The other day I was checking the usual news sites and I stumbled across this article on FoxNews.com. The article is titled “Is Writing About a School Shooting a Crime?” and goes on to detail the antics of one William Poole from Winchester, Kentucky.
For those of you who may not remember who Mr. Poole is the high school student who was arrested for terroristic threats against his school. His defense was he was just writing an English assignment about zombies taking over his school.
Of course, first amendment rights groups were horrified at the treatment Mr. Poole had been subjected to. How dare they arrest someone for just writing a story? Well, It turned out that it was not an English assignment and the story had nothing to do with zombies.
And now, according to the article, there is a movement gaining ground to “Free William Poole”. Which is all well and good. I am a huge proponent of the First Amendment when it’s interpreted correctly. However, all these do-gooders are overlooking one item reported by law enforcement. Mr. Poole tried to recruit several of his fellow students.
One first amendment group even posted Mr. Poole’s bond. What did they get for their troubles? The bond was forfeited because Mr. Poole violated the terms of his release by being on school grounds. I believe that trying to recruit other students trumps all free speech concerns. But hey, why let facts get in your way?