Five Stuart Middle School students charged over bomb map

[BridgeTheGap]

Louisville, KY

Five Stuart Middle School students are facing criminal charges and school discipline after an investigation found they were involved in creating a map that detailed the “possible placement of bombs at the school,” a spokeswoman for Jefferson County Public Schools said Thursday.

The map was discovered by a teacher Thursday morning, said Lauren Roberts, the district’s public information officer. The district used dogs to search the school and found no bombs. Officers also searched the children’s homes and found nothing.

There was no indication of a date for any plan, Roberts said, and it is believed that the children — all sixth graders — may have been simulating a fantasy video game. Each child’s name was on the paper, she said.

“We don’t believe there was any means to carry this out,” she said. “But the fact that they put it in writing — we’re going to take this kind of thing seriously, whether they’re joking or not.”

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110113/NEWS01/301130053/Five+Stuart+Middle+School+students+charged+over+bomb+map

[Little Star]

1. Sorry, those kids were just drawing out their talking points about...

voting. Makes perfect sense huh? :sarcasm:

[DCKit]

2. (R) - Tea Party parents? Jes' wonderin' nt

[Tippy]

3. The same thing I thought when I read this post....

After all children do emulate their parents.....

[orwell]

4. But what about...

...my Constitutional right to bear bombs...

[BridgeTheGap]

5. Where do they come up with these video games!?! n.t

[Cheap_Trick]

6. They were surveyor's symbols.....

yeah..that's the ticket!

[immoderate]

7. Could be normal, creative children. No, I am not kidding.

Intent means a lot here. This could be a fantasy exercise, a screen play -- emphasize "play."

Confession: when I was about 13 I participated in a "plan" to take over the world from Far Rockaway. Maps were drawn and targets identified, i.e. connections to the "main land" (the rest of Long Island) and Long Beach.

If these maps still exist, I hope there's some statute of limitations on them. :scared:

Some years ago, a student gave me models he had made of a guillotine and a stretching rack. They were well crafted of found materials. A folk art dealer thought they were valuable. Some friends thought the kid was sick and I should report him. I had built battle ships when I was a kid. :shrug: AFAIK, after many years, the kid hasn't committed atrocities, at least not that we hear about. (Think: sublimation.)

--imm

[SouthernLiberal]

8. I am I the only that's confused?

There was no bomb. No bomb-making materials. No date for the 'plan', and they even admit that they do not believe that there was "any means to carry this out'.

But a felony charge is not too harsh? It's all about the 'children's safety'.

A teacher 'discovered the map', but the children are charged with 'terroristic threatening' or conspiracy to commit such.

As far as I can tell from the story, they made a map. They did not show it to the teacher. Whom are they supposed to have been threatening.

At this point, I wonder if the map actually had anything to do with the placement of bombs, or if perhaps it was something completely out of fantasy, that the teacher interpreted as being about the placement of bombs.

Five sixth graders drew a map - wow! just like Al Qaeda! Let's all be afraid, very afraid.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Real life STRATEGO?