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    Support the Eagle Scout Suspended for Pen Knife

    October 15, 2009
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    Earlier today I posted about the the Eagle Scout suspended from school because he kept his grandpa’s pen knife in his car. I’d asked if someone more technie than me could start a petition and voila! You folks came through! Sign away! In case you need it to pass along — please do! — here is the actual URL: http://bit.ly/3IFWA1
    And thank you, Meg, for setting this up! — Lenore

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    16 Comments

    1. Tireegal on October 15, 2009 11:22 am

      Hi Lenore,
      I gave you an award. I know it’s hokey and you have loads of mail so you can take it as a rhetorical award ( receiving and reposting them is very time consuming).
      I was sent to your site by my friend / relative Raissa L – who I think used to teach you?
      I love your site and hope one day to have a free range kid of my own:)

    2. Mad Woman on October 15, 2009 11:41 am

      You’re more than welcome and I’m glad to see it getting a few signatures already. I’m looking up contact info for various places and we can get it passed on.

    3. Maggie on October 15, 2009 11:50 am

      I’m in.

      I’m so pissed that this boy was suspended for trying to live up to his Boy Scout values (BE PREPARED!), I could chew rocks and spit sand.

    4. anidledad on October 15, 2009 12:07 pm

      Done.
      Absolute laws are never just. All legal infringements must be considered on character, intent and the scenario. That’s why we have judges and juries.

      This is a pretty obvious case where the boy is of good character, had no ill intent and the link is pretty tenuous – the knife was in the car, not on his person.

      If he were a troubled boy, perhaps. If he had intent, of course. If he had the knife on him in class or was selling knives from the boot of his car – absolutely.

      It might be the law, but justice it ain’t.

    5. Kari on October 15, 2009 7:28 pm

      Lenore, you asked about the link to the story where Zachary was allowed back at school and the rules changed. It’s a silly rule change, but they say more are coming. It was on my Yahoo page and left about as quickly as it was put up. More important stories about how boring the new Bachelor is, but here is Zachary’s site stating the same information.

      http://helpzachary.com

    6. Tana on October 15, 2009 8:27 pm

      signed and recorded. thanks for setting it up, mad woman. in no sane universe does this young man deserve the treatment he is getting.

    7. Tracey R on October 15, 2009 10:27 pm

      Gladly signed this. Is there a news story where the link where we could be posting it in the comments?

    8. ali on October 15, 2009 11:38 pm

      We had a similar local story last year in Minnesota. A hard working teen had a boc cutter in his car- he had it for his job, stocking shelves at a grocery store. I think he was initially expelled. It caused quite a raucus here in local politics.
      A rent-a-cop security gaurd saw the box cutter, laying inside the car, and turned him in…
      (I’ll be telling my kids to keep anything like a knife in the glove compartment or under the seat…)

    9. Coco on October 16, 2009 12:41 am

      The administration of this school ought to be ashamed of themselves. A pen knife (kept in a personal car) as part of an emergency kit by a good kid is not the same thing as smuggling a machete into a classroom by a kid who has posted a YouTube video of himself threatening to chop up other students. Whatever happened to common sense? Oh yeah – it was replaced by “zero tolerance” policies and knee-jerk reactions. Suspension for 20 days. Ridiculous.

      I signed.

    10. Jan S on October 16, 2009 2:22 am

      Thanks Lenore for posting this.

    11. Tray M. on October 16, 2009 9:59 am

      Not to brag, I’m #5…this is so stupid. I dealt with kids suspended for the same sort of ridiculousness in the 30 years I spent with the Boy Scouts. Zero tolerance teaches nothing but “we cannot think for ourselves” (referring to school administrators). What a position to have to defend to people who know how to think for themselves. And decide what is right and what is wrong.

      Tray

    12. KelB on October 16, 2009 8:08 pm

      Aw! The link is not working for me. 🙁

    13. Susan on October 20, 2009 10:09 am

      I agree with tray – ‘zero tolerance’ is a politically correct way of saying the school board doesn’t trust the front line administrators and teachers to have common sense or good judgement. It’s also another way of covering their butts at the expense of innocent students.

    14. Larry on October 21, 2009 12:53 am

      It just occurred to me how our schools are chasing their tails making ridiculous rules over-reacting to some school violence tragedies. It’s like thinking your stopping a potential flood fixing the faucet drip when the hot water heater has a huge crack in it. They forbid a 2 inch penknife while their parking lot is full of BOMBS in the form the gas tanks of every car. If EVIL wants to act, it will act.. Thinking rules against a pen knife will protect from a vicious person motivate to cause terror does nothing but help small thinking people believe their “plan” will protect. Free society = vulnerable.. I bic pen can be as deadly as a 2 inch pen knife is the intent is to harm.

    15. Berta Sankar on March 4, 2010 1:49 pm

      Hi sexy blog lol if i blog could be called sexy. Did you design it yourself?

    16. Allan Westrup on March 4, 2010 7:27 pm

      Why is it that windows does not allow me to load huge files?

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