Bart Hinkle: 'You just can't fix stupid' ... Ohio student with pocket knife in car sent to jail for 13 days

We've heard it over and over but the incidences seem to be growing. Zero tolerance in schools has reached the point of, well, stupid. Bart Hinkle faces it head-on today in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, noting case after case of ridiculous zero-tolerance policy "violations" from honor students,  Boy Scouts, good kids, and little kids, and the narrow-mindedness of school officials who cannot differentiate between the danger in a kindergartner's pop tart gun and the real thing.

The mind, it boggles.

Don't get me wrong. I understand the need for rules about weapons, and I've discussed this with a teacher friend in the past. But zero tolerance should not mean zero common sense.

Hinkle relates case after case of intolerant adults enforcing intolerant rules for behavior that could clearly be seen as an exception to "the rule."

Like the case of high school senior Jordan Wiser of Jefferson, Ohio, "who spent 13 days in jail on a felony charge because he drove onto school property with a pocketknife in the trunk of his car."

Let's take a minute and let that sink in. Thirteen days. In jail. For a pocket knife that wasn't even in his bodily possession but locked in the trunk of his car.

That's not the worst of it. Jordan's pocket knife was in his EMT vest. That's right ... he volunteers as an Emergency Medical Technician. Now his desire to join the Army after completing school is in jeopardy.

As if that wasn't bad enough, it gets worse. A March 18, 2014, article written by Professor Jonathan Turley, a high profile lawyer who has documented extensively about zero tolerance policies and the damage they have done to law-abiding students caught up in the madness, explored the case of Jordan Wiser:

... the school officials called police after searching the trunk of a locked car to find a pocket knife used by a senior in his work as a EMT. He was then fed into a legal system that refused to show discretion in his prosecution. Notably, prosecutor Harold Specht ran for office based on a pledge that he would maintain a “hardline, zero tolerance policy” as a prosecutor. It was the perfect storm for Wiser: zero tolerance administrators handing a student over to a zero tolerance prosecutor. But it gets worse...

Wiser may now be barred from fulfilling his dream of joining the Army. School officials say that he consented to the search but Wiser insists that he declined to give consent and asked to speak to this parents or a lawyer. School officials searched the car and found the small folding knife and an airsoft gun. (The airsoft gun was legal and used in a school club). They say that they had probable cause after monitoring comments Wiser made on an online forum. They specifically referred to videos that Wiser posted on YouTube discussing home defense techniques and self-defense.

The police was called and the school moved to expel him.

He was then charged with an illegal conveyance of a weapon for the knife.

He then spent 13 days in the county jail. That’s right, 13 days.

He now must enroll in a special online program to complete his education.

What the heck kind of message is that sending to our young people? Even more, how can adults participate in such injustice with clear consciences?

The sad part of this case is that Jordan has been barred from seeing his grandfather who is dying:

To make matters even worse, the conditions of Wiser’s bond prohibit him from having contact with his grandfather at his home because of the presence of guns in the home. His grandfather is dying from cancer.

And then this:

The first judge ordered Wiser to be held on a half million-dollar bond and a psychological evaluation. He passed the exam but he was then hit with a $50,000 bond and an ankle monitor on Christmas Eve. It is important to remember that he is not charged with a conspiracy or threat against the school. The charge remains a four-inch folding knife in a vest in a trunk in a locked car in a parking lot outside of the school.

This is just one case. A quick Google search finds dozens of others. Now, however, there are indications that some are beginning to push back against the zero tolerance policy. Sadly, it's too late for students caught up in this failed attempt to make schools safer, the kids who have been suspended, expelled, and in the case of Jordan -- jailed.

Bart Hinkle concluded, "No good deed goes unpunished. And -- as comedian Ron White likes to say -- you can't fix stupid."

Indeed.

'Do not attempt this' ... really?

Holiday Nissan Rogue television ad ... a Rogue lands on top of a commuter train ... and it ran with this disclaimer at the bottom:

Fantasy, do not attempt. Cars can't jump on trains.

Really?

Glenn Beck's "Common Sense"

SWAC Husband just walked in the door with a smile on his face and a copy of Glenn Beck's "Common Sense" in his hand. The NY Times #1 best seller, a "re-do" of Thomas Paine's famous work of the same name (with inclusion of that work), has been difficult to find as disgusted Americans have snatched them up since last week's publication.

A quick read of the "Note from the Author" already has me nodding my head in agreement. There is an unrest going on out there and I've seen it at the local level where 600 people turned out for an informational townhall meeting to hear how their voices could be heard with the local government ... where some have suggested replacing supervisors ... where 1,000 people turned out for a Board of Supervisors meeting in March to protest excessive real estate tax assessments ... where 10,500 Augusta County citizens signed petitions to sue the supervisors for assessments more in line with the financial times.

Nationwide we've seen it as hundreds of thousands of Americans turned out for tea parties and, more recently, protested last week's ObamaCare infomercial by protesting outside ABC studios around the country.

From Glenn Beck's "Common Sense," these pearls of wisdom and knowledge and, yes, the seeds to change:

Do not remain neutral. Do not sit idly by. Do not let others speak for you. Silence has gotten us nowhere so it's once again time for our collective voice to make a simple yet powerful demand ... Don't Tread on Me.
...
Thomas Paine was an unremarkable man living in a remarkable time. He proved that it doesn't take celebrity, stature, or wealth to make a difference -- it only takes someone willing to say the things that need to be said.
...
Thomas Paine and his fellow revolutionaries shed their blood so that future generations would have access to weapons immeasurably stronger than muskets or bayonets: the weapons of democracy. Those are the tools that we will use to usher in a second American revolution, a revolution that won't be fought on battlefields, but in the hearts and minds of the three hundred million people lucky enough to call America home.

Glenn Beck does not advocate violance but, rather, citizen involvement and responsibility. He notes that Martin Luther Kind once said, "Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time."

Rather than be distracted by a media that are fixated on the death of Michael Jackson, we must stay informed about cap-and-trade, universal health care, local issues, and other events that will affect our lives. We must contact our representatives to let them know how we want them to vote. We must show up at the ballot box on election day. We must educate ourselves and others and encourage them to become more involved.

Glenn Beck's "Common Sense" is less than $10 in most outlets. It includes the original Thomas Paine "Common Sense" as well as the 9 Principles and 12 Values of the 9.12 Project ... and it's chocked full of ... common sense.

Oh ... and Don't Tread On Me.

Megan makes sense

It caught my attention from the first sentence ... the latest post from Megan at Sun Versus Wind. Good points, all. Glad to see she got a few minutes at the computer and out of the garden ... she's been missed.