.
https://secure.townnews.com/winchestersun.com/forms/letters/index.php
That’s my school. Consider this if you’re wondering about the boy’s creditbility: his initial story was that it was a short story for vocational school (yeah, the place where you learn carpentry and welding, not creative writing). Then it switched to an English assignment. Funny thing is, he doesn’t have an English class this semester. He’s also been involved in a number of fights and assaults on campus. His sister is even worried because she read what he wrote and she says it’s no zombie story. He had the sites of the cameras on campus mapped out and had timed out how quickly the police could arrive on campus. Heretofore, his grandparents have done everything they could to keep him out of jail.
Perhaps this might illuminate the matter more. The student’s claim lacks credibility. HIs initial story was that he was writing the assignment for a vocaional school class (yes, vocational school is where you learn carpentry and welding, not creative writing). Then it switched to an English assignment. Oddly enough, he doesn’t have an English class this semester. Still think his story is credible?
His sister, who read what he wrote, indicated that he had listed the sites where the cameras
are located in the school and timed out the minimum time it would take for police to arrive on campus. Still sound credible to you?
He’s also been involved in a number of fights and assaults on campus (and off). This is at least his second terroristic threatening charge. Until now, his grandparents have done everything they could to keep him out of jail.
Can anyone produce a citation of students who he actually solicited for this ‘gang?’
When journal entries are illegal
Just when I think the zero tolerance policies can’t get any more insane, or be applied in more abusive ways, I’m proven wrong. Winchester police say William Poole, 18, was taken into custody Tuesday morning. Investigators say they discovered materials…
When journal entries are illegal
Just when I think the zero tolerance policies can’t get any more insane, or be applied in more abusive ways, I’m proven wrong. Winchester police say William Poole, 18, was taken into custody Tuesday morning. Investigators say they discovered materials…
Where can one get a hold of this story to read? Does anyone know??
Well, Stephen King didn’t comment, but best-selling zombie novelist Brian Keene did. You can read it here: http://hailsaten.blogspot.com/
He made some good–if extreme–points.
I suggest you keep following this story. It may surprise you to find out that people have paid attention to a snippet of news where the kid is telling his story. Just because it’s a small town in Kentucky, it doesn’t mean the police are totally ignorant. The community is taking things seriously even if the rest of the world is laughing. I hope the trial makes the news as much as the arrest so that people will know what the actual text says, not just what the kid says it says.
There will be a lot of people out there eating crow when the real truth, not just the news clip with Poole’s quote, comes out.
Pool is right about one thing — half the people there (or more) do know him. And yes, we’re taking it seriously.
I would say that a quite appropriate way to make your feelings known about this subject would be to write your own short stories involving zombies and kentucky high schools. Then mail them directly to the police department handling this……minus the return address of ocurse. As long as you make the note that it is a work of fiction then even if they did know who it was coming from they wouldn’t be able to touch you. Hell maybe that kind of a show of popular support would help get this poor kid off the hook.
One thing to keep in mind here is that no matter how many details we dig up on this story we are still only getting bits and pieces. We do not know the people or circumstances involved. It may well turn out that the police have over reacted and made a large case out of nothing. If that indeed turns out to be the case they will be probably be chastized in the courts and in the media. On the other hand, it is possible that they have actually found a serious problem in the making and acted accordingly. If that is the case then perhaps they have prevented a disaster before it happened. Wouldn’t that be amazing, for system to work so well.
The bottom line is if we start judging either party now, the police or the teen, then we’re fooling ourselvs into believing we understand something that we actually do not.
Just my .02.
thank god i don’t live in the states. i would have been drawn and quartered by age 8. if not i would have swallowed the end of a gun. to all you americans out there. stop and think. about what you ask? anything. it would be nice if there was one person in the states that actually had a thought that did not come from retarded officials.
Talk about the culture of fear, just as frightening as this story are all the folks who seem to feel it’s yet another reason to put their kids into home schooling. Every great republic needs an excellent public educational system. The solution is to put your time, money and interest into public education. But, at the very least, find a suitable private school. Don’t subject your kids in some paranoid, isolated “home school” environment. We’re already alienated enough in this country.
Going to public school is what *made* me alienated and paranoid.
We can only blame ourselves for losing the culture war
When otherwise well-behaved children are arrested and placed in handcuffs for everything from accidentally macing another child to throwing a temper tantrum while grieving over a dead relative it is time to reevaluate the so-called culture war that the…
Some of us in the states actually think, we just don’t associate with the rest of the people out there…
Of course, Michigan is almost a part of Canada
Unfortunately a huge number of people in the States don’t think at all. It’s funny to hear this story and remember some of the news snippets that came out of Iraq a few years ago. Does anyone else remember stories of people arrested and jailed under Saddam’s regime, for the crime of writing things considered inflammatory or critical of the state? The USA is frighteningly close to achieving a similar state of mind. At least half of the country seems to be in a permanent state of xenophobic fear and hatred of anything that George Bush says is ‘unamerican’. Personally, I’m in favour of an amnesty where those of you that want to leave can flee North, and then we build a big damn wall across the bottom of Canada and leave the loonies to it. Give it a couple of years and the rest America will soon find an exciting new way to blow itself up…
Wow. This story is lunacy.
Yes, I’ll agree with people that say Kentucky has lost it’s mind.
and to all those other Hive Minded High school students…
I was in Fights everyday, I could get a map of everything. Apparently the thought of research for anything other then a crime is beyond the thought processes of the Hive minded school kids at Kentucky.
You apparently support the new Policy that bans the creation of Maps and other PUBLIC USE AREAS.
because everyone and their dog is a terrorist.
So Unless you’ve been one of those students who are solicited ( and really, Fighting in HS, unless you’re an apathetic Nerd, You have fought in High school, numerous times, because the sheer number of Hive idiots there).
Unless you were one of the members solicited, you are one of the “zombies” that probably ended up dead. if you were on of the members solicited, you could at least authenticate who did what to whom and why and the whole context of the story.
Apparently wishing people dead is a crime in Kentucky. Especially in print. Kentucky must be one of the successful NewSpeak States.
Hey Icarus. How do we know your story isn’t the Bullshit one? I read an article that said what you’re saying. It was written in an ultra conservative newspaper in Kentucky. Hmm. Now let me be fair, and say I don’t know what the true story is, and with the state of the country right now, with our leader being a moron AND an ass, I never know who to trust.
But let’s look at something. Forgetting whether this incident is true, there must be a reason why so many people are willing to believe outright that it’s true. Therefore, people must believe that stuff like this isn’t so unnatural in this country. Hey, and guess what? It isn’t! Therein lies the real scare.
At first I was outraged–I’ve seen similar things before happening in schools to perfectly innocent kids, and censorship issues are a big hot button with me.
However…I have a few questions about the article, and am wondering if it’s telling everything. Why was it the grandparents reporting about the story? Where are the kid’s parents? Why didn’t his English teacher speak up and say, yes, this was an English assignment? Has the kid had problems with violence before, or with weapons? He’s 18 and a junior…which means he’s been held back for some reason, and certainly his grammar isn’t the best I’ve seen. Has he been in trouble in school before?
While I intensely dislike zero tolerance policies in school, and while I think schools’ responses to troubled kids is often draconian and ineffective, I’d like to see some more information about this kid’s past history before I make a judgement.
The school’s still not off the hook–if the young man was indeed troubled, why didn’t they find resources to get him some help before it came to this point?
If a horror story constitutes terrorism in Kentucky, then anyone there caught on a site such as Macrophile.com would be accused of bestiality there. That’s how stupid society’s gotten.
Note to Kentucky: Stop the horsepuckey already! You guys worship equines ((horses))!!
BTW, BlackDragon, Michigan is NOT anywhere near a part of Canada, even though Canadians consider the U.P. to be that way…
addy for Macrophile.com:
http://www.macrophile.com
Dementia: Can you post the URL of the ultracon KY newspaper story you cite, or some quotes from it. Just for kicks I’d like to compare the syntax to that of the alleged high school student who says things like “heretofore” and “perhaps this might illuminate matters.”
He (”he” for the sake of convenience, since we don’t know) also talks about high school as though he is outside of it, not a part of it: “This student’s claim lacks credibility.” I smell FUD. Either “Icarus” isn’t who he claims, or this is a socially isolated English geek. If it’s the later, he might have his own bitter reasons for posting these comments.
You assume that all high school students cannot use correct English? Excuse me, but I am only a college freshman, and my English in high school was much better than most of my teachers’. It is also unreasonable to assume that all English geeks are socially isolated. I certainly had and still have plenty of friends. You are being unreasonable in assuming that a high school student cannot write correctly or with “advanced” vocabulary and syntax.
Also, to the person who said that most high school students get it fights: not in my school. Not only did I never fight, but neither did any of my friends or people I knew, encompassing the vast majority of my class. I am sorry that your school, or your perception of it, is so violent.
Not a social outcast. Not bitter. Not everyone in Kentucky uses double negative. Sorry to disaapoint you, Adam M. Just thought I’d let you know that George Rogers Clark doesn’t ostracize people because they’re smart (or because they’re not smart, or heavy, or whatever). We have jocks and geeks who are friends (we even have a few jocks who ARE geeks). Last year’s Homecoming Queen was a heavy girl (imagine a really sweet girl who looks a lot like Carmen Mannheim and smiles all the time and makes everyone she sees smile). She was also on the Prom Court. This year’s Homecoming King was a developmentally disabled young man. He was so excited. We have our share of “geeks” on such courts as well — the Homecoming Queen runner up was the school’s newspaper editor (who is smart and funny and nice). We also have one of the best AP English and Social Studies programs in the nation.
To Jacknife: sorry your school is so antisocial. GRC isn’t. Not everyone there fights. Not even most of the people there fight. The fighters are the same people, over and over again. Poole is one of them.
And to Dementia, consider this: The grandparents found his journal threatening. The cops found his journal threatening. The school administration found his journal threatening. The cops investigated for four days before they arrested him. The judge found the evidence against him so convincing that he upped the bail. The kid himself is quoted in an article that he only wrote a short story about zombies invading a school. The newspaper does not confirm that the journal contains a short story. No teacher confirms that there was any such assignment. In fact, no one confirms that there was really a short story, all we have is the word of a kid desparate to get out of jail. WHo are the real zombies?
Swallow a brain, baby — the real zombies are the ones manipulated by a kid who can’t even speak his native language (note the story quotes him, but it doesn’t verify that he did write any story at all), the ones who believe him without any proof but ask the grandparents, cops, school administrators and judge to authenticate when at least they consist of a group of people in agreement. What’s truly disturbing is a public rallying behind this kid like he’s the only intelligent life in Kentucky.
But hey, Poole’s getting media attention and his name is all over the Internet, which is half of what he wanted. At least he got that without the other half of what he wanted — a violent rampage through our high school where innicent people are hurt.
I hope that you follow the articles all the way to the end of Poole’s trial. I hope you’re willing to post about your foolish mistakes in perception as you are to assume everyone involved in this story BUT Poole must be an idiot.
I don’t really think that zombies should be considered a plausible threat.
i think that it is a shame, we incorage young people to get creative and when they do they are sent to jail.
stephen king wrote a story about a teenager killing students, should we turn him in for his best selling book??
or do we say its okay because he is older
fuck horror writing is about being scared and scaring others
what can we do to help him?
I wonder if his grandparents will get the stalin star for turning over a family member.
“Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it’s a felony in the state of Kentucky”
OMG!
Someone alert buffy.
To the shelter Sarah, run to the bunker Michelle!
*rolleyes*
I personally know this guy!
He is a frickin nut basket case thats ready to explode at any second!
Our Town feels so much safer that this guy was arrested.
It’s truly absurd. It’s sad that creativity has now become a threat to our country. Quite the slippery slope.
What I find most ironic is when I travelled to parts of KY, there was nothing but porn and pawn shops about…and this was in one of their down town business districts…I guess porn’s more american than short fiction.
to a few ppl who know this kid and have posted here, please elaborate; did this guy threaten ppl in the past? is he another one of those columbine fans? if this kid is honestly a threat to other people there are other factors that should be considered, the issue is that he wrote a fictional piece and was arrested for it… it’s straight violation of the freedom of speech (and also perfect conformity with the patriot act)a felony charge is gonna fuck this kids whole life up because why? he wrote a fukkin story about zombies? anybody with a fraction of sense can tell you that’s bullshit. we need the full story.
i just have one thing to say am glad and proud to be canadan we don’t have any bullshit like the patriot act. so now i well continue to hope that the amaracan ppl well soon vote in a goverment that well embrace amaracan values like the bill of rights and your constatuson amaraca great idea bad exacution.this story proves it i am a high school student a canadan and i hope that the rest of the bullshit the bull shit like this befor the amaracan courts gets thrown out i love amaraca but i love canada more because this kind of bull shit dose not happen hear and if you don’t like it move up hear and wait for this kind of bull shit to go away because you well thank your self for it later
Hold on there, fraser. Zero Tolerance isn’t just an American problem. It’s where I am so the vast majority of the stories I profile are from here too. Stifling students certainly isn’t unique to the US either. I profiled a pretty egregious case in Canada just a couple of weeks ago.
I just read this since it was put on our boards and i gotta tell you this is the stupidest thing ive read in awhile. Nice job on posting this news… great read and just shows how low society is in areas of the world.
Oh no! He threatened to have a zombie eat my brain!
You know, I find it very amusing that everyone is all up in arms because some high school kid got arrested for something, and claimed to be innocent.
From my experience, EVERYONE that gets arrested claims they’re innocent. Are we going to rally to their aid as well?
You know…right after 9/11, Osama Bin Laden stated that Al Quaeda was not responsible for those attacks…
I think I’ll wait for some more information before I start rallying at the jail to get the kid freed. Especially with the abundance of posts that this kid was actually a lunatic.
The Inkwell is the literary magazine at George Rogers Clark. Since people seem to be so willing to believe Poole’s comments, here’s a couple of facts from it — In four years (he is an 18-year-old junior, after all) at GRC, he hasn’t published anything in it. Yes, it’s certainly possible that he might be shy about his “writing,” but it’s also possible that he doesn’t really write stories at all.
The Inkwell does, however, include some violent stories. Those students weren’t arrested. In fact, the school PUBLISHED them. There is also some artwork that depicts violence (mostly martial arts in anim� style). Again, the school published that artwork. If Poole wrote a real story, why would the school treat him differently than these other writers?
I feel sorry for Poole; I really do. But, I’m glad that he didn’t get the opportunity to follow through with his plans. I hope that his trial brings him help to deal with his anger and lack of self-esteem.
And some of you need to go back and read the comments — you keep asking questions that have been asked and answered.
Interesting. So, once again we do not get the whole story and we are expected to not leap to conclusions.
All bits of info we have gained points to nothing other than this kid was a social misfit and the community didn’t like him or is afraid of him.
I am not going to jump to conclusions on whether he was a menace to society or not; although, I will with what information I have be quite willing to jump to the conclusion that the society who raised him and were to nurture him is at fault.
The little information we have makes everyone look like fools and the posts that are from people who say they are from this town on these very forums, shows the ignorance this town has shown to one of their own and to themselves and to the people they should care for.
One of you talk about eating crow when the real information is let out, yet you yourself had a chance to befriend this person and lead him in a better direction. Your school had a chance to work with this kid and they didn’t. This childs own grandparents could have pulled him to the side and talked with him, placed him into therapy, or even… care for him but they didn’t. Perhaps there will be enough crow for everyone involved in this to eat.
Will not even a single person who was around this kid look at themselves and wonder… what happened? Instead they would rather throw him into the maw of criminal justice, placing him into a position of even more hate, perhaps completely screwing the life of an 18 year old kid who was crying for attention he never gained.
Well, I hope hes happy, he gained the attention, you helped him do that at least. I hope your happy, you gave it to him. To bad it wasn’t a positive attention, to bad it wasn’t something a single person in that entire town can be proud of.
FinderComnet, you make the assumption that no one has tried to help him in the past. People have been trying to help this kid for years. He refuses help. You can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. The school has anger management workshops. The school has four counselors, a shrink and a youth services center that will help people get mental health care. But in order for that to work, people have to take advantage and participate in what’s offered. Poole would rather be a bully.
Please don’t assume what I think.
Just because the school offers these is not enough. You must follow up. As a society each and everyone of the people in contact with him should have worked with him on it.
Please do not use tired cliches to explain the failure in this whole episode. I can guarantee that if said horse were thirsty and the water were not poisoned, he would drink.
It is the job of everyone around him to understand his thirst and to understand it was not poison. If people truely cared, he would not be in this mess.
He continually got into trouble and fights. He gave everyone all the signs he needed help. Do you actually expect a troubled kid to go for help? Do you think he is going to stick around when people stop looking? Come on! No one can be that naive. He needed more help than what a school alone could offer. A society raises a child. I am not blaming just the school, I am not blaming just his family, I am not blaming his friends. It is the whole of everyone around him that is at fault, including himself.
icarus, the school was not involved in reporting or arresting Poole for the journal contents.
As to not having anything published, I can offer a plethora of reasons. He speaks poorly - if his writing is similar it’s likely he couldn’t get it published. Maybe his stories aren’t good enough to get past an editor. Perhaps he’s writing for himself. Maybe due to his outsider status he was not welcome to participate in the Inkwell. Cliques are cliques and outsiders aren’t wanted. In my high school the newsletter group was exclusive.
Take a look at the Inkwells and see how many items in them are the same people edition after edition and see how often a new voice shows up.
wow, i am a graduated student from kentucky and there has to be more to the story. i was one of the outcasts at my school and i wrote a story about suicide and all i got was a phone call to my parents. several of my friends wrote pretty grisly stuff from elementary school to their senior year. of course the elementary stuff predated that overrated columbine crap that ruined the already damaged public school disciplinary system. now maybe he had a story about zombies, but honestly, just because one is from kentucky does not make you an inbred retard. bad grammar is a way of life here unfortunately. it is how everyone talks. several of the southern states are just as bad. but anyway i think there is more to this story than what we are being told and like someone said above, we should all hold judgement until someone releases excerpts from his journal (which in most cases a journal would not contain only one short story). enough rambling, everyone needs to just keep an open mind and not jump to conclusions or you are just as bad as you think this kids grandparents and police are.
Jim, I’m just going through one Inkwell — there are 80 different contributors. I know that in this issue, at least 30 of them were new voices because they were freshmen. Lots of the people in the issue aren’t in the Creative Writing Club, which produces the magazine.
Also, in this particular issue, there are several stories with violence and a few drawings with weapons. The police have access to the publication (the Police Chief’s daughter is a student at GRC) but they haven’t arrested or charged any of those kids with terroristic threatening.
Okay, axe the exclusion theory then. The others are all still more than plausible.
Jim I don’t argue that the otehr reasons are certainly plausible. I’m simply putting some information out there to try and support the alternate plausibility the kid is just not telling the truth. Almost everyone seems to accept his statement without any verification. I don’t expect anyone to just take my work for it any more than I expect someone to take Poole’s word for what he has to say. But somehow, people just automatically read his quote and assume it’s the God’s truth.
The article doesn’t verify that there was any story, it just has Poole’s words claiming to have a story that was misinterpreted. Where’s the sckepticism for what he says?
Like I said, the magazine also has several violent stories and violent artwork. Those kids aren’t in jail on terroristic threatening charges. What’s stopping the police from opening a wing for creative artist terrorists if they’re really such idiots? Or could it be that perhaps Poole is not the victim he and the media make him out to be? Just a possibility to for your consideration.
I’m a high school teacher in Tennessee. Last week I had my sociology class doing research on famous criminals (Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, etc), writing a paper and presenting to class. We also watched The Godfather. And you know, up until I read this, I thought Tennessee was backward. Thank God for Kentucky!
I’ll admit, I thought this was bullshit at first, but now that this new information has come out, I’ll just wait and see what is really going on. If he was coming up with a plan to take over the school, then he deserves what he gets, if it is just a story, then what happens happens. It could be possible he didn’t want people reading his stuff but I write stories myself, and half of the people I hang with know about them, so that’s kinda suspect. Anyway, we’ll just have to wait and see what else comes out and hopefully hear from more students from his high school besides “Icarus”. FUCK censorship!!
Here’s a link to an article by the Student Press Law Center. The SPLC advises and provides attorneys to students and student media involved in censorship and other legal issues. It confirms some of what I’ve been saying. I tried several times to post the whole article, but it wouldn’t work. I sent it to Jim, though. But here’s the link:
http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=973&year=
i just wanted to second the motion by james… FUCK censorship! and if this kid was planning to emulate the dumbasses of columbine then he should be suspect, and if there were proof of that i can understand the arrest, yet what makes the news is him being arrested over a fictional horror story….nothing about proof of his plans. if they have a PLAUSIBLE REASON to arrest him i imagine they would let it be known…
Ph3@r the zombie threat.
It is good that the usually weak police have taken a stand against the Zombie invasion.
so, if i were to write a story about evil potato beings taking over peoples bodies in order to conquer the earth, would that make me a terrorist? maybe the kid was crazy, it doesn’t much matter really, from the sound of it he’s screwed either way. but being someone who likes to write i am outraged at the idea of anyone being arrested for a story. thankfully maine doesn’t have such lunacy at the moment, but i’m seriously considering a move north if this kind of crap keeps happening. (note: this comment is in no way a threat of evil potatos against anyone)
Sad, but not surprising these days. Then again, we are talking about Kentucky.
BRRRRAAAAIIIINNNNNSSSSSS!!!!!
Icarus, you may have a point, being that Poole may have not written a zombie horror story. But I do think that the point you say about your school newsletter has “violent” stories and no student has been arrested before could be invalid. What are the settings of these other stories? Is it set in Fictiontown USA or is the setting a high school? I bet if one of those “violent anime style” stories was set in a school, then somebody will cry wolf sayng that one of the characters being beat up is based on teacher/student/principal/janitor/etc. of your school. If he wrote such a “fiction” story, he
is in trouble not because of the “zombies” but because the setting was a school.
Quote from the lex18 report:
“Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony. “Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it’s a felony in the state of Kentucky,” said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill.”
“Nature of the Story makes it a felony.” If he didn’t write a fiction… if it was really a threat, then by God, get him some help and give him his due. If he did wrote the story, then there was a huge mistake. But in the end, fiction or not, what scares me is “the nature of the story makes it a felony” statement. It sure sounds like censorship and violation of my freespeech and as a writer and future filmmaker that is a very SCARY thought.
Make me wonder if I make a movie with zombies walking inside the Oval Office… does that make me a threat to National Security?
Its a fictional story you [sweet-hearted people]. About zombies!
Really thats all I have to say about you [fellow travelers].
[Edited by site owner. Next profane comment will result in banning.]
this is a prime example of how americans live in fear. this is a direct result from our media.
Icarus, thank you for the link to the Student Press Law Center. While the new information provided by their article is valuable to those following the case, like myself, the information Principal Atkins provides isn’t a solid refutation of Poole’s assertion that the writings found were, in fact, part of a short story about zombies overrunning a high school. Rather than say “There was no writing project,” Atkins says, “The teachers aren’t aware” of a writing project. Rather than say “It was a plan,” Atkins says, “It sounded to be” a plan. Where Atkins could provide clarity, instead he muddies the waters even more.
Quite frankly, I don’t know what to think. I wrote on another blog a few days ago, “The trouble is, I find the idea of a student being arrested for writing a story about zombies to be completely credible. It sounds fantastic. It sounds impossible. And yet, in these Orwellian days it sounds all too plausible.” Poole could, in fact, be the deranged psychopath he is accused of being. But there’s enough room for reasonable doubt in this case, and that’s what troubles me most of all.
Hey, Allyn, reasonable doubt is great. I appreciate healthy skepticism, as long as Poole is given as much skepticism as everyone else. So many people just seem to be taking the kid at his word and posting their outrage towards Kentucky, the police, the grandparents and the school. Of course, I suspect that most of them won’t follow through with a retraction/apology when the full truth comes out.
I know that being on this end of things, knowing the kid and knowing things that can’t be verified through media sources, it will cause me to look more skeptically when these sorts of stories appear in the news.
I am disappointed in the coverage that channel 18 gave the story. Their first report, which came out before the one everyone has read about, indicated (in error) that Poole had listed individuals he wanted to harm in the school takeover. They have never retracted that information, but the story itself no longer appears on their website. (The list, was, in fact, a list of people he wanted to recruit to help him take over the school, not people he wanted to hurt or kill.)
As for Mr. Atkins, that’s how he typically talks.
Going Off Half-Cocked
Apparently this story has been kicking around the blogosphere for over a week, but I only noticed it today. Sad to say, I was immediately indignant. I was all set to slip on my crime-fightin’ jammies and Pontificate in Unison…
Okay, here are my thoughts;
Yes it is rediculous to have that happening. I think that it is jumping to conclusions. But the other side of me is saying; “If we had paid more attention to the kids at Columbine, alot of people’s lives could have been spared.”
another thing about the principals usage of words. in any case involving a minor (which heaven forbid i’m assuming he is) poeple are always really dodgy with the facts. like at my school, this shy, quiet kid beat a jock who would torture this kid everyday over the head with a baseball bat. And the newspaper said the kid had apparently hit the jock in the head with a baseball bat. everyone i’m talking to about the story, including all of us cynics that hate kentucky and the current monarchy within the white house, think there is much more to the story than what is being told. with my encounters with kentucky police they are usually level headed guys. now there is the occasional barney fife, but even the other cops hate them.
Since the place is called Winchester, I’m guessing the whole thing is just marketing for a re-release of ‘Shuan of the Dead’. Next week we’ll have news reports about zombies really attacking this high school. The week after that they’ll be asking us to put our faith in a drunken frat boy. Oh, wait, that’s the GOP…
It does seem curious that the police would refer to it as a story if they believe it was a plan, but then again it’s easy to misspeak in such circumstances. If thing turn out that he really was formulating a plan and recruiting people, then it should be dealt with, but not like this. Charging someone with a felony for writing something is absurd even if it is written in seriousness. At that point it is society’s job to step in and help him before he goes to far and actually comits a crime, not toss him in jail as a terrorist. Until more information is released we can’t know the truth of his situation, but no matter what it is this case, this was the wrong way to handle it.
Funny case…
The rest of the world (OK, 96% of it) isn’t surprised that Americans jump at their own shadows.
What we are amazed at is how high.
For a start, there’s gonna be some ‘plea-bargaining’ (READ: Face-saving from the police), so the kid’s gonna serve time. If he didn’t the police are going to look stupid, and as we have learned, Americans can never admit they’re wrong (Afganistan wedding parties/dipliomatic convoys, My Lai, Iraq…)
I pity this guy’s grandparents. He’ll probably forgive them after they’ve been in hell for a millenium.
Oh, yes. Loved this:
>>From my experience, EVERYONE that gets arrested claims they’re innocent. Are we going to rally to their aid as well>>
In an interview I read once, the police stated to someone that “All guilty people say they’re innocent”
Fortunately the interviewee was a bit smarter.
“Oh, really? What do innocent people say?”
-Immediate change of subject.
Time to Speak Out for Persecuted Writers… in America?
Hat tip to Allyn Gibson for bringing this to my attention. I kept this post back for a week while I thought on it and sought out more information, and I’ve decided to upload it in the hopes that it…
3 words there goes sicoety
Update from the Court Appearance.. Between Liddy and the bloggers, Winchester, KY knows it is under a world-wide microscope. I’m beginning to wonder though… Last night I found a site claiming to be from a fellow student. The fellow student expresses concern. Poole presented as being very “smug” being interviewed going in the courthouse, like he really appreciated all the attention he’d gotten - although, one of the officers escorting him seemed to be trying to stifle a smile as he was listening to Poole talk to reporters..
Lexington Channel 18 http://www.wlextv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3046416
Lexington Channel 36 http://www.wtvq.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WTVQ/MGArticle/TVQ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031781458489&path=
I see Icarus found his way here…
http://briandavidphillips.typepad.com/brian/2005/02/student_arreste.html
(Read all comments by “icarus” on Student Arrested for Writing a Short Story)
http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=973&year= Article - Student Press Law Center
God Bless the grandparents if they had to raise a thug. If he’s an artistic genious then his parents should be proud!!! Does he have parents?
BVC
hmm, icarus has been shooting(hehe) down this kid all throughout this thread. i think you have something against him. your words are quite strong and i think ill report you to the authorities.
but i do want to know why you are all gungho for arresting this kid. i doubt we will ever see the actual writings.
This is an excerpt from the story read in court: “They stood at the yard carrying bags full of weapons and tools. They yelled kill them. All of soldiers of zone two started shooting. They are dropping every one of them. After five minutes all the people were laying on the ground dead.”
While proving this kid’s future as a writer is limited, this is at least a narrative structure written in the past tense. Can the kid be arrested for writing about having over-taken a school when he has not? Can you plan to do something in the past?
This excerpt was read aloud by Detective Caudill, by the way, presumably for the prosecution.
Link for above, btw:
http://www.wtvq.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WTVQ/MGArticle/TVQ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031781458489&path=
Ok, I’ve never even seen this high school (though I drove through the town once or twice) and I don’t live in Kentucky, but I used to, and I know what it’s like. But, before I start, I’m not conservative in any sense of the word, I’m the kind of kid that has long arguements with people about why communism is infinitely better than capitalism. Anyways, this is just some info on Kentucky.
1) Kentucky police are not mean or stupid. I know a few of them. In fact, most of them are really nice guys.
2) Kentucky citizens are not idiots, and again, they tend to be really nice people.
Anyways, just throwing in my two cents. Also, maybe innocent and guilty people both say they’re innocent, but you know the guilty ones because they tend to be the ones that make up the really outrageous stories that make all the people involved sound like complete and utter idiots.
You know, like this one.
Seems to me, that some people belive in zombies, taking over a school .I�ve seen it alot of times, also I�ve seen lot�s of zombies roaming the streets, eating brains of the ppl.. PLEASE.. if the court and cops belive in Zombie stories, they should�n watch horror movies anymore. cuz then they suddenly have to bust all the movie creators too. (Troma etc etc)
Well.. guess US ain�t better then Iraq and the Saddam goverment.
I�m glad that I live in Sweden.
oh. my. *goodness*.
i read all the posts on this site, and a lot of them make sense. i am a kentucky freshman, and i am not the kind of person who ever gets furious. i’ve never been irate. but i can get pretty close when i start talking about things like censorship, gay discrimination, and how the government thinks they can enslave the land of the free. don’t get me wrong, i really don’t have any patriotism whatsoever, but i do not think those kentucky stereotypes apply to even one city as a whole. i go to a redneck school in northern kentucky, so i see this everyday. i too have better grammar than most of my teachers. english 1 is my favorite class. just clearing that info. sorry i made you read that.
anyway, last year i was punished for passing notes in class during a movie. my friend was the only one using “expletives”, but i was punished simply for joking that she should beat up a kid that didn’t like one of our favorite bands. i am on good terms with that kid, and i don’t actually care. i was so bored that i just wrote it.
this is a mild example of what happens all throughout george dubyah’s country. okay, so the poole dude is crazy. but it’s possible that he was writing this for his own self-interests. being at high school for about six years can teach you a thing called: a metaphor. maybe he just wants the school attacked, but has no means of doing so and probably never will. maybe he listens to extreme music, that promotes violence and “killing the man”. is it possible that he is venting through writing? i do so regularly.
maybe what i’m saying makes no sense, but there is my opinion. i like kentucky, but as soon as i’m famous i’m heading northwest. i’ve never been west of north dakota, and i’ve heard that the west coast will better suit my style. whatever, nevermind. too much grunge speaking.
thanks for skimming through my irrelevant post!
Leader of the NLS Brotherhood, eh? (see wtvq article, referenced above). This Poole kid, he’s either 1) a junior-version of a Tyler Durden (Fight Club), a youth with supreme organizational abilities (got everything drawn up in Zones!) and inspirational leadership, able to draw in dozens of club members with his master-maniacal plans, or … 2) an angry, lonely kid with an over-active imagination.
Another point here. If it’s a short story for a school assignment, why was it in his journal….?
In all probability, the kid is not telling the whole truth. Let’s look at it from his point of view: you’ve just been arrested on a charge of planning a terrorist act and the evidence backing up this charge is a past-tense, third-person narrative you wrote. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d be pretty panicked by this point - it’s not like he’s dealing with reasonable people here. Judging from quotes from him and the excerpt of his story read in court, this kid isn’t exactly Umberto Eco. He’s probably none too smart and has shot himself in the foot somewhat by trying to make the case seem even more irrational by lying about it. But nevertheless, the story is still a past-tense narrative about events which have not taken place which, any way you look at it, isn’t a plan to commit terrorist attrocities. Reading between the lines from both sides, this looks to me like the kid has written a fictional story about a group, maybe one he sees himself in charge of, taking over his school. Don’t think he’s the first somehow. Might be the last in Kentucky now though.
I’ve been trying to post for a while, but when I put quotes from the stories it doesn’t seem to be getting posted to the site. I sent the posts in an email to Jim, but he apparently hasn’t had a chance to update things. It appears that there are two stories in his journal which mirror other information that is not presented as fictional. In fact, these non-fiction plans include actual correspondence between Poole and individuals he wanted to recruit, as well as testimony from one of those recruited who states that he has a number of guns and thousands of dollars to support Poole’s plan to take over the school.
You may also note, if you read the full articles from the Lexington Herald-Leader (a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper based about 20 miles from Winchester) that Poole is prohibited from being around the people named in his writings — so while the stories contain no names, the plans in the journal clearly do. (According to his sister, it’s a list of 500 students, teachers and police officers.) Also, the writings have been sealed because they contain the names of minors. ONce the trial is over, a good media lawyer should be able to get the information through the Freedom of Information Act, even if they have to get a copy with the minor’s names marked out.
I hope Jim will update soon with the information that I have forwarded to him. (and I hope this posts.)
My apologies. Updating this hasn’t been forgotten, just consistently not achieved. I’ll get the information updated tomorrow one way or another.
i feel that this incident is an absolute perversion of an american’s right to freedom of speech as protected by the first amendment.
“YOU GOT TO FIGHT
FOR YOUR RIGHT
TA PAAAAARRRRRRRRRTY!!!!!!”
Has Tom Clancy been accused of the same crap as this kid? In The Sum Of All Fears a nuke is detonated on american soil! My -god who doesn’t exist-,really, americans are to blame for everyone else accusing them of stupidity. And what about the kid’s GRANDPARENTS? Jeez, even if my grandkid really resurrected an army of the undead i wouldn’t turn him in, what kind of a generation gap is there over there?
Then again this is the land of mass sacrifice for Quetzalcoatl and the rest of the Aztecs Maybe you’re just reverting to the old gods without knowing it. If you think about it, this is probably the catalyst for the zombie ressurrection…
I think it’s good his granparents turned him in. maybe he is somebody with special powers and stuff, who walks around the graveyard all night, forming an army of undead people.
Just think of it..It would be scary as hell, when you’re sitting in the classroom, your thoughts slowly wandering of, and all of a sudden the classroomdoor gets smashed into pieces and dead people come walking in…Arms straight forward, slowly moving towards you, while mumbling….Teeth start falling out of his/her mouth, you can smell rotten flesh, one arm slowly breaks off…Strange looking green stuff is leaking out of them…
Yes..The police has made the world a safer place again. All thanks to his beloved grandparents. I thin the guy wants to hug them right away..I would, I would simply LOVE my grandparents, if they would do this to me.
No seriously, does the police take themselfs serious? This is just so lame. They’ve watched to many b-horror movies, that must be it…
Once again, I lost a bit of trust in the police. Great job guys, great job….
looks like the only (braindead) zombies here are the prosecuters.
Greetingz from Holland
Sounds like Goose Bumps, The Far Side, Rhen and Skippy, South Park and the Simpson are all threats to society. The author of Goose Bumps wanted to be a horror writer but, wasn’t good enough. Maybe this kids has a future in humor.
Holy cow, I have never seen 100 comments on a zerointelligence post before. This post will be number 98.
This story has struck a lot of chords, it seems.
If anyone can give me an email address for this young man I’ll gladly pay $100 for a signed copy. That will help with his bail and make him a legitimate fiction author. Since he wrote it, he owns the copyright, it’s his to sell copies of.
Dave Kessinger
Take a look at this Ok. case.
http://www.savebrian.org
Sounds scary eh?
In the above case, where is this child’s Parents?
In trying to help him, I think Grandma and Grandpa, have just fell into a nightmare.
Even if he does need help, he will not receive it this way. Please read the judges comment in Brians case.
I hope these cops get eaten by a zombie…
Apparently some Kentucky pigs^H^H^Holice have been watching a little too much Dawn of the Dead because it would seem they understand that in real life, zombies don’t exist. A high school student wrote a short story about zombies attacking a…
I find it interesting that you left outthe quotes about the testimony from individuals that Poole had already recruited — testimony from the individual in Barbourville (Zone One)about having a number of guns and money for use in Poole’s plans. And since Poole’s writings (and not all of them are fiction — you also didn’t include the updated information that stated there were seven documents taken — the journal was only one of the seven and other documents include correspondence with individuals Poole had recruited) — indicate that “Zone Two” is Clark County, Kentucky, Poole doesn’t have to NAME a high school — there is only one high school in the whole county. By saying a high school in Clark County, you’ve identified the one and only option, even if it isn’t by name.
Jim, I’m sorry, but I do believe that the clips you posted were chosen only to support Poole’s side of the story. You made no reference at all to the other details that explain exactly why this is an issue. For God’s sake — Poole’s buddy in Barbourville has already procured guns — about 50 of them — and has several thousand dollars ready to spend on additional weapons and ammunition (and testified to this fact, which is mentioned in the article but you chose to omit that information) and you’re acting like Poole is just a bad writer.
Big Brother Loves You.
Icarus, Some schools ban sunscreen and suspend 8 year olds for drawing pictures of their fathers in uniform. While most people would love to believe education has improved in the US and our administrators are wise; there is not a shred of evidence that is the case. People are weary of fear mongering and the complete joke that better goverment control can fix it (like the homeless person who took out the subway line in NYC shrewdly outwitted homeland security).
Liberals, conservative and people of every ilk are agreeing these days, we need a good reason to distrust our neighbor. I just haven’t found it here.
SWP, what I’m saying is that the sections of the articles that Jim posted in the update didn’t include the information that makes it clear that POole had already recruited some people and was stockpiling weapons and money to purchase more weapons and ammunition in order to take over the school. That’s a far cry from just writing an innocent story. Go read the full articles from the hearing instead of just the clips Jim posted.
Even some of the reporters who first jumped to the conclusion have read the full reports and started to apologize for jumping to conclusions that it was a First Amendment issue instead of a potential violent action.
What I’ve since learned is that the reason Poole was in Clark County to begin with was that he had already been kicked out of a nearby Powell County High School for planning the same sort of thing. He was a minor then, so it didn’t make the media. Clearly, just moving him to a new school and hoping that he wouldn’t become violent wasn’t enough.
This whole Columbine School Shootings and the “War Against Terrorism” panic stuff has gone way out of hand. This is ridiculous! What happened to the Freedom of Speech these days? Thank god I graduated from public high school before Bush becoming President and 911 because treating innocent people like criminals is wrong. And how can a written story about zombies invading a high school make you a Terrorist? People these days make me sick and the media and it’s stupid followers make me sick! I wish people will just grow up!
Icarus, I’ve tried but none of these articles give a full picture. If there were weapons and conspiracies associated with these stories, why was the arrest for the story? The hype around some comments are self-evident, like the the time from a posted camera to another location. Isn’t it odd that serial killers are often people who meld into society and give no hint of their intentions. Adolescent violence tends to be on the surface, it’s a place adult society can speak to. Instead of addressing the problems kids are having we are arresting kids for having problems.
Poole has some kind of problem with his family. Do you know what happened to his parents? His grandparents are concerned. I take that very seriously. But, why arrest him for the story. If the family wants help, this isn’t it. The grandparents don’t want him to go to jail, probably they expected support instead of an arrest. Too often the help kids are getting is draconian and abusive. So, I don’t think we can afford to champion Poole as a good reason to arrest someone for a story.
I don’t know if we will ever hear the real story, what the family, Poole or his friends really think. There is no doubt the education system is decaying; arresting the kids who are locked in it will not help.
Interesting you should blame Bush. Zero tolerance policies started in full force because of a law Clinton signed in the mid 90’s. That law mandated that any school system that received federal funding (all public schools) must have a zero tolerance policy against guns. The rest of the garbage spread from there.
Icarus, I didn’t mention those items for two reasons. The first, a poor reason, was that I was incredibly incensed when I finally managed to read those articles. The second is they all appear to be ad hominem attacks.
Poole was not stockpiling anything. You are refering to the letter from an anonymous guy from another town claiming he was robbing houses, had 50 guns and thousands of dollars for the cause. Didn’t that strike you as somewhat fanciful and totally out of place? Almost consistant with the over-the-top lousy fiction writing of Poole himself, I thought. It also did not tie in with the “school plot” at all. Remember that this information is coming from the people who are trying to tie this all into a plot and they didn’t connect dots here.
The police “believe” that Zone Two is Clark County. The have to “believe” that in order for the school plot idea to work. Poole did not name this, the police did.
The other documents that were seized were not described or quoted. It is normal police procedure to seize anything that the warrant permits in order to evaluate them later. The fact that multiple documents were seized is meaningless.
At this point I have no doubts whatsoever that this is a case of a whole lot of ado about nothing.
Well, I live here hear what his family members say and I have no doubt whatsoever that Poole would have come into school with those guns and killed a lot of people. I hear his family members say that he did the same thing a couple of years ago in a nearby town and was expelled which is why he’s in Clark County in the first place. I hear them say that they are scared of him, which is certainly proven out by the fact that he’s still in jail because they have chosen not to bail him out. I hear them talk about how smug he is about all of his media and Internet attention. I hear students that he tried to recruit on the local news (the same station that posted the story that started the frenzy, but oddly, they haven’t posted THAT interview to their site — nor have the posted their initial story, which aired before the Poole interview and stated that the police had confiscated a hit list. Of course, they seem to be playing two separate stroies to local and national media.)
This incident has cause me to look differently at this sort of story and to be highly skeptical of anything like this that I read anywhere.
Too bad we can’t just make everyone hapy by moving Poole to your community. Then people in Clark County could feel safe and everyone who feels sorry for him because he’s such an oppressed writer can be his targets.
Icarus, I want to make your words credible because I believe you are sincere and civil. Isn’t it strange the same media that I view as convicting Poole you view as defending him. Our reasons are the same, the media is dehumanizing the situation.
There is a credibility problem with the fact he’s been expelled from another school; that’s a common method of tyrannizing families; the schools do that anytime a new program pops up they want to fund. He’s being accused of plotting a mass murder which is a good deal different than giving authorities a hard time. We don’t know if his grandparents are just another extention of authority, but we do know he has never committed a mass murder. Why did you say his grandparents are trying to keep him out of jail if they refused to bail him out because they are scared of him. He’s managed to discredit every piece of authority in his life by writing comedy; of course he’s smug. It sure isn’t the success story I think he needs.
The compelling reason to defend Poole is education, public and private, has lost credibility. The public believes education is an anti-parent, anti-family, anti-childhood tryanny that has no conection to academia and operates as greedy fifedoms for incompetent power mongers. While every industry in the US has nearly collasped in the last 10 years, education rocks.
Every thing I read indicates this kid has made a mockery of a system that is a mockery of academia. We are both distracted from the complex lives of people and quick to buy a media blitz of soundbite solutions. If society has ‘intervened in time’ it should work to this kid’s benefit not his complete social annihilation. He also doesn’t deserve to be a hero, the poor quality of his writing indicates he’s been deprived of an education.