Hey guys, Quint here with some more info on the story below... A few people in talkback and one person, in no less than 6 different emails, have chastised me for posting this story because obviously this kid (notice I didn't say legal minor, but kid... which is what he is) must be locked up because he is scary and a threat to his school. Below you'll find the original story I posted with the kid's side of the story and below that you'll find the updated information, which has official statements by the police involved in the case.
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I'm sorry, this isn't movie news or anything even close to being cool. This might stray a bit into some angry political debates below, but I find it hard to believe even the most radical of conservatives can honestly look at a piece of fiction written by a kid, a school assignment no less, and say that warrants him being arrested for terrorist threats. Really, where is the line going to be drawn? His story was about zombies overtaking a school and that was construed as a serious threat made against the school, ignoring the fact that no one in the story is a real person and the school is different. This guy's soon to go on trial for a felony offense and it makes me sick, personally. What's next? Stephen King better watch out because he's murdered thousands of fake people and, like King did in THE STAND, Tom Clancy has set off fake nukes on fake American soil... if that's not a terrorist threat, I don't know what is.
Am I the only one pissed off by this? If you agree that this is just and right, please let me know what I'm overlooking in the talkback below. To me this is so amazingly unAmerican... I can't believe something like this is happening in my country. Here's the full story:
Hey Harry, this isn't cool...it's kind of the antithesis of cool. But it's the kind of thing that a lot of people need to know about. We're crossing the line and now I think our freedom is really at stake.
CLARK COUNTY
Student Arrested For Terroristic Threatening Says Incident A Misunderstanding
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 context.
Winchester police say William Poole, 18, was taken into custody Tuesday morning. Investigators say they discovered materials at Poole's home that outline possible acts of violence aimed at students, teachers, and police.
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.
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."
On Thursday, a judge raised Poole's bond from one to five thousand dollars after prosecutors requested it, citing the seriousness of the charge.
Poole is being held at the Clark County Detention Center.
Here's the original link:
Click it here for that link
Gnasher
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Now for the new stuff. One of my most beloved talkback friends sent me this kind, thoughtful and informative email pointing at another view of the case:
CLICK IT HERE FOR POLICE TALK
There was NO school assignment. There was NO zombies. There was NO short story, just notes and plans. You better correct your error, you MORON.
Click on that link and come on back...
Okay, so you read it... Now, so you'll know my stance on things, here's my response to my buddy:
You might want to actually read what you send me before calling me the moron.
"It did not mention [Clark High School or school officials] specifically but it did mention 'the high school,' and how many teachers were there and how long it would take the police to arrive once they received an emergency call," Atkins said. "It implied very strongly that it was referring to this school."
Atkins said law enforcement agents showed him the writings, which resembled "notes and a plan. ... It sounded to be kind of an advertisement or recruiting to meet a goal, and a goal was stated which was very negative about the school."
Once again, no specific mention of anybody (unlike the Columbine kids who everyone seems to want to make this guy out to be) or a specific school. They didn't say if the police respond time was accurate and if it was... I remember there were cops and ambulance people and firemen that came to my school and told us what the respond time was in a way to make sure if there was any fire we'd know how important it was to get out of the building. [It could also be seen as research for the story.]
And "The word 'zombies' was not mentioned in the writings." doesn't mean anything. George Romero didn't use the word zombie in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, does that mean it wasn't about zombies?
And "resembled notes and a plan" could be said about any fictional story. I'm reminded of a story by Stephen King [written under Richard Bachman] (from the '80s) called Rage about a student that takes a gun to school and holds his class hostage. That [story] could definitely be looked as a plan.
Ultimately, we won't know the whole story until they publish this kid's writings, but I can say that nothing you sent me makes me think any different, especially with your dickhead attitude about it... I was sure you had something that was going to blow the story out of the water instead of just a base defense about why they arrested some kid for writing a fictional story.
I personally don't think there's much harm in watching the kid if they were really scared, but trying to convict him of a felony... for writing a story... really? Unless they find bomb material, guns or a checklist of real people with their class schedules then I think they were jumping the gun.
Thanks for reading.
-Quint
I have some more links for you, from my good friend, of course, to read for more of the authority's angle... Once again, he addressed his side with great restraint and intelligence. Here's his scoop:
Allow me to spoonfeed you, since the big Hollywood reporter can't be
bothered to spend 5 seconds on Google to see that the rant he posted was
BULLSHIT.
THIS IS THE ONE YOU'VE ALREADY READ
Here's more about the kid having no gang, but 'trying to organize one' with his writings!
Read this one for more about the lack of 'direct threats' to anybody!
Read all those, and THEN tell me you don't think the kid was lying. The school says there was no assignment. The grandparents believed he was trying to start a gang, as well as the police they showed it to, the school officials, the prosecuting attorney, and a judge. The kid was writing recruitment shit for an armed takeover of the school. But I'm SURE the kid was telling the truth, right? You're out there with your article giving thousands of people the idea that Big Brother is cracking down on thoughtcrime in Kentucky, when the reality is that some disturbed kid wrote plans about taking over "the high school," got caught by his grandparents, and turned in. You should be fucking ashamed of yourself for misleading so many people because you didn't bother to do ANY checking. Like everyone else, against all logic, you believed the teenage kid was telling the truth, as opposed to the entire fucking police force, his grandparents, the school officials, a prosecutor, and a judge. You, sir, are a moron.
--WR
My response to this email once again sums up what I think of this new information, so I'll post that below:
Once again I wish you'd actually read what you're sending me... not just read it, but comprehend it as well. I'm not ruling out that what the cops are saying is true, but I'm also not ruling out what the kid is saying. That's kind of how you find out the middle ground. So far of everything you've sent me the only thing that directly contradicts what the kid said was that he had written it for an English assignment... I'd like to hear whether or not the kid had a weekly creative writing paper he had to turn in that wouldn't be considered a direct assignment, but a weekly thing the faculty might not have taken into account when denying that the story was a specific assignment. [I say this only because I had a creative writing essay due every Friday in my AP English class in high school and my teacher didn't look at it as a constant assignment].
When you accuse me of WANTING the kid to be telling the truth, I guess I can accuse you of WANTING the kid to be lying. I think it's just as reasonable to expect the kid is lying to cover his ass as it is to expect the cops are trying to paint it as something bigger to cover their own.
But barring all that... if the cops are 100% not lying and the kid 100% is lying, they still say HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING YET. He has no gang. He has no weapon of any destruction. The cops have said that. Right now he is arrested for things he "might do... sometime later."
For a felony offense that's pretty thin. If it were just a case of the cops erring on the side of safety, then I might not be so upset about this, but with all the press it had (before I posted the story) there was massive attention. Jobs are now on the line, so if the kid really is innocent (which is a view you should have if you really consider yourself an American... innocent until proven guilty, remember? Or do you want to just keep on cherry picking the stuff you like out of our freedoms? Then keep doing so) [then it's not so easy to say, "Oops, we made a mistake."]
This'll be my last response to you. You obviously want to be right so bad, even if the facts you present don't hold up your arguments, there's nothing I can say that'll change your mind. If you want to keep up your tirade in talkback, feel free. All the facts will be known as this progresses. If I am wrong in being sympathetic to this boy I will admit it. But so far you haven't shown me anything that makes me regret posting the story.
Thanks for reading.
-Quint
