Posted on 10/15/2006 3:31:37 PM PDT by calcowgirl
SACRAMENTO – Upset by the war in Iraq, Julia Wilson vented her frustrations with President Bush last spring on her Web page on MySpace.com.
She posted a picture of the president, scrawled “Kill Bush” across the top and drew a dagger stabbing his outstretched hand. She later replaced her page on the social-networking site after learning in her eighth-grade history class that such threats are a federal offense.
It was too late.
Federal authorities had found the page and placed Wilson on their checklist. They finally reached her this week in her molecular biology class.
The 14-year-old freshman was taken out of class Wednesday and questioned for about 15 minutes by two Secret Service agents. The incident has upset her parents, who said the agents should have included them when they questioned their daughter.
On Friday, the teenager said the agents' questioning led her to tears.
“I wasn't dangerous. I mean, look at what's (stenciled) on my backpack – it's a heart. I'm a very peace-loving person,” said Wilson, an honor student who describes herself as politically passionate. “I'm against the war in Iraq. I'm not going to kill the president.”
Her mother, Kirstie Wilson, said two agents showed up at the family's home Wednesday afternoon, questioned her and promised to return once her daughter was home from school.
After they left, Kirstie Wilson sent a text message to her daughter's cell phone, telling her to come straight home: “There are two men from the secret service that want to talk with you. Apparently you made some death threats against president bush.”
“Are you serious!?!? omg. Am I in a lot of trouble?” her daughter responded.
Moments later, Kirstie Wilson received another text message from her daughter saying agents had pulled her out of class.
Julia Wilson said the agents threatened her by saying she could be sent to juvenile hall for making the threat.
“They yelled at me a lot,” she said. “They were unnecessarily mean.”
Spokesmen for the Secret Service in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., said they could not comment on the case.
Wilson and her parents said the agents were justified in questioning her over her MySpace.com posting. But they said they believe agents went too far by not waiting until she was out of school.
They also said the agents should have more quickly figured out they weren't dealing with a real danger. Ultimately, the agents told the teen they would delete her investigation file.
Assistant Principal Paul Belluomini said the agents gave him the impression the girl's mother knew they were planning to question her daughter at school. There is no legal requirement that parents be notified.
“This has been an ongoing problem,” said Ann Brick, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in San Francisco.
Former Govs. Pete Wilson and Gray Davis vetoed bills that would have required that parents give consent or be present when their children are questioned at school by law enforcement officers. A similar bill this year cleared the state Senate but died in the Assembly.
Julia Wilson plans to post a new MySpace.com page, this one devoted to organizing other students to protest the Iraq war.
“I decided today I think I will because it (the questioning) went too far,” she said.
Really? Exactly what are the ages of the "dangerous ones", and how do you tell a harmless one from a dangerous one on a web page? Might want to look up an Al-Queda site and try to determine the ages of the webmasters there!
Saw this article last week. Didn't realize they had such a backlog of cases that it took them six months to get around to her!
Shouldn't be surprising though, I guess. I see things almost every day on the net that border on being threatening to the president. The Secret Service must turn up thousands of them every day. Really ticks me off.
Going to have to get much tougher with these leftwing punks. Instead of dragging them out of class for 15 minutes and yelling at them, the little rats ought to disappear into a cold, filthy, damp, dank hole somewhere for a couple of years. We're at war. Dubya was duly elected. And these smarmy little rat ba****ds need to get with the program or pay dearly.
Uh, because it's a federal offense? Anybody who threatens the President deserves a visit from the SS. Anyway, the little commie got what she wanted, attention.
Bump to that!
I'd like to know just what it is this little girl is so frustrated over. Does she have a family member serving in Iraq? Or is she just mimicking what her parent's political beliefs are? She should focus on school and stay out of adult decisions.
Every person I ever met in the military was a "very peace-loving person" you dumbass bimbo. Geeeesh. Another 14 year-old dumbass liberal who doesn't pay taxes or serve in the military and wants to run the world. A mind is a terrible thing to waste but liberals continue to do it every day.
Right.... I wonder where she got that murderous streak from? Could it be her parents?
Teen Questioned for Online Bush Threats
boston.com | Oct 14, 2006 | DON THOMPSON
Posted on 10/14/2006 3:24:27 PM EDT by Free ThinkerNY
GIVE ME A BREAK...that's their job..to look into ANY death threats. The fact the stupid little girl didn't know this is a fine testimony into the effectiveness of our public education.
No kidding...
On second thought, I don't blame the girl, she's just an ignorant child....but the press knows that the SS has to look into these things. The fact they're making an issue of this is the real story. AAARRGGGHHHHHH
"unnecessarily mean"? No dumbass, their being 'mean' was quite necessary: to scare the bejesus out of you for doing such a damned stupid thing. Bet you won't do it again, eh?
Too bad your parents failed in teaching you proper behavior.
Agreed. There is hope for this kid, she's only 14 and may outgrow her foolishness. The Secret Service's behavior appears to be out of line on this one.
Who will that benefit?
playing the victim card instead of accepting responsibility for a very serious situation.
Sure thing. All "peace-loving persons" write "Kill Bush" on their myspace pages. Cry me a river. This is a stupid little moonbat in the making, and she may as well learn now as later that there are consequences to being stupid.
Lord knows what poison her parents have fed her. She's been indoctrinated.
All we have is her word that the Secret Service yelled at her and were mean.
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