Student arrested for threatening school with zombie invasion

This is ridiculous. Poor kid can't even use his imagination without getting in trouble for it. Where would Hollywood be without kids like that?

It is no wonder we are graduating students who can't even read or write if they have to worry about crapp like this. I see a young man writing who is interested in English( which is a rarity these days) and he is being punished for his enthuasizm in the subject. If I were the parents of this young boy, I would press the issue with a lawsuit. I know I might take a hit for saying this but my reason is basic: The school is hindering his artistic ablility not to mention he has to think to himself "Am I going to get in trouble for being artistic and taking my schoolwork seriously?"

It amazes me that everyone here is willing to think the worst of the police in this situation and buy the kids story, hook, line and sinker.

It is Poole’s claim that he wrote an innocent short story.

It is the police’s claim that Poole was actively trying to recruit people to attack the high school and was using the story as a tool for that purpose.

Frankly I tend to go with the cops on this one. While there certainly can be a bit of an over reaction here, they aren’t stupid.

If they say the kid was trying to recruit other to violently take over the school, then I would imagine that they have some solid evidence to back that up.

Probably a couple of the kids he tried to recruit corroborated the police version of events.

It also appears that Poole is not unknown to the police.

In other words, this is a troubled kid with some serious issues.

How old are kids in Junior High? (in the uk the school systems different)

Originally posted by specialasianX
Man thats just plain ridiculous... not only is this kid been arrested for some stupid percieved crime.... then the bail was raised by 500% because of the 'seriousness of the threat??' come on!

I am sooo glad i dont live in the USA... you know the 'land of the free', where your free to write a story and be arrested for terorristic threats.

amen to that! what the f*ck has happend to these people?! they are the zombies! christ on a bike! america is the new nazi germany! where even your own family will turn you in if you are suspected of 'terrorism.' wake up you idiots!!!!!

Originally posted by FLYIN HIGH
It is no wonder we are graduating students who can't even read or write if they have to worry about crapp like this. I see a young man writing who is interested in English( which is a rarity these days) and he is being punished for his enthuasizm in the subject. If I were the parents of this young boy, I would press the issue with a lawsuit. I know I might take a hit for saying this but my reason is basic: The school is hindering his artistic ablility not to mention he has to think to himself "Am I going to get in trouble for being artistic and taking my schoolwork seriously?"

If they really cared about "art" as you call it, they wouldnt be bothered by that. Also, Most students who cant read or write DONT worry about those kinds of things anyways. Heck, the problems start long before they realize the consequences of writing something "dangerous". As was said earlier, there is more to this case than a mere fictional story. You're basing your opinion on a biased media source, one that gives only half the story.

A follow up to the story

However, Poole's teachers told police they had not assigned such a story or talked to him about it -- and had they seen it, they would have been obligated to report him to authorities.

And, as it turns out, Poole's writings include no brain-eating dead folks.

What they do contain, Winchester police Detective Steven Caudill testified yesterday, is evidence that he had tried to solicit seven fellow students to join him in a military organization called No Limited Soldiers.

The writings describe a bloody shootout in "Zone 2," the designation given to Clark County.

"All the soldiers of Zone 2 started shooting," Caudill read on the witness stand. "They're dropping every one of them. After five minutes, all the people are lying on the ground dead."

The papers contain two different dates of Poole's death.

Poole has corresponded with someone in Barbourville who claimed to have acquired cash and guns in break-ins, Caudill testified

www.kentucky.com...

Poole is starting to look less and less like a misunderstood artist and more and more like a troubled, semi-adult with a serious problem.

The headline-grabby word "zombie" wasn’t Poole’s first attempt to justify the contents of his notebook. First he told authorities that it was an assignment for his vocational classes. They checked; no such assignment was given. Then he switched his story to say it was for English class. Another check proved this story untrue. Then came the widely-quoted "zombie" story, which turned out to be more pure fiction.

www.zwire.com...

So, in light of all this additional informatiuon, How many of you still thing that this is a case of the "Thought Police?"

RTFT

Originally posted by finch
amen to that! what the f*ck has happend to these people?! they are the zombies! christ on a bike! america is the new nazi germany! where even your own family will turn you in if you are suspected of 'terrorism.' wake up you idiots!!!!!

May I suggest reading the thread?

HowardRoark has been thoughtfully providing additional details which are important to know about if you wish to comment intelligently on the topic.

He posted this article to the thread five days before your post. It casts serious and reasonable doubts on the original story.

His posts are meaningless if people don't read them, and your posts are meaningless if they are made in ignorance of the facts.

Oh, and here's your Godwin Award.

For the skepticism-impaired, I'll summarize:

1. This is not about zombies.

2. The school wasn't directly involved.

3. William Poole's grandparents turned him in because his “story” contained explicit plans for a Columbine-style massacre.

Would you suggest they should have waited and seen if he was serious about murdering his classmates?

If you're going to believe everything you read, try to at least read more sources.

Is it worth going back an re-visiting this issue?

Given the Wiese tragedy, and the new information that has come out on the so-called zombie story, has anyone revised thier opinion on this case?

[edit on 22-3-2005 by HowardRoark]

I'm interested in the amount of time between 'incidents'...........Wiese was associated with zombie stories and macabre drawings as well........

"no limit soldiers" is a rap label. rap is somewhat a negative influence. as much as i love some of it, it does promote violence and in the rural areas, Indiana,Kentucky,etc. it takes awhile for some of this music to get around so it doesnt surprise me the kid is listening to stuff i was listening to in jr high. (i am now in college) the negative influences it has are undeniable, as it wound me up into a fair amount of sh*t.

Ya know, this is kinda funny i guess. Schools are becoming so paranoid. If you told a principal a banana or cloud to school to kill everyone, they'd get freaked out. Sadly, this always happends after something bad (9-11, columbine). But, one can only hope that things might change. It seems if a person is an individual, a school is one giant tentical entity.