Amber “The Butter-Knife Killah” Dauge
A South Carolina high school freshman has been expelled from school for possession of a butter knife.
“I know I made a really stupid decision, but I don’t think I should be expelled for it,” Amber told WCIV-TV, the ABC affiliate in Charleston
Amber was immediately suspended for five days, pending an expulsion hearing that officials say was mandatory under by the school’s “zero tolerance” policy toward weapons or potential weapons.
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31. Well I have experienced this. Call it a airport blacklist or terrorists watch list, or whatever you want to call it. But I am on it, for complaining a litle too loudly at an airport ticket counter. Since that day, I get the “special treatment” each and every time I fly. Because I have gone into detail in the past, I wont go into it again. You can search it on this blog if you know how. Just know that I was in the right in my complaint.
its sad what we are becomming
Why is DU so obsessed with this topic? Yes, it’s a stupid policy but discussing it here is not getting anything done about it. I agree with all the posters who point out that zero tolerance has replaced common sense but you must also remember this is what the people have asked for. It’s a stupid solution and probably does very little to prevent tragic school shootings, etc. but after every school shooting/stabbing people clamor for those in power to “do something” and this is what the people seem satisfied with, at least until an incident such as this. You can’t have it both ways.
I’m curious, when something like this happens, what if the parents went to the principal and said we are pulling our child out of your school? Wouldn’t the loss of money for the school be an incentive here?
“potential weapons”
Can someone clarify THIS, or at least make fun of it and paper cuts??
anyone know what a 20 pound Book bag can DO to another person??
HOW about a Good Boot?
How about the zipper on Boys pants??
That COULD REALLY HURT…
Velcro?? NOPE, those hairs do LIKE to stay in 1 place..
NOW I know WHY there is a collage course in HOME EC…they dont think kinds can handle a Pot, or making cookies… anyone for Brownies?? Ow, OW, HOT…BURN…Im going to SUE…
#31,
Yes, I can rebut your argument. Unfortunately, I have class in a few minutes, so you will have to wait.
#35 – What we are becoming? Or what “they” are turning us into?
I know… It’s a fine line…
I’m much w/ Pmitchell here – the undermining of civil liberties by Bush & Co. is a very serious thing indeed, yet in a way this is even worse.
At least we still have people who can strenuously and literately object to the encroachment of the police state, since they understand what living in free America is like – or used to be like, anyway.
But what makes this bullshit in the schools a far more dire harbinger of a bleak future is the fact of it being in the schools. For every one teen who recognizes the ridiculous curbs on traditional American values, there’s at least two sheeple-to-be who will accept the loss of freedom as a given. When they join the adult world, they’ll be the supporters of the new Fascist regime. And there goes America down the toilet.
The police-staters have learned a valuable lesson from the religious powers-that-be – catch ’em when they’re young, brainwash ’em and they’re yours forever. 🙁
getting kicked out of a govt. school may prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to her.
These are my favorite stories here
on “Overreaction Uncensored”. All the
“‘bertarians” (how come there’s no “ernietarians”?)
come out of the cracks in the pot and practice
their patented Reductio ad absurdum.
You want to know what happened, what REALLY happened?
The kid made a mistake and the officials overreacted.
It happened in ancient Greece, it happened in the
British Empire, it happened amongst Native American
tribes, it happened in Nazi (Godwin be priased!) Germany,
it happens in China, Sweden, here, etc. It has absolutely
nothing to do with Amendments, Constitutions, Founding Fathers,
etc. It happens because we are a flawed species with a
Rube Goldberg socialization process. It happens because nobody and nothing is perfect. In fact, butter knife falling on the floor
after a week in a locker in a school with small tolerance for
knives anywhere makes the kid sound more retarded than
the adults.
I got suspended from school for filling a water ballon full of ketchup. The police we’re called and I was charged with attempted aggrivated assult with a weapon. The acid in the ketchup was considered a weapon.
Prank traken to far, hind-sight says yes. Did I deserve to be charged with a Felony. HELL NO. I was a kid with a water balloon.
As more and more people live in fear, the fear takes over. We then allow the Leaders more power because we feel as if we have NO power. It seems as if the only rights we have anymore are the Miranda Rights.
Well if they don’t suspend this girl, then the next time they suspend some black kid, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will show up and claim this is another Selma. I’m not kidding. They just did exactly that at a school in Mississippi claiming some black kids were mistreated.
In a far time ago (over 20 years) In a State in the south (far, far away )the vice-principal of the local high school and students used to compare deer rifles, bows and arrows during hunting season in the parking lot of the local high school and sometimes went hunting together….I believe the school actually had an archery team then also…..
When I was in 9th grade, the school banned halter tops for all girls at the school…. 3 days later ( Sorry, we didn’t have internet back then) better than half the guys in the school arrived in class with halter tops on ( most donated by our girlfriends). … 3 days later the ban was lifted.
Every kid in this school needs to show up with a butter knife tomorrow… lets see how they deal with that.
I have been stabbed with a pencil before. I think thats a lot more dangerous than a butter knife….
considering that some high-security prisoners make mini-spears out of paper and launch them with cloth hard enough to pierce metal…
#44 “filling a water ballon full of ketchup” LOL!
I like your style Johnny! wish I would have thought of that!
#35, Ben Franske, Why is DU so obsessed with this topic?
I’ll award the prestigious BRDDA for the 1st correct answer. Eds. ineligible.
So it’s ok to bring a fork to school?
RBG
But NOT a Titanium Spork!
J/P=?
#28 PMitchell
you are correct sir, your right to commit slow-paced suicide by the use of tobacco or by eating foods fried in artery-clogging trans fat has been curtailed, as has your right to become an excellent organ donor by not using your seatbelt.
however, the key right that bush and his neo-con cohorts are taking away is your not just your right, but your ability to protest your innocence.
if you don’t see the problem with that then please consider this: you know that the intelligence community missed 9/11 and was wrong about iraqi wmd, so surely you don’t trust them to be infallible in every single case, do you? you can’t have it both ways.
fact is, people mistakenly accused of terrorist activity have their lives destroyed and their bodies tortured and/or incarcerated for many years. not exactly a real comparison to being told it’s illegal to eat garbage or puff toxic fumes, or elect to be ejected from your car in an accident..
but hey, you keep telling yourself that it is — by the way, being a registered republican won’t help you if your name gets put on the list.
and as for common sense in school — quit kidding yourself, it never existed.
Ok, so is it the fault of the peace loving “weapon free zone” liberals, or the all controlling overzealous conservatives?
My opinion? It’s the fault of a completely non-thinking bueaucracy. The same one that usually throws logic out the window.
52 you don’t get what I am saying
I actually don’t smoke at all( watched my uncle die from it ) I do eat french fries and I always wear my seat belt (I drive in excess of 50k miles a year ) but those are my choices. I did them before the nanny state decided that my personal rights were out weighed by their supposed intent . Now in many states the foundation of our constitution is being overruled by the nanny state because of our supposed safety ( red light cameras and the presumed guilty from a camera photograph of the license plate of your car) you have to prove you were not driving, they don’t have to prove you were and if that is not enough you have to give up who was driving if you want out of the ticket
My statement is that these are the rights we are loosing every day and people like you think it is just fine ,IT IS NOT! The supposed fascist state you claim Bush is creating is happening all around you and it is not Bush but your local Govts that are moving inch by inch to fascism
You claim ( with out a single example ) the govt taking away peoples life and torturing people.Show me a regular every day American citizen who was yanked out of their house and had these things done to them
I can show you millions of Americans every day who have their rights taken away by the nanny state
Next week some kid will bring a PB and J sandwich and be expelled for having a “potential biological weapon” against the kid(s) that are allergic to peanuts (and never carry the damn epi-pin with them)
It’s too bad schools got all p-whipped… I remember that if you were doing stupid stuff you could get smacked depending on the teacher. Now all they can do is kick you out of a place you don’t want to be anyway.
Some of the things that the kids do these days would have got our hides tanned. Of course we were also able to do a lot back then that would get you kicked out/arrested now.
Trade offs are a bitch I guess…
#54 Pmitchell
good points you make sir and actually i do understand your concern about the nanny state — i find it annoying too, and missing a day of work to go down to the courthouse to fight it sucks horribly, but you’re talking about speeding tickets and what-not.
and you are also right that i cannot point to any examples of americans being abducted. however i ask you — are you suggesting that i blindly trust the government? should i wait for it to happen before i say anything?
folks in the bush camp talk frequently about wanting the government to leave us alone, and yet they trust the government so completely with near absolute power. that’s just very weird to me.
#54, Paul,
Smoking is fine when you do it. When it harms others then no, it is not good. Smoke all you want, just don’t pollute the same air others have to breathe. This to protect me, not the smoker. (but I’m glad you don’t smoke)
Where may you NOT eat French Fies? The oil they are being cooked in is being regulated for safety reasons. They may not use trans fats any more than they may use lead contaminated oil. They are both harmful to those who might not realize what the restaurant is using.
Seat Belt? Don’t wear one. Just have the $500,000 health insurance policy that will cover you in case you are in an accident requiring intensive care for the rest of your natural life. Otherwise, we, the tax payers will have to pick up your tab. Besides, it is easier to retain control of your vehicle when seat belted as you are not being thrown around. This no more a “nanny state” regulation then the concept your vehicle must be safe and the driver show a certain level of proficiency.
Red Light cameras? Well, it is illegal and dangerous to run a red light. The camera takes a picture of the car and the ticket is issued to the car. The exact same as when your car gets a parking ticket. The registered owner is responsible for the ticket regardless of who was driving. Don’t forget, it will be your insurance that pays and your rates affected if another driver has an accident in your car.
These aren’t “nanny state” regulations chipping away at your rights. You may still eat all the lead or trans fat you want. You may even smoke yourself to death (as so many still do). You may even drive around town all you like if you follow the rules of the road. These are regulations protecting the health of others. These are not rights. Rights are covered in the Bill of Rights.
*
Now for an American tortured and denied his rights? How about Jose Padilla. I hope he isn’t negated because he isn’t white, have blue eyes and blond hair.
No you may not eat all the transfats you want if cities have banned it.
Your argument for seat belt laws show why socialized medicine is such a bad idea. By your logic, the government can control everything about your life because it could lead to more health care payments by the government. And hey if you have to prove that you weren’t the person driving the car, then mayber people should have to prove they aren’t terrorists. I mean an attack could cause lots of people to suffer health problems, and the government will be picking up the tab,
I got a paper cut last week and I asked the principal to ban paper in the interest of zero-tolerance.
He didn’t get back to me yet.
—————–
When butter is outlawed, only outlaws will have butter.
The school board repealed the expulsion. Nonetheless, I’m adding the school & principal to the list of people and places I want my kids to avoid.
The reason children go to school is to learn judgment, something, obviously, completely missing here.
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Emerson
I’ll bet they still let teachers smoke in the court yard. And cigs killed more more people than butter knives ever did! Apparently, Zero Tolerance only applies to those without a trade union. And Student Unions don’t count.
#27: “how many of you have personally been affected by the warrantless wiretaps, terror watchlist, or any other of the supposed draconian changes to our freedoms”
I have on a daily basis because I now live in fear of my government. In story after story we’ve posted here on the blog, you read about ordinary people being harassed and worse by unhinged cops, overreaching school boards, wiretapping gov agencies with the help of phone companies and on and on. I travel a great deal for work and have to worry that I may — because some clerk or inspector is having a bad day — be put on a watch list or worse.
I will agree with you that some of the restrictions the left have put on some things have gone too far. But they are nothing compared to what the right has and is doing.
The greatest, most chilling effect all that Bush & Co have done is on the freedom to feel free. Day by day we are losing rights — whether you or I have exercised them or not — and once they are gone, they ain’t coming back.
If you can’t see that, you either support what’s happening or are asleep and don’t see (or don’t want to see) what’s happening.
#57, MikeN,
Once again you are demonstrating your ability to think. NOT
Trans Fats are not illegal and have not been banned. You may still purchase them in stores provided the label reveals what they are. What may not happen is restaurants using trans fats without the customer’s knowledge.
I don’t understand your argument against seat belts. Is this discussion now about socialized medicine? My point was if you aren’t insured and can’t pay, then the taxpayer ends up paying. The system currently being used. You also missed the second part, wearing a seat belt helps the driver maintain control of his vehicle in a collision.
And you missed the point about the red light camera. You are responsible for your car. If you let someone else drive it, then you are still responsible for it. If they have an accident, it will be your insurance that pays. If the damage is more than your cheap ass insurance then guess who loses their house.
The same responsibility exists with your illegally parked car. It will be the owner that has the difficult time renewing his plates if there are outstanding parking fines. So how does getting a ticket for running a red light going to the driver any different? If you know who was driving your car when it was illegally parked then get the money from them. If you remember who was driving your car when it was caught running the red light, see them too.
I thought you were a law and order type. Or is that for only when it applies to someone else.