-Caveat Lector- Published on May 24, 1999 Student arrested, threatened with expulsion for essay about bomb By Alice Warchol And Matthew Bowers VIRGINIAN-PILOT ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- A high school junior is fighting expulsion for writing about a bomb on a Standards of Learning essay test in March. Chris Bullock, 16, said he was merely following instructions to be creative when he penned a dark tale of a student presenting a nuclear bomb as a gift to an unnamed school. But test readers in Richmond, Va., raised concerns when they saw Bullock's test. They alerted Virginia Beach school officials. Bullock was arrested May 14 and charged with threatening to bomb a school -- two months after writing the essay. He was immediately released. "I think it is utter nonsense and hysteria to charge someone for answering an essay question using their imagination," said Moody E. "Sonny" Stallings Jr., an attorney representing Bullock. "This is pre-Columbine," Stallings said, referring to the April shooting in Colorado that left 15 people dead. "This would have never been brought to anyone's attention except for Columbine. How far back are we going to go?" Tallwood High School officials said they could not comment on the essay because they haven't seen it. A rash of school bomb threats has led fire officials to arrest 22 students since the April shooting. "Yes, we are taking a strict stand," said school spokesman Joe Lowenthal. He said that Bullock, a track athlete, has a disciplinary hearing scheduled for Thursday. Bullock said he hopes to be allowed back into school. He also wants to compete in a regional meet on Friday. "This is going to affect him getting into college, getting a scholarship," said Stallings, a former state senator. A fan of authors Stephen King and Dean Koontz, Bullock said he appreciates stories that mix fantasy with reality. For his essay, he was asked to describe a gift he would give the school. Bullock wrote about a fictional student giving a speech. The student describes his gift in hints to the school audience. In the last paragraph of the essay, the student reveals that he has a nuclear bomb strapped to his chest. Bullock said the reader is left wondering whether the bomb goes off. "If they're going to charge me with a felony, then they need to charge the movie directors and authors who mix reality with imagination," he said. Bullock's mother, Beverly Bullock, is a teacher in Portsmouth, Va. She said she believes fire authorities overreacted. "As a teacher myself, we have to instill in the children to be creative, as well as to have the mechanics together," she said. "He's always been very creative. He's always loved to write." Cameron M. Harris, assistant state superintendent for assessment and reporting, said test readers report anything questionable to the local division testing director. "If a reader encounters a paper that would indicate what we call an alerting situation -- if there something in the paper indicative of a student doing harm to themselves or some type of abuse -- if that occurs, we have a procedure where they go directly to the school division with this information," Harris said. Bullock is at least the second student in the greater Hampton Roads area to be charged based on answers to the writing portion of the Standards of Learning test. A 17-year-old Gloucester High School student was arrested this month for threatening to bomb a school. "It's what I call 'subzero tolerance,"' said Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia. "'Subzero tolerance' is where punishment is given for behavior not even violating any rules." Willis said that the American Civil Liberties Union, which defends free speech and other Constitutional rights, has fielded dozens of telephone calls and e-mail messages from across Virginia in the month since the shooting at Columbine High School near Littleton, Colo. The inquiries are coming from students suspended from schools for their words, writings or dress, such as trenchcoats and black makeup. Schools are given greater latitude than the rest of society in controlling students' behavior when it comes to protecting safety, Willis said. But a "genuine threat to school safety" should be shown, he said. Willis said there has been an overreaction from schools since Littleton. "These are the musings of young students," Willis said. "They do not always use appropriate language. It is the schools' obligation to differentiate between that which is a serious threat and that which is merely inappropriate language." Taking the "easy route" and kicking out all students who use certain words without determining whether true threats exist erodes students' confidence in government and authority, Willis said. "It may do more harm than good," he said. "It's happening all over the state. It's hard to say at this point whether or not it's an epidemic. ... What we're hoping is that it is an immediate and short-lived reaction to Littleton. We're hoping that over the summer cooler minds will prevail." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Of course, this is just my opinion. I could be wrong." Dennis Miller http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5285/connector1.html Reality Pump: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/Reality_Pump2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! 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