Written proposal to the school for Orgazmo/50 Cent...

[BigDongedHoe]

This is not decided if this will be turned in but I would like to barring the support of others on this topic. If we could possibly have a few more make notes it would make our voice only louder and eventually may geat Orgazmo and 50 back into school. If any of you have anything, anything at all to add or maybe something they would word differently please let me know because I am up for all suggestions.

To whom it may concern:
My name is Brandon Conley and I happen to be a friend of Austin and Matt, two students whom were punished for actions regarding vulgar postings on an internet message board. I happened to of read the posts along with others and like you found them to be out of line. While the context of these messages was found to be very vulgar you do not know these guys like I do. These messages while coming off in a threatening manner were not intended to be that way at all. These messages were posted with the greatest of sarcasm and joking ness. Both guys entered with the intentions to be funny and while they weren’t found funny by the majority of people, the fact that they meant this without spiteful intentions should come into consideration.
I have known Austin since the first grade and have found him to be a very amazing person. Austin has the ability to connect with all people on every level. He is liked by all types of people regardless of there “social standing.” I want you to ask any student who knows Austin, any student at all who has talked to him and I guarantee they would have nothing but positive comments to say about him. I don’t ever remember Austin getting in trouble or causing any trouble for that matter. I think his grades and academic achievements can only further prove that. As well as a $10,000 dollar scholarship he will be receiving while attending Ball State University next year. These all add up to a kid who is that vulgar and out of line? You refer to “watermelon seeds” as a racial term but how could you do that, based off of your remembrance of how that term was used in the 60’s? Before this all happened I never knew that “watermelons” were associated with African American people. To say that this had any sort of racial harassment at all is not only ludicrous but very outlandish as well.
I have known Matt since the 7th grade and have found him to be just as good of a person as Austin. Matt like Austin is an honors student and I don’t believe he has ever been in any sort of trouble at school as well. Matt also has plans to attend Ball State University next year, which only further proves a great quality he has, goal setting. While a lot of seniors are deciding upon there college choice this year Matt has already decided and knows where he wants to go and I think like the rest of us he is excited to get there. I assume just like me there will be some sad times come commencement time and all of us will leave a little something at WCHS. These two are as much a part of our class as anybody and they may now miss out on the last half of there senior year and why? Because some people on an internet message board happened to find what they were saying to be not funny.
Both of these guys know what they did was wrong and they have taken a lot of heat, from administrators making things up to try and get them to “admit” to thing that weren’t true to being told they “are a disgrace to our community.” Austin being a straight A honors student and being one of the top students in the school only to contribute to our schools great academic standing further is “a disgrace to the community,” you can’t tell me what he did overrides all the great things he has done. Both also wrote out written apologies on www.hickoryhusker.com and posted them only for Hickory Husker himself to accept there apology. Not only did he accept the apology but also thought the punishment did not fit the bill just as the rest of us do. Another member under the username of “Purple_reign4” posted: “As much as I cringe at the fact of supporting someone from Warsaw..lol.. I must say that these apologies to Husker are well thought out and presented very sincerely and professionally. With all of the talk yesterday about WCHS suspending the culprits and not allowing them to graduate, I hope that the school will not travel that road. A few days in detention and being banned from using school computers again should suffice and send a strong message to others.” That was posted on March 5th @ 12:59 P.M. Merely six minutes later on March 5th @ 1:05 P.M. Hickory Husker posted a simple message saying: “agreed”. The owner of the site perhaps the most offended of all agreed that the current punishment is much too harsh and forgave them for what they did. Just recently posted on March 5th @ 7:08 P.M. HickoryHusker posted: “I also agree. High school students sometimes make poor choices. I was directly targeted by this, and have accepted what I feel is a very genuine apology. I honestly don't know what the appropriate action should be. That's not my decision. However, I consider the matter closed, and I am always one to offer second chances. Often times lessons are learned before any punishment is administered. That may be the case here.”
Recently two students were kicked out of school for around 10 days because they came to a basketball game intoxicated with alcohol. A fair punishment for something like that, but look at this now, two students jokingly post vulgar messages on a message board and then come out and apologize to the people on the board who said they understand they were joking and thought it was “stand-up” of them to come out and apologize. They get 15 day suspension and are only allowed to go to required classes in order to graduate? Dr. Brumfield was quoted in the paper as saying: “but administrators did not want to affect the students’ future.” Austin could possibly have his scholarship taken away from this and you say your not affecting there future? You are ruining two students’ lives and blowing it totally out of proportion as well by calling the paper. I don’t know if the paper contacted the school or if the school contacted the paper but to now have these kids publicly ridiculed is somewhat childish in my opinion. It’s one of those things where the school can gloat on how good they are with handling situations and showing that they “laid down the law” with these kids. I realize that we want our school to be respected and to make our school golden but you must realize that you cannot let other things confuse yourself in making it that way. It’s as if the drive to make our school golden is outweighing the fact of it truly being golden. You can say these kids aren’t publicly ridiculed because there names were not mentioned however everybody knows that if someone really wanted to find out the two kids that were suspended they could probably attain that information with great ease.
These two guys are getting punished already enough by being looked down upon by teachers and fellow students who found what they said offensive. To not allow them to participate in there last nine weeks classes is not only an unfair punishment but a true injustice in general. They are both a part of our senior class and I am proud to call them classmates regardless of what they said or did, don’t let them not affect other peoples lives in a positive way as they already have done with many people. I write this letter not to start a big protest or even to start any trouble at all but to merely state what I and others feel about the situation. Below you will see a signature of many students who have read this and feel the exact same way that I do, I hope you will take this into consideration and re-think what type of punishment these two deserve. They are not a negative influence on our school but yet a positive and there academic achievements prove that, lets not forget the great things they have done with there lives as well

Sincerely,
Insert My Name
Class of 2003


[This message has been edited by BigDongedHoe (edited March 05, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by BigDongedHoe (edited March 10, 2003).]

[AcTivE]

have read through it once, and these are only my opinions

it is too informal, "My name is Brandon Conley and I happen to be a friend of Austin and Matt..."--is one student writing up their opinions of them, then having others signing saying "I agree"

I also believe putting

"Recently two students were kicked out of school for around 10 days because they came to a basketball game intoxicated with alcohol"

is not good..not just because they are two of good friends, but it is irrelevant, they aren't going to like it.

Also saying that it was blown way out of proportion is not good...

and here is why

I talked to my mom about it, and being the wonderful mother that she is (some of you know how much I love her ), she said that she thinks the punishment is fit...why?

I can't quite recall all of the facts because of other circumstances, but the general idea was "because of the Terrorist attacks", alright, it obviously wasn't a terrorist threat, but then I started thinking...and columbine

i'm thinking brumfield is feeling pretty cool as the head of the school, she probably feels that she has lots of power, and most undoubtedly masturbates to the thought of herself being principal

taking that into consideration the school is "hers" (my opinion only), and she must do everything in her power to show that she is in full control

when she gets a phone call from a website, and reads the stuff said, of course she is going to flip....the idea of someone calling the school saying one of your students posted this XXX on this website--it's not good. she's probably thinking about news effect, students threatening other students??

I don't know..thats what I'm thiking...50 said she weas yelling, so that's how I would interpret how she is thinking.

so the punishment is fit in her mind--threatening other students is not funny, but rather should result in a very bold statement that it will not be tolerated...

remember friday schools for belts showing? lets get fucking serious

alright, now to get to my main point...if you really want to write a letter, I think it would need to be much more formal--something that points out the known characteristics to everyone, that everyone could sign...

I dont know really what..accomplishments, honor roll, clubs, awards, whatever...

then go on to explain this..

that the internet of this generation is known as something different than the generation overseeing us

its obvious--wouldn't you say most adults go to their kids if they don't know something?

we are on two completely different levels...

then I would point out that they were posting under FICTISIOUS, FUCKING FICTIOUS (probably mispelled that, but you understand, yelling, very bold words), names. This is simply "role-playing" under the given Nickname, and while it is inappropriate, should not be given a punishment that is equivalent to a fucking bomb threat


I dunno..just my thoughts

[Ugly Bastard]

Consider this gorgeous petition signed by me. (Conley, before you give this to the Administration, have someone go through and proofread it for you...it needs some commas and stuff. It will only make you/us look more professional)

Also, I'm not sure if they care to have my signature or not, seeing as how I am no longer a WCHS student, so feel free to add my name to the petition or not, it's up to you.

UB

WCHS Class of 2002

[BigDongedHoe]

I understand where you are coming from, my parents both think the school is out of control on this and agreed with me. However my dad brought up the same point that the letter may be a bit to informal and opinionative. I am open for any suggestions and if anybody would like to revise it and put there name on it that is fine. I'm a little hesitant to put my name on it and send it in, in fear that they will some how construe it into getting me in trouble by bringing up specifics about the incident and then allowing other students to see it.

I dunno right now it is all a thought, maybe I should make it anonymously?

[AcTivE]

call me a pussy, but I'd be afraid to sign it--just because of the fact its to informal and kinda bashes the administration

layed out in a more formal manner..with common sense backing it up, then saying, dont you think this is a little rediculous, in a nice way....and its a petition

i think

[Titan]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>With all of the talk yesterday about WCHS suspending the culprits and not allowing them to graduate, I hope that the school will not travel that road. A few days in detention and being banned from using school computers again should suffice and send a strong message to others.” That was posted on March 5th @ 12:59 P.M. Merely six minutes later on March 5th @ 1:05 P.M. Hickory Husker posted a simple message saying: “agreed”. The owner of the site perhaps the most offended of all agreed that the current punishment is much too harsh and forgave them for what they did. Just recently posted on March 5th @ 7:08 P.M. HickoryHusker posted: “I also agree. High school students sometimes make poor choices. I was directly targeted by this, and have accepted what I feel is a very genuine apology. I honestly don't know what the appropriate action should be. That's not my decision. However, I consider the matter closed, and I am always one to offer second chances. Often times lessons are learned before any punishment is administered. That may be the case here.”
Recently two students were kicked out of school for around 10 days because they came to a basketball game intoxicated with alcohol. A fair punishment for something like that, but look at this now, two students jokingly post vulgar messages on a message board and then come out and apologize to the people on the board who said they understand they were joking and thought it was “stand-up” of them to come out and apologize. They get 15 day suspension and are only allowed to go to required classes in order to graduate? Dr. Brumfield was quoted in the paper as saying: “but administrators did not want to affect the students’ future.” Austin could possibly have his scholarship taken away from this and you say your not affecting there future?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

These are important points.
Revise and I sign.

Odd that I could reply to this but none of the other messages. I've been having a real hard time with Nubblies lately.

Anyway.
The point on this is that the punishment is clearly too severe.

Warsaw Community School System is clearly trying to show the unrealistic size of it's balls to the community, since most are smart enough to realize WCS is a steaming pile of shit, and has been ever since Dr. Lee Harman and Dr. Anthony D. Etienne resigned. No one, especially Dr. McGuire know what the fuck they're doing. If this wasn't obvious before with the ENORMOUS amount of complaints from students AND parents AND teachers about a shitload of issues, it is clear now, with this gigantic load of horse shit.

WCS has always had the problem, like many authority figures, of believing that negative reinforcement is a cureall. When in reality, it's a curenothing. It only ever A.) leaves you where you were in the first place, or B.) makes things worse.

My GOD! My wife just got hit today because someone hit her.

WHY? BECAUSE THE ROADS ARE ICY AND SHE HAD TO DRIVE ON THEM!!!

WHY?? BECAUSE MCGUIRE DOESN'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT CANCELLING SCHOOL!!!




[This message has been edited by Titan (edited March 05, 2003).]

If you decide to go Active's route and you need a list of my accomplishments/awards and what not, just ask and I'll give you the list (there are so many it's not even funny...j/k) but yeah I can probably hook you up with that if you need it.

[Lethal]

I think Active is correct. Look back over his post and go that route. Also, unless the drinking thing is takin out I will not be signing this letter, I also feel it isn't needed but with that in there and then me siging it as one of those students, my signiture would mean nothing.

[Titan]

Don't take the drinking part out, the comparison to the two punishments is key.

[BigDongedHoe]

I dunno the more and more response I get on this the more hesitant I am to give it to them.

[Lethal]

BDH we can work on it in third period as a small group and perfect it.

[Combat Chuck]

I have to agree that keeping the juxtaposition of the two punishments is a good element to keep.

However, the informal arguing and bashing needs to be edited and made to sound more professional.

I agree, more revising, and my signature is on the puppy.....not to say that I'm not as nervous as you guys, but the punishment DOES NOT fit the crime. DOES NOT.

[AcTivE]

you have to settle the fuck down and use some common sense though..

adding the drinking in wont be good, gaurantee it...

i always argue w/my parents, and then i say what about XXX brother

and they respond with

we are talking about you


it would seem to me the administrators together would have a similar viewpoint, while both things are wrong, they are not in the same category--in the eyes of the administrators

they made their deciscion based on what they see particular to THIS incident--they have dealt with drinking, drugs before, and have determined a fit punishment for it...my guess because of the frequency which it occurs

You guys could probably get Mr. Waldeck's opinion on it, I'm pretty sure he doesn't think we're evil people.

[AcTivE]

I think it would also be good to come into contact with the webmaster of hickoryhusker.com

--get him to explain the situation he encounters in his job. He has to moderate this forums, and finds himself dealing with a nuisance--so, being the appropriate webmaster that he is, he looks at the IP Address of the offending poster, as anyone would do to stop posts from that IP (tie this into them not understanding technology), and naturally he ran a traceroute (they wont have any idea what this is), and finds that it is coming from a school

so, he knows he can stop this at the source and get some kids in trouble for posting naughty things

probably never did the thought of it being considered a threat--newspaper material crossed his mind


of course this is all speculation..but if someone could come into good contact w/him and explain the situation...get his viewpoint on it, find out what he said to the school

We basically already know what happened. I dont think he was the one that emailed the school. He's a coach of some team in Central Indiana. He has a friend whose an administrator of some school. He had them email the posts to our school. It went along the lines of something like, your students posted bad shit on my site, I know that kids will be kids but I found these to be a little appauling. I'm just sending this to notify you of the problem so you could scare the kids into not doing this again.

So basically all the guy wanted done is he wanted us to be scared a little bit and thats about it.

[AcTivE]

50-cent

if i were you i would try to come in contact with any of the people on the website end--try and see if you can get any of them to care what happened


understand now?

[This message has been edited by AcTivE (edited March 05, 2003).]

Active, could you try and make some sense out of that last post for me? Thanks buddy.

[This message has been edited by 50 Cent (edited March 05, 2003).]

50's dad and mine will be part of a meeting on Monday... Perhaps we should wait until we see what the result of this meeting is before this piece is turned in...

On a sidenote, thanks for making that, BDH. And thanks to all of you for caring so much. It really is cool that so many people are willing to do so many things. It sucks to be suspended/expelled...but it's really nice to see all of this. Thanks.

I agree Orgazmo, words really can't describe my appreciation for your support and your actually caring about the situation. Thanks though. Really.

Yeah, no kidding. Every single person who asks what's happening follows it up with an "if there is anythign I can do..." clause. It's absolutely amazing. People who I hardly talk to ask out of courtesy, and people who I'm good friends do stuff like make 3 or 4 page long letters. It's honestly amazing and more appreciated than you ever could know. Thank you so much.

Also, Active, if you go the www.hickoryhusker.com and go to the forum titled "scoreboard show" and scroll down a bit, you'll see a topic titled "Apology" that's my apology letter, Austin's is right below that. Everyone thinks that the punishment is wrong, there are quite a few replies to the message also, I have printed just about all of them off and my father will be taking those in with him. Among the replies was Mr. HickoryHusker himself, telling us he forgives us, and agreeing that few dententions would suffice as punishment.

[BigDongedHoe]

I to noticed that and included those in my petition. I think those are critical points because it shows that hickory does/did not feel threatened rather annoyed. In a court of law intent is extremely important and it has been proven now that your intent was obviously of sarcasm and to be funny, NOT to threaten somebody. I think that could be a very valueable point if brought up.

[Lethal]

After talking to my father tonight about certain items pertaining to this topic i learned a little bit. He now is also quite pissed at the WCHS administration for being complete assholes. His office has even been contacted by a student involved. He also stated to me that even the police cannot lie and make up stories to get people to confess to things they didn't do. Yet the WCHS adminstration can? I never knew they were above the law.

[Trout Sniffer]

Well, it's all a bunch of bullshit, because they also lied to me and another student as well. They told me that 50 and Orgazmo blamed me and said that I posted all of the shit, when the entire time they were telling them that Fussle and I didn't do anything. This is all bullshit and I think we need Lawyers. They stepped way over the line on this one. I will be receiving more information tomorrow after my father and another father goes in and talks to the administration about all of this. Also, I printed out the apologies and all of the replies and I believe that my dad will present that as well.