Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Once Again, Not In MA

PISSED (and commenter JoeMerchant) sent another article along with the apparent purpose of raising my blood pressure...

Christmas Sweater Club Punished At Local High School

HAYMARKET, Va. (WUSA) -- They call themselves the "Christmas Sweater Club" because they wear the craziest ones they can find. They also sing Christmas songs at school and try their best to spread Christmas cheer.

Now all 10 of them are in trouble because of what they did at their school.

"They said, 'maliciously maim students with the intent to injure.' And I don't think any of us here intentionally meant to injure anyone, or did," said Zakk Rhine, a junior at Battlefield High School.

What did they do, you ask? Did they assault students with snowballs? Pelt folks with rocks? Engage in a food fight? Not even close:
The boys say they were just tossing small two-inch candy canes to fellow students as they entered school. The ones in plastic wrap that are so small they often break apart.
This is malicious maiming in VA. Tossing a 2" candy cane to other students is now the equivalent of heaving a brick at someone in bIzARro overreaction world. But wait, it gets better...
Skylar Torbett, also a junior, said administrators told him, "They said the candy canes are weapons because you can sharpen them with your mouth and stab people with them." He said neither he nor any of their friend did that.
Yes. Apparently there's a real problem with sucrose shivs in the Haymarket, VA school system...

Now, a lot of this is he-said, they said; you have a group of students making claims about administration - there's a lot of room for exaggeration on that side, to be certain. I guess the saddest part of this whole story is that it's possible that something like this could even happen; that we've gone so far down the PC hole that it's not outside the realm of possibility that someone could get in trouble for handing out candy canes the week before Christmas.

If everything is true as written, I hope Santa has his reindeer shit down the chimney of the administrator(s) responsible...

That is all.

8 comments:

Veeshir said...

I bet a dollar I know the deal.

Haymarket is out 66 from DC.

Even 20 years ago it was pretty rednecky. I used to know a guy from there and we would go up a mountain partying.

With real estate going through the roof, the suburbs of DC have moved outward.

So this is probably a classic clash of cultures between rednecks who think this is good fun and the new crowd of yuppie assholes who call the cops on New Year's Eve when everybody starts shooting their guns.

Borepatch said...

The problem for the administration is the same problem the TSA has. There's been so much idiocy that people are now inclined to believe anything.

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

In defense of my state, as Veeshir has noted Haymarket is only about 35 miles from DC and about an hour's drive (depending on traffic). It's not so much part of VA as it is a distant suburb of DC. It looks like the nanny-state bureaucrats have it just like the other DC suburbs.

SpeakerTweaker said...

If everything is true as written, I hope Santa has his reindeer shit down the chimney of the administrator(s) responsible...

With any luck, Santa will have just come from South Texas, right after letting Rudolph and the boys stop for Mexican food;)



tweaker

lelnet said...

Somebody's been watching WAY too much "Oz" for a school administrator.

ravenshrike said...

*blink*

"Maliciously maim with intent to injure"

Alright, if that was the actual language used by the faculty someone needs to go back to remedial English. You cannot maim someone without injuring them. You can injure them without maiming them however. Thus, either they actually said maliciously injure with intent to maim or are idiots who shouldn't be anywhere near a teaching job in school.

skidmark said...

From the Code of Virginia:
§ 18.2-41. Shooting, stabbing, etc., with intent to maim, kill, etc., by mob.

Any and every person composing a mob which shall maliciously or unlawfully shoot, stab, cut or wound any person, or by any means cause him bodily injury with intent to maim, disable, disfigure or kill him, shall be guilty of a Class 3 felony.

(Code 1950, § 18.1-30; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15.)
###
§ 18.2-51. Shooting, stabbing, etc., with intent to maim, kill, etc.

If any person maliciously shoot, stab, cut, or wound any person or by any means cause him bodily injury, with the intent to maim, disfigure, disable, or kill, he shall, except where it is otherwise provided, be guilty of a Class 3 felony. If such act be done unlawfully but not maliciously, with the intent aforesaid, the offender shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony.

(Code 1950, § 18.1-65; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15.)
###
§ 18.2-51.2. Aggravated malicious wounding; penalty.

A. If any person maliciously shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds any other person, or by any means causes bodily injury, with the intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill, he shall be guilty of a Class 2 felony if the victim is thereby severely injured and is caused to suffer permanent and significant physical impairment.

B. If any person maliciously shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds any other woman who is pregnant, or by any other means causes bodily injury, with the intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill the pregnant woman or to cause the involuntary termination of her pregnancy, he shall be guilty of a Class 2 felony if the victim is thereby severely injured and is caused to suffer permanent and significant physical impairment.

C. For purposes of this section, the involuntary termination of a woman's pregnancy shall be deemed a severe injury and a permanent and significant physical impairment.

(1986, c. 460; 1991, c. 670; 1997, c. 709.)
###
§ 18.2-54. Conviction of lesser offenses under certain indictments.

On any indictment for maliciously shooting, stabbing, cutting or wounding a person or by any means causing him bodily injury, with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill him, or of causing bodily injury by means of any acid, lye or other caustic substance or agent, the jury or the court trying the case without a jury may find the accused not guilty of the offense charged but guilty of unlawfully doing such act with the intent aforesaid, or of assault and battery if the evidence warrants.

(Code 1950, § 19.1-251; 1960, c. 366; 1975, cc. 14, 15.)
###
Someone forgot to take their meds that morning. Now there are some good reasons not to throw candy canes at people, but one of those reasons is not because it rises to the level of "maiming". Note 18.2-54 leaves one open to Assault & Battery.

stay safe.

WV = toren: the level of comments about the stupidity of the school officials and the local law (cops, magistrates, etc.) who decided to criminalize Xmas spirit.

JB Miller said...

I live about 5 miles from that school.

This is a case of atheist hippies punishing over zealous, Glee kids, in obnoxious Christmas sweaters, that were singing, and tossing candy little canes, Mardi gras, style.

I expect some were tossed a bit too zealously, resulting in massive over reactions.

Sheesh.