Student Arrested For Terroristic Threatening Says Incident A Misunderstand

[MrPrax]

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.
...
"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."
...
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.

http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=2989614&nav=EQlpWjof

[Trillo]

1. Hope he finds a good attorney. The future of the 1st amendment

looks rather ill.

Perhaps the bible should be banned as inciting terrorist acts. Of course, it's hard to arrest authors who lived 2k years ago, but there are certainly plenty of modern-day disseminators.

[Benhurst]

2. Obviously a very dangerous individual. I've seen Night of the

Living Dead, not once, but twice.

Anyone who would let loose the Zombie menace upon an unsuspecting American public should be locked away for life. If left to his own devices, Poole might develop into god knows what -- maybe even another Stephen King.

[Runcible Spoon]

4. ughh one Stephen King is enough!

maybe another Poe, Lovecraft, or even Clive Barker would do!

[Benhurst]

5. He's not one of my favorite writers -- but he is a good,

liberal Democrat, as is his wife.

[Runcible Spoon]

3. this shit is getting out of hand!

pretty soon kids will have no creative outlet...working through intense emotions through artistic ventures is a very important part of growing up and dealing with adolescence...I can remember some really colorful violent stories I wrote for creative writing classes in high school... just thinking how I could be in jail instead of graduate school for expressing myself blows my mind!

[IndianaGreen]

6. There you have it! Al-Qaeda zombies!

Welcome to the police state. Next time they'll come after you for what you didn't do: put up a picture of Bush in your cube.

[jdots]

7. When we outlaw them lawyers

we can git right into witch burning and burning all them books,that ain't the Holy Bible .

[Runcible Spoon]

8. I've got one more comment on this....

you would think that this would just be "Columbine fallout" but after the initial backlash against "trench coat mafia" type kids it quieted down for a while...this trend is definitely the result of *'s Puritanical whitewashing and fear mongering of the US citizenry, especially some of the most vulnerable: quirky adolescents in the educational system who refuse/cannot toe the status quo line and learn what it takes to be a good little brownshirt repubs

[rodeodance]

9. I think this kid is in deep trouble for a fiction book!! what is this

USA coming to!!

[leQ]

28. BINGO! give that guy (that girl) a cigar!

i couldn't have said it better myself.

[silverweb]

10. I've got one question.

"Investigators say they discovered materials at Poole's home...."

What were investigators doing searching his belongings at home? Did they have some kind of "probable cause" or "anonymous tip" that led them to conduct that search? Nothing about that is mentioned in the article and I would consider it a crucial bit of information.

[RoyGBiv]

11. You expect journalism?

From a news organization that coins a word like "terroristic"? Sheesh!

:-)

[silverweb]

21. *lol*

Good point.

:D

[stepnw1f]

24. Is 'Terroristic' Even A Word?

Who is this Hack? It seems the Right-Wing has its dirty fingers everywhere. My God these people are really pissing me off!

[RoyGBiv]

27. I guess it is now ...

If Big Brother says so, it must be.

It just comes across as so clunky. The word "terrorist" is both an adjective and a noun. We don't need the extra sylable.

[Trillo]

29. "Terrorist threatening" might mean

the boy threatened a terrorist. Thus, it's less clear with fewer syllables.

Merriam Webster's Random House Unabridged 3.0 says "terroristic" is the adjective, and "terrorist" is the noun.

Sometimes those little abridged dictionaries will skew your understanding.

[RoyGBiv]

31. I don't use an abridged dictionary...

Now go try to find "terroristic" in Oxford's unabridged in an edition prior to, oh, 1990. It may be there. I don't know because my house isn't big enough to hold the entire set. Regardless, I doubt it would be notated as being in common usage. The word "terrorist" is, by itself, a perfectly good adjective.

Regardless, I know it can be a word because it meets the standard qualifications of how English words are put together. I also know that journalists in particular are sloppy about how they use words because they're lazy about how they string them together when they are wanting to make sure a certain kind of word is used. This headline would not pass a journalism 101 course.

The phrase "terroristic threatening" is absurd in and of itself. Is it any different than "terrorist threat" in meaning? Why did the author of the headline have to turn "threat" into a gerund? That is what would make "terrorist threatening" unclear. The solution used was a poor one.

[Trillo]

32. OT: You're in Luck!

I happen to have one of those, too, but it's so quiant, being real paper and all! 28th printing, 1989. Photo-reduced with print so small that with aging eyes I practically need a microscope to read it. Did I mention it's unabridged?

"Terroristic" and "terroristical" are attributive adjectives. Not annotated as obs.

edited to add:
What dictionary were you using?

[stepnw1f]

30. Over Exaggerated and Yes, Clunky

My God, I cringed once I saw that. I don't believe I'm being harsh.

The interesting part is I keep noticing this exaggerated attempt to twist the english language by the Right-Wing. It's as if they took lessons in painting, bought all the 'best' art supplies and then framed the piece of shit to hang on their own wall.

Apparently the author thought just as highly of his her own grammar, no?

[Lars39]

13. His grandparents found the story in his journal

and turned it into police.

[Undercover Owl]

15. what happened to communication?

I wonder if the grandparents tried talking to the kid first, before getting police involved. Maybe the grandparents have a few loose screws.

[Lars39]

18. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? eom

[celestia671]

17. His own grandparents?

Five bucks says they're regular viewers of FOX!

[Lars39]

20. You're probably right.

Poor kid. Makes you wonder how he's been treated, what the dynamics are in the family.

[Trillo]

22. That'd be some mighty powerful psyche-altering experience:

having to sit in jail without the support of one's school or parents, even if he's later found innocent.

We are watching a potential life-long personal punishment unroll before our eyes.

What's not known is whether he'll be found innocent, whether he'll have competent counsel, which will likely be a harried public defender since he doesn't appear to have familial support, or whether the court will rubber stamp or stop the continuing punishment of the authority figures in his life.

If he is found innocent, I hope the investigator's insurance company will pay for lifelong psychological treatment for the youth. Likely that'll require a separate civil action. Not likely to happen, unless he's very lucky.

[silverweb]

25. Thanks, I missed that.

I hope the grandparents weren't just being nosey snoops. Maybe the kid had other problems that led them to check his room out? Maybe there's a history of dangerous or suspicious behaviors? I hope. In that case, I'd say they were justified, although I'd wish that they'd talked to the kid before calling the cops.

If they had no good reason for reading his journal, they're just damned snoops.

[RoyGBiv]

26. Gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling ...

I just love to see family values in action.

Concerned about your child/grandchild? Practice family values and call the police immediately. After all, total strangers are certainly more qualified to address these issues.

</sarcasm>

At times I think I may go too far in comparing the current state of US society to 1930's Germany. And then something like this comes to my attention.

Enemies of the state must be turned in to authorities. Spy on your neighbor. Spy on your wives and husbands and brothers and sisters and children. Inform the Department of Homeland Security! Keep America Safe for Freedom!

Sieg Heil.

[trudyco]

12. Very wierd - what did he say to give the cops a warrant??

It seems to me he said something threatening to somebody in the school and they used that to get a warrant to search his house? Better have been something serious. Either that or this is a set up.

Seems like we are getting a lot of knocking at our free speech door, lately, no? Sponge bob, Churchill, an art show in Lakewood CO, this kid.

I sure hope the SAIC theft and Choicepoint and now Bank of America thefts are ex-CIA on our side. It seems like they are testing how far people will give up free speech in the name of safety. If it isn't to the Neocons liking I bet they whip up another terrorist attack to get us to give some more up. Rats. I've become so cynical.

[shance]

14. Wow. That is insanity. That poor boy Hes probably scared to death.

Has anyone seen our country lately?

I could have sworn it was around here somewhere.

[dave123williams]

16. The judge sounds like a fucking retard.

[BiggJawn]

19. Just like the Prosecutor....

Request the bail be raised because of the "seriouisness" of the offense...

Wonder if they found a black trench coat in his closet?

I'll bet his grandparents listen to Dobson and Rush, and watch Paul and Jan.

[Lars39]

23. This might be a heads up for writers in that state:

from the article (bolding is mine):

<snip>
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<snip>

----------------------------------------------

So, if I'm reading this right, you better darn well not write anything
about a violent situation happening at a school.

[atommom]

36. "Possess matter involving a school or function"???

That's ridiculous. Think of all the Buffy the Vampire Slayer scripts that could never have been written under that law....

[alarimer]

33. This is bullshit

How is writing a short story a FELONY????? What the hell is happening to this country????

[0rganism]

34. How about a whole nation overrun by zombies? Extended metaphor time

I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm living in one of those low-budget flicks, where the government is infiltrated by ruthless aliens and half of my fellow citizens are already replaced by robots or pod-grown clones.

William Poole might just have material for the next Soylent Green or Brave New World on his hands. Keep on writin', Bill! -- but maybe not in Kentucky.

[northzax]

35. stop making terroristic threats, damn you

[rucky]

37. It may have started as fiction...

but it ended as nonfiction.

The high school was overrun by zombies.

[Moderator]

38. kick to combine threads

[ckramer]

39. Student Arrested For Terroristic Threatening Says Incident A Misunderstand

"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.

lex18.com

[mike_c]

40. can you say "police state...?"

Unbelievable, but all too believable.

[LoZoccolo]

41. And it's a good thing they caught him too.

He had all these zombies living in his basement, just waiting for the perfect time to unleash them on the school