Yes, I did, but this isn't how we do things down in Juarez.
Posted on 05/07/2008 12:58:50 PM PDT by SmithL
Twin Falls, Idaho (AP) -- A high school student says he may file a lawsuit against a physical education teacher who took a Mexican flag he had brought for Cinco de Mayo and put it in the garbage.
Clint Straatman denies Froylan Camelo's version of events but said he took the flag Monday because "white kids" might have hurt the 16-year-old. He said he put it in a garbage can because he had no place else to keep it.
Camelo said he was changing into gym clothes at Minico High School in Rupert when Straatman told him, "Give me the flag."
"I said, 'What's the problem?'" Camelo, speaking in Spanish, told The Times-News of Twin Falls. "He said, 'The problem is that we are in the United States and not in Mexico.' He grabbed it from me. He threw the flag in the garbage can."
Camelo said that Straatman told him the flag would be returned at the end of the school day, but that Straatman taunted him instead.
"I asked, 'Where is my flag?'" Camelo said. "He said, 'What, the U.S. flag?' I said, 'No, the one for Mexico.' But he wouldn't give it to me."
Camelo said he then took the undamaged flag out of the garbage. He said he's been contacted by the American Civil Liberties Union and is considering a lawsuit against Straatman.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Let me get this straight: You can BURN an American flag, but if you throw out a Mexican flag you can be sued? Interesting.
Let me get this straight: You can BURN an American flag, but if you throw out a Mexican flag you can be sued? Interesting.
Froylan?
Why not just name him Beat Me.
Only in America!
interesting how this kid had to interview in spanish, but boy he could “repeat everything” the teacher allegedly said, amazing bilingual skills the young man has
Wait, wait; don’t tell me. Camello is an illegal, right?
I’d be interested to hear the teacher’s side of it. Just going by what’s here (i.e., no more than half the story) the teacher was in the wrong to round-file the flag—he should’ve just told the kid to put it away, and only escalated it to file #13 if he got attitude from the student.
That having been said, a lawsuit over this is BEYOND stupid. Except if it lets us check the Camelo family’s immigration status!
}:-)4
Teacher should have stayed out of it and let the kids solve the issue on their own.
didn’t “pedro” go to school in idaho?
What, not the Mexican Civil Liberties Union?
I graduated from Minico. Straatman was an ass then and it looks like he still is 5 years later. We may not know which of the two is telling the truth, but what I can say is that the kid’s version of events is not outside the realm of possibility.
Given the state of public education, the kid should be grateful the teacher didn’t molest him and leave it go at that.
same thing these days
He may be an ass, but I heartily approve of what it’s alleged he did here. The trash is the proper place for it.
Forget the Recoquista. We should finish the unfinished work of 1848.
He may be an ass, but I heartily approve of what it’s alleged he did here. The trash is the proper place for it.
Forget the Recoquista. We should finish the unfinished work of 1848.
>Clint Straatman denies Froylan Camelo’s version of events but said he took the flag Monday because “white kids” might have hurt the 16-year-old.<
Yes, he could have gotten hurt.
My son came home from junior high school on Cinco de Mayo and told me some mexican kid cut the line in front of a black kid.
The mexican kid looked at the black kid and said,”Mexicans first!” The black kid picked up the mexican kid by his shoulders and threw his a** right out of the line.
If Straatman “was an ass five years ago”, he sounds like my kind of ass.
That's where it belongs.
The black kid should have said "Remember the Alamo" when he kicked him out of line.
I like him. Love my country or leave it.
Deport Pedro!
You can burn YOUR flag but not someone else’s
Also the line that he had nowhere else to put the flag is the biggest load crap I’ve ever heard. The guy is an athletics coach at Minico and has not only a desk with fully functioning drawers, but an office.
Some may feel the Mex flag is offensive and insenstive. Might as well throw the lefist arguments right back at them.
LOL!
I love that movie, though.
And finally, before I leave the topic, all P.E. teachers have Teachers Assistants, usually Seniors, to fetch balls and run flags to aforementioned office.
I’d like to shake that black kid’s hand. Good for him.
Free speech is destroying all foriegn flags. Put that in your pipe and smoke it ACLU and you too you little punk!
Ok, I’ll take the bait and argue this one from the kids POV. I’ll make the assumption that the kid is telling the truth because an overly zealous patriot tossing the flag in the can is not only within the realm of possibility, it fits the stereotype (not to mention another Freeper in a post above already acted as a character witness against this teacher). I’ll go ahead and say up front that I have strong Libertarian leanings, and believe that all of our Liberties should be protected with every ounce of energy we have.
Point # 1 - The teacher had absolutely no authority to take the flag away from the kid unless it was creating a distraction from his class. Assuming it was creating a distraction he should have held onto it until the kid could reclaim it later that day.
Point # 2 - To toss the flag in the trash was a form of disrespect. Had it been an American flag Freepers would be howling bloody murder. The flag apparently represented something the kid valued, be it his heritage, history or values. Some may find the flag insulting on some level, but the kids right to have it should be defended. I feel the same way about the Confederate flag or even a Nazi flag. In all cases, if the flag in question is taking away from the other childrens ability to learn, then the flag should be kept in a safe place until the kid or their parents can come back later and reclaim it.
Point #3 - This instance represents a denial of liberty and expression (1st Amendment right); however in a setting where the child is receiving a public funded education personal liberties take second place. In this particular case, I feel the the other childrens right to an education free of disruption trumps the right to bring potentially distracting materials to school. So again, I agree with the confiscation, but not the desecration.
What do you mean the teacher was wrong? You don’t need a flag in gym class. Teachers routinely confiscate stuff like that.
Someone comes to this country illegally and expects us to pay for his education and pamper him. Now he wants to sue. Whadda country.
My son didn’t say if he got in trouble or not. I didn’t think to ask either, because I was too busy laughing.
“Idaho student says teacher tossed his Mexican flag in trash”
Oh please. I bet people would be madder if the teacher threw out a potato.
Actually, it is quite easy.
If you own a Mexican, or American Flag, you can burn it.
However, you cannot burn or steal property that belongs to another person.
The gym coach is a thief and should be held liable.
On a related note, did anyone see the George Lopez special on Comedy Central Last night? It was the most offensive, nasty, in your face, pro-illegal immigrant trasj. I had to turn it off after the first 15 minutes or risk destruction of my flatscreen. I was fuming.
This is a setup.
Probably going to lose a good teacher over this.
This has to stop.
Little boy, fly your Mexican flag...in Mexico!
You make a good point.
The fact that this has become a lawsuit suggests that this was a setup all along.
“Also the line that he had nowhere else to put the flag is the biggest load crap I’ve ever heard.”
Yeah, that’s a pretty flimsy excuse.
That article omits a statement in a different article that the student was waving the flag around the gym.
Teacher should have said REMEMBER THE ALAMO and thrown the Mexican in the trash.
Good place for it ...
Seems to me the Mexican kid needs to undergo a rigorous course of sensitivity training.
So you believe that it is okay for a teacher to confiscate student's private property and toss it in the trash? Therefore, a teacher can throw away a student's flag, lunch box or Bible?
Someone comes to this country illegally and expects us to pay for his education and pamper him.
You must have read the story much more closely than I since I saw no indication that the student in question is in the country illegally.
BTW-The SCOTUS ruled in Plyler v. Doe that kids in the U.S. illegally are protected by the Constitution are are entitled to a free public school education.
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