Girl arrested for butter knife in backpack

St. Petersburg Times ^ | Oct.26, 2005 | Michael Cruse

[headsonpikes]

An 11-year-old sixth-grade girl was arrested Friday afternoon at Fox Chapel Middle School on a charge of possessing a weapon.

The weapon?

A butter knife.

The girl, who won't turn 12 until March and whose name is being withheld by the Times because she is a minor, was handcuffed, taken to the Hernando County Jail and charged with the possession of a weapon on school property, a third-degree felony.

[headsonpikes]

Zero Tolerance = Zero Intelligence

[bikepacker67]

This is ridiculous!

What if she had a pair of scissors?

[vetsvette]

And, these are the idiots we're counting on to educate our children.

[thoughtomator]

Now she gets to answer "yes" to the question "Have you ever been arrested for a felony?" on employment and school applications for the rest of her life.

Nice going, system.

[Moral Hazard]

"Zero Tolerance = Zero Intelligence"

http://www.zerointelligence.net/archives/000697.php

[Crim]

Insanity...

[samadams2000]

Public school madness. Thank God for the Catholic school system. Another tax my generation must bear for the failure of liberalism.

[sine_nomine]

When butter knives are banned, only chefs will have butter knives.

[TheSpottedOwl]

I used to go nuts making sure my youngest kids had nothing in their backpacks that could be construed as weapons, or controlled substances. Cough drops can fall under that category, if the teacher has his/her head far enough up their ass.

[Rebelbase]

" charged with the possession of a weapon on school property,"

I have a folder I keep in my car's change tray between the seats and drive through the my son's school campus every morning and eve.

I guess they could nail me if the wanted to?

[x1stcav]

The administration of this school should be cuffed and taken to jail for sheer stupidity. I know, there's probably some law or reg that says they MUST report butter knives.

The police are idiots too. How is an 11 year old girl going to be a treat to them.

[JRandomFreeper]

No, she'll get deferred adjudication, complete it, and have the charge expunged. Then she'll grow up and go to law school to change the VERY broken system.

/john

[linkinpunk]

If one of these people ever put my 10 year old in handcuffs for a butterknife, I would be the one with a felony on his record because I would not be able to control myself when I saw the school officials or the arresting police officer.

[proudofthesouth]

I'll bet the school has baseball bats for gym class. More baseball bats have been used as weapons than butter knives!

[Rebelbase]

Tylenol or throat drops require an doctor's prescription AND a faxed form letter detailing how/when it is to be administered.

I just give my son the tylenol and tell him to not to let anyone see him take it and if the drug dogs come to school to swollow it immediately.

[Rebelbase]

swallow.

[paddles]

"The mother of the 11-year-old girl said her daughter had been suspended twice already this fall for fighting - each time for three days - but this time, she said, is 'a joke to me.'"

As ridiculous as this whole thing sounds, methinks there's a little more to this story....

[MichaelP]

We had a 6th grade girl suspended yesterday at the school that I work at. She had a paring knife. She said she was being stalked by two men in a van. Police are investigating. It is possible that she did feel threatened. The devil is in the details...

Mike

[katykelly]

Been there, done that. Our kid took one in his lunch pail when he was 12; got in big trouble. When he was even younger he was selling half his candy bar to another kid for 25 cents and got sent to the principal on drug charges. I'm not entirely unsympathetic to the teacher's situation. Trading candy and drugs could look a lot alike. Butter knives? I don't know, guess I'd have to walk in their shoes to fully understand.

[joesnuffy]

It's a little known fact that your basic butter knife...is often the trained assassin's assault cutlery of choice...

-Cliff

[TheSpottedOwl]

Well how about aspirin or Midol? I started getting form letters for this stuff about 10 yrs ago. Insanity. What I would do, is dose the kid right before they left for school, then dose them the minute they got home.

These bureaucrats are just trying to "feed the machine".

[RightWhale]

They could do that. They could arrest everyone that comes within the dead zone of a school, which is nearly everyone nearly every day. They would even have to arrest themselves. Once all 300 million of us are under arrest, then we would be China, born to be serfs.

[evets]

butterknife blues

Cedell Davis plays slide with butterknife

[thoughtomator]

Hitler used butter knives...

Lesson of the Day? Never bring a butter knife to a political correctness fight.

[gitmo]

I wonder how they dissect frogs in Biology class without scalpels or scissors.

A thermometer is a deadly weapon because it contains mercury. They recently evacuated a school in Georgia because someone dropped a thermometer. Several students were taken to a decontamination lab because they had been in the same room as the thermometer.

Do they still use the old compasses that have a sharp point for the center of the circle?

When I worked at Juvenile Detention, shoes with laces and belts were forbidden.

Are they allowed to use tools in shop class?

[No Truce With Kings]

A butterknife ain't a weapon.

Next thing you know they will arrest someone for bringing a glue gun to school.

[MichaelP]

It's a little known fact that your basic butter knife...is often the trained assassin's assault cutlery of choice

by joeSNUFFy

Hehe...

Mike

[marianshah]

My boyfriend in high school had asthma. When the band took a road trip, we were told that no medicines were allowed without the student's name on them and a doctor's prescription. There was this whole thing about whether he could use the inhaler with his mom's name on the prescription. Moral: Get scrips in your kid's name, even when they're a minor.

The scrip/doctors note thing is curious though. What about a girl having her period who is using Advil? going to the doctor once a month just to get a note written for Advil seems cumbersome to me. Hmm.

[ANGGAPO]

Perhaps a new school board would help.

[glorgau]

These people are so behind the times - these days a butter knife is called a "shiv".

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

I've seen fingernails much more lethal than a butter knife.

So when do the politically correct police start checking fingers?

[marianshah]

BTW, kids also get arrested/suspended for pointing their fingers like a gun. One 6-year-old back home got a harrassment charge slapped on him for chasing a girl and smooching her cheek.

Zero tolerance basically takes 9 year olds and holds them as accountable as 19 year olds. Zero tolerance does not think or use common sense. It is a knee-jerk policy based on strict definitions and legalism rather than reality. In all, it stinks.

[Tarantulas]

[marianshah]

It's the "symbolism." It's just like how feminists will claim that being catcalled on the street is the same as being "symbolically" raped.

[SF Republican]

is a folder a weapon?

[kenth]

intolerable intolerance ping

[michigander]

So when do the politically correct police start checking fingers?

I have a certain finger to show them. oo0oo

[darkangel82]

They could do that. They could arrest everyone that comes within the dead zone of a school, which is nearly everyone nearly every day. They would even have to arrest themselves. Once all 300 million of us are under arrest, then we would be China, born to be serfs.

Don't give 'em any ideas.

[marianshah]

Read "The Language Police" by Diane Ravitch. It's incredible what you also can't SAY or READ in public school.

[Muzzle_em]

I've also heard of a child being suspended for drawing a picture of a gun at school.

I wonder if someone would be suspended for writing the words knife or gun on anything at school. What's the difference between words, illustrations and photos of potential weapons in a zero-tolerance environment?

A bat could be used as a weapon. Should baseball be banned at school? Barbells could be used to "whack" someone. They shouldn't allow the football players to have weight rooms.

Wait. I read a HS soccer goalie was killed a week ago from a ball hitting him in the throat. Ban soccer. Never know who can kick accurately.

A pencil or pen could be used as a weapon. Shouldn't students ONLY be allowed to write with soft pastel crayons or chalk? All cafeteria utensils should be replaced with soft plastic ones. I could go on ALL DAY with this. I wish I was on a zero tolerance committee who makes the rules. I'd make their heads SPIN!

These folks have LOST THEIR FRIGGING MINDS!!!! What a bunch of MAROONS!!!

[GBA]

They handcuffed an 11 yo girl and took her to jail for a butter knife!!! In what world does that makes sense. Wouldn't a newly sharpened pencil be more dangerous?

[TheDon]

Sending children to government schools is child abuse.

[Fido969]

It was for her own good. That butter she might have spread with that knife may have given her high cholesterol, which might have led to a heart attack.

I have to go along with the school on this one.

[Spok]

This is the classic liberal's (not that all teachers are liberals) answer to a problem. When the psycho kid with the Uzi, flame thrower and incendiary bombs goes unnoticed and berserk, they can say "But we tried. We got the kid with the butterknife. It's the NRA's fault anyway."

[Rebelbase]

This is a folder:

[GrandEagle]

As ridiculous as this whole thing sounds, methinks there's a little more to this story....
Could be, but a few years ago my daughter (6 years old) was being bullied by a boy in her class. Nobody would do anything about it and I got tired of seeing her come home with bruises so I taught her how, where, and most importantly, when to clean his clock. She strolled up to him while he was showing off for his friends, (three other boys), caught him under his jaw with a punch. Nearly knocked him out, but more importantly, embarrassed him beyond comprehension because he got his butt kicked by a girl right in front of his friends.
I had warned her that there might be consequences at school and we would just have to deal with them, but that if she didn't start it, she was not in trouble with me at home. Sure enough I was called into the principals office. After they explained to me that she was going to be suspended for three days, I let them have it for not taking care of the original problem that had been going on for the last two years, and reminded them of the many, many complaints I had come to them with about her being bullied and bruised.
They were pretty upset with me when they found out that I had taught her how to defend herself and that instead of trouble, I would take off work and she and I would enjoy a vacation. I finally found someone with some sense and we resolved the issue without her missing school. They essentially just let the whole thing go.
There is always more to the story and frequently you could never guess what the rest of the story is.

GE

[GrandEagle]

Sending children to government schools is child abuse.
AMEN!

[Sergio]

Zero tolerance basically takes 9 year olds and holds them as accountable as 19 year olds. Zero tolerance does not think or use common sense. It is a knee-jerk policy based on strict definitions and legalism rather than reality. In all, it stinks.

And yet these same people, when confronted with a 19 year old who has committed a truly heinous, violent crime, want us to have the same sympathy for the criminal as we would for a 9 year old.

The lunatics are running the asylum.

Best regards

Sergio

[paul51]

The girl, she said, was watching cartoons on Nickelodeon

Time better spent than at that school

[marianshah]

There does seem to be a role reversal there, doesn't there!! Interesting!

I've always thought that liberalism is about reversing problems rather than solving them. For instance radical feminism--instead of making people equal, turn women into brutes and intimidate the men. to solve racism--let blacks beat up whites instead of vice versa. and for behavior discipline--treat children like adults, but adults like children.

How about this: Nobody beats up anyone unprovoked, regardless of gender or skin color, and raise your darned kids as good citizens! sounds like a plan to me. :-)