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| Kentucky sci-fi story leads to terrorism charge |
| 2005-02-28 |
| Student Arrested For Terroristic Threatening Says Incident A Misunderstanding A George Rogers Clark High School junior arrested Tuesday for making terrorist threats told LEX 18 News Thursday that the "writings" that got him arrested are being taken out of context. Winchester police say William Poole, 18, was taken into custody Tuesday morning. Investigators say they discovered materials at Poole's home that outline possible acts of violence aimed at students, teachers, and police. Poole told LEX 18 that the whole incident is a big misunderstanding. He claims that what his grandparents found in his journal and turned into police was a short story he wrote for English class. "My story is based on fiction," said Poole, who faces a second-degree felony terrorist threatening charge. "It's a fake story. I made it up. I've been working on one of my short stories, (and) the short story they found was about zombies. Yes, it did say a high school. It was about a high school over ran by zombies." NEA teachers? Redneck cops? Mr. Poole is also a bit fuzzy on the tense thing ("over ran by zombies"), but his heart is in the right place. Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony. "Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it's a felony in the state of Kentucky," said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill. My newest story involves a terrorist attack on an academic research facility. Good thing it's not in Kentucky. Poole disputes that he was threatening anyone. "It didn't mention nobody who lives in Clark County, didn't mention (George Rogers Clark High School), didn't mention no principal or cops, nothing," Hmmmm, sounds like maybe, FICTION, to me.said Poole. "Half the people at high school know me. They know I'm not that stupid, that crazy." Yes, but how stupid and how crazy are the yokel authorities? On Thursday, a judge raised Poole's bond from one to five thousand dollars after prosecutors requested it, citing the seriousness of the charge. Poole is being held at the Clark County Detention Center. |
| Posted by:Atomic Conspiracy |
| #25 Oh my. "Freudian typo" if ever there was one. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-02-28 4:50:43 PM |
| #24 "judge raised Poole’s bond from one to five thousand dollars after prosecutors requested it, citing the seriousness of the charge." This is INSANE! The seriousness of the charge? Bail is about the risk of flight, the risk of the individual carrying out furhter crimes, and the risk to the community. Raising the bail because some yahoo prosecuter says "its serious" is just a lame attempt of the prosecution to jail the kid and pressure him to make a deal. There is NO JUSTICE in this sort of thing and the prosecuter should be ashamed of such gross misconduct and abridgemnet of freedoms when they are only tryign to cover their asses for a horrid mistake in prosecuting this kid to begin with. I hope the kid gets to sue the prosecution and city/cunty and recover ALL the legal expenses this is going to cost him, plus a tidy sum for defamation. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-02-28 1:58:24 PM |
| #23 Oh my. "Freudian typo" if ever there was one. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-02-28 4:50:43 PM |
| #22 "judge raised Poole’s bond from one to five thousand dollars after prosecutors requested it, citing the seriousness of the charge." This is INSANE! The seriousness of the charge? Bail is about the risk of flight, the risk of the individual carrying out furhter crimes, and the risk to the community. Raising the bail because some yahoo prosecuter says "its serious" is just a lame attempt of the prosecution to jail the kid and pressure him to make a deal. There is NO JUSTICE in this sort of thing and the prosecuter should be ashamed of such gross misconduct and abridgemnet of freedoms when they are only tryign to cover their asses for a horrid mistake in prosecuting this kid to begin with. I hope the kid gets to sue the prosecution and city/cunty and recover ALL the legal expenses this is going to cost him, plus a tidy sum for defamation. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-02-28 1:58:24 PM |
| #21 hee hee! |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-02-28 5:02:15 PM |
| #20 Oh my. "Freudian typo" if ever there was one. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-02-28 4:50:43 PM |
| #19 I am hoping this is a Democrat |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-02-28 3:31:07 PM |
| #18 Uh, that's "county", OS - isn't it? |
| Posted by: Matt 2005-02-28 2:02:26 PM |
| #17 "judge raised Poole’s bond from one to five thousand dollars after prosecutors requested it, citing the seriousness of the charge." This is INSANE! The seriousness of the charge? Bail is about the risk of flight, the risk of the individual carrying out furhter crimes, and the risk to the community. Raising the bail because some yahoo prosecuter says "its serious" is just a lame attempt of the prosecution to jail the kid and pressure him to make a deal. There is NO JUSTICE in this sort of thing and the prosecuter should be ashamed of such gross misconduct and abridgemnet of freedoms when they are only tryign to cover their asses for a horrid mistake in prosecuting this kid to begin with. I hope the kid gets to sue the prosecution and city/cunty and recover ALL the legal expenses this is going to cost him, plus a tidy sum for defamation. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-02-28 1:58:24 PM |
| #16 Don't they teach English at George Rogers HS? It strikes me that the reporter may have "livened up" the language a bit. It certainly wouldn't have hurt the story to clean up bad grammar on the kid's part, so leaving it "rustic" seems to me to be a purposeful insult. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-02-28 12:08:12 PM |
| #15 Don't they teach English at George Rogers HS? It strikes me that the reporter may have "livened up" the language a bit. It certainly wouldn't have hurt the story to clean up bad grammar on the kid's part, so leaving it "rustic" seems to me to be a purposeful insult. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-02-28 12:07:56 PM |
| #14 Whoops! Thanks for correcting my mistake, Dorf. :-) Both cities begin with L, and I visited them both on the same day many years ago, so I managed to thoroughly confuse myself. At any rate, Lexington is at the moneyed end of the state, not the 'hollers' end. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-02-28 11:26:19 AM |
| #13 "It didn’t mention nobody who lives in Clark County, didn’t mention (George Rogers Clark High School), didn’t mention no principal or cops, nothing," said Poole. Don't they teach English at George Rogers HS? This kid needs all the practice he can get. |
| Posted by: GK 2005-02-28 11:11:33 AM |
| #12 It was about a high school over ran by zombies. "Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it’s a felony in the state of Kentucky," said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill. Oddly prescient, that Poole boy. |
| Posted by: BH 2005-02-28 10:10:01 AM |
| #11 mmmmmm..... whiskey |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-02-28 9:51:58 AM |
| #10 trailing wife ... Lexington, KY is bluegrass horse country, where the Derby is held... So sorry but the Derby is held in Louisville KY, 70 or so miles away. FWIW Lexington= coal money and Louisville= whiskey money |
| Posted by: Dorf 2005-02-28 9:03:16 AM |
| #9 A very learned Literature instructor once responded to my interest in Robert Heinlein by telling me that I would out-grow science fiction. That was in 1959 and it hasn't happened yet. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2005-02-28 8:46:40 AM |
| #8 I imagine he's never been his grandparents' favorite. Probably worried about those weird stories he's always writing. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-02-28 8:22:33 AM |
| #7 AC, Kucinichistan is the north end of Ohio, along Lake Erie up by Cleveland. Across from Kentucky is where Jerry Springer hails from, the part of the state that re-elected Bush. Lexington, KY is bluegrass horse country, where the Derby is held. And no, the local police don't have enough to do -- it's the other end of the state where the oxycontin pushers make their money. But I'm glad the boy isn't languishing in jail while he waits for the case to be dismissed on the grounds of stupidity. I imagine he's never been his grandparents' favorite. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-02-28 7:48:13 AM |
| #6 Hee hee, I believe that our esteemed correspondent #1 also has a vested interest in speculative fiction. Jame Retief |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2005-02-28 7:42:10 AM |
| #5 Any actual terrorists in that benighted part of the world must be laughing their asses off. It's not impossible that there are some, the weird zombie-realm of Kucinichistan is just across the Ohio River. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2005-02-28 7:26:16 AM |
| #4 I called the Clark County Detention Center this morning (about 5 minutes ago) to see if I could pay the kid's bail. Fortunately, someone has already bailed him. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2005-02-28 7:13:52 AM |
| #3 Jame Retief: They don't have many terrorist threats in Kenutcky, so I guess they over-reacted on this. No need to have a "meltdown". If it had been the FBI arresting him, then you could have a "meltdown". |
| Posted by: Charles 2005-02-28 7:05:06 AM |
| #2 Well he might get some help from a lawyer that knows about the First Amendment. They might be kind of rare down in Kentucky. When he gets out he may be tried for homicide when he kills his stupid grand parents! |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-02-28 7:04:16 AM |
| #1 MY BRAIN IS GOING TO EXPLODE!!!! How stupid can people be??? The first on my list are his moron grandparents BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONES TO TURN HIM OVER TO THE POLICE!!!!!! Clark County is not far from where I live. |
| Posted by: Jame Retief 2005-02-28 6:56:25 AM |