Student arrested for creating a game map of his school

[Bigfoot]

One tragedy happens, and now look how scared the world is. Is it ironic that the student is also Chinese? I've played a CS-S map that mimicked a store, so I guess whoever created that map should be targeted as a terrorist threat and arrested as well.

http://www.fortbendnow.com/news/2847/chinese-community-rallies-behind-student-removed-from-clements-over-pc-game-map

"a hammer was found in the boy’s room, which he used to fix his bed, because it wasn’t in good shape, Chen said. He indicated police seized the hammer as a potential weapon. They decided he was a terroristic threat." ROFL, wow...


Edit: bleh, I hate how we can't edit the title :|

[Citris]

He's also a witch! Burn him!

..AND Chinese? So he's a Communist too! Execute him!

BETTER DEAD THAN RED!

[The Orichalcon]

Retarded. I made a UT map of our school that even the teachers used to play back in high school. Harmless fun. Not everyone is a psycho-killer.

[Blake]

wow...that is really sad. but i can't stop giggling at the terroristic threat" proposed by the hammer.

[Bigfoot]

wow...that is really sad. but i can't stop giggling at the terroristic threat" proposed by the hammer.

Haha, yeah, I mean I'm sure they didn't decide he was a terrorist threat as the result of finding the hammer, but having that statement in the article come right after the hammer part makes it sound that way, lol.

[Raziellink]

Unbelieveable!

Kinda reminds me of.... http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/01/25

[Steben]

What rule did he break? There are rules/laws against simulating public schools in video games?

[DragonFireKai]

When will people learn that being profficient in counterstrike does not make you profficient in urban warfare?

[Bigfoot]

When will people learn that being profficient in counterstrike does not make you profficient in urban warfare?

30 years from now when people our age are in the government/political situations.

[Avatar of Justice]

I honestly believed people wouldn't be dumb enough to blame ALL asians over the Virginia Tech massacre and would just see him as the lone crazy that he was. But humanity never fails to disappoint. I believe the kid in this story was asian as well (so say the people on Slashdot).

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070425essay,1,696682.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true

[Mr.Roboto]

Duh.Clearly the hammer was a perfect reason for such actions!

http://media.urbandictionary.com/image/large/communism-5705.jpg

HES CLEARLY A COMMUNIST SPY!

[Bigfoot]

I honestly believed people wouldn't be dumb enough to blame ALL asians over the Virginia Tech massacre and would just see him as the lone crazy that he was. But humanity never fails to disappoint. I believe the kid in this story was asian as well (so say the people on Slashdot).

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070425essay,1,696682.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true

Can you copy and paste? I have to log in to see that.
------------------------------------------------

But another thing to think about, doesn't a pretty good and well thought out map take a decent amount of time to complete? People are probably thinking he made this map after the VT shootings, but he has probably been working on this map for weeks or months.

[Mr.Roboto]

That doesn't matter.

They'll simply say he made it due to Columbine.

[Avatar of Justice]

Here it is.

High school senior Allen Lee sat down with his creative writing class on Monday and penned an essay that so disturbed his teacher, school administrators and police that he was charged with disorderly conduct.

"I understand what happened recently at Virginia Tech," said the teen's father, Albert Lee, referring to last week's massacre of 32 students by gunman Seung-Hui Cho. "I understand the situation."

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Student essay arrest

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A high school senior in the northwest suburbs of Chicago was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for an essay he wrote in his creative writing class. What do you think of this response? I'm actually more concerned with the spelling ability of this "honor" student than the substance of his essay. Apparently spelling isn't part of teaching English anymore...
Submitted by: Matt
2:59 PM CDT, Apr 27, 2007 OH--and the kid in Arizona? He's charged with INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM because he owns a ski mask (for motorcycle riding & cold-weather camping). INteresting comparison....
Submitted by: Mary
2:56 PM CDT, Apr 27, 2007 Read more comments or post your own



But he added: "I don't see how somebody can get charged by writing in their homework. The teacher asked them to express themselves, and he followed instructions."

Allen Lee, an 18-year-old straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School, was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with disorderly conduct for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location.

The youth's father said his son was not suspended or expelled but was forced to attend classes elsewhere for now.

Today, Cary-Grove students rallied behind the arrested teen by organizing a petition drive to let him back in their school. They posted on walls quotes from the English teacher in which she had encouraged students to express their emotions through writing.

"I'm not going to lie. I signed the petition," said senior James Gitzinger. "But I can understand where the administration is coming from. I think I would react the same way if I was a teacher."

Cary Police Chief Ron Delelio said the charge was appropriate even though the essay was not published or posted for public viewing.

Disorderly conduct, which carries a penalty of 30 days in jail and a $1,500 fine, is filed for pranks such as pulling a fire alarm or dialing 911. But it can also apply when someone's writings can disturb an individual, Delelio said.

"The teacher was alarmed and disturbed by the content," he said.

But a civil rights advocate said the teacher's reaction to an essay shouldn't make it a crime.

"One of the elements is that some sort of disorder or disruption is created," said Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. "When something is done in private—when a paper is handed in to a teacher—there isn't a disruption."

The "key outcomes" this month for the Creative English class was for students to identify and utilize poetic conventions to communicate ideas and emotions. With that in mind, teachers reminded students that if they read something that posed a threat to self or others, the school could take action, said High School District 155 Supt. Jill Hawk.

The English teacher read the essay and reported it to a supervisor and the principal. A round-table discussion with district officials conveyed, with lively debate, and they decided to report it to the police.

"Our staff is very familiar with adolescent behavior. We're very well versed with types of creativity put into writing. We know the standards of adolescent behavior that are acceptable and that there is a range," Hawk said.

"There can certainly be writing that conveys concern for us even though it does not name names location or date," he said.

The charge against Lee comes as schools across the country wrestle with how to react in the wake of the shootings at the Virginia Tech campus at Blacksburg, Va.

Bomb threats at high schools in Schaumburg and Country Club Hills have caused evacuations, and extra police were on duty at a Palos Hills high school this week because of a threatening note found in the bathroom of a McDonald's restaurant a half-mile away.

Experts say the charge against Lee is troubling because it was over an essay that even police say contained no direct threats against anyone at the school. However, Virginia Tech's actions toward Cho came under heavy scrutiny after the killings because of the "disturbing" plays and essays teachers say he had written for classes.

Simmie Baer, an attorney with the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University, called the Cary incident an example of zero-tolerance policies gone awry. Children, she said, are not as sophisticated as adults and often show emotion through writing or pictures, which is what teachers should want because it is a safe outlet.

[The Orichalcon]

http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/8453/hammerterrorpj7.png

[Penfold]

Duh.Clearly the hammer was a perfect reason for such actions!

http://media.urbandictionary.com/image/large/communism-5705.jpg

HES CLEARLY A COMMUNIST SPY!

lol (10characters)

[Mr.Roboto]

Wait.If someone writes something that "disturbs" me,I can have them arrested,thrown in prison for 30 days with a 1500 dollar fine?

Wow.

[suzumebachi]

So much for the first amendment.

I made a Quake map of my middle school way back in the day for a SCHOOL PROJECT. And now kids are getting sent to jail for the same thing. WTF is wrong with people?

[Fratto]

I was disturbed by a phone call I got from the FBI. I thought I was in some deep shit when the Bureau left me an urgent voicemail.

Every one of those bastards should be thrown in jail.

I mean, as it turns out, I just had to help them with a background check for one of my USAF buddies, but it apparently is not about intent. It's about the fact that they disrupted my class because my cell phone was still set to loud and when I was questioned about why I would ever be listening to my voicemail in the middle of lecture I had to admit that the FBI was calling me.


That and Charles Dickens. I want his ass posthumously fined for writing Great Expectations.

We are a lame society right now.

[Mr. Bottle Rocket]

glad i never learned to map. :-|

[ProFiction]

When will people learn that being profficient in counterstrike does not make you profficient in urban warfare?Yeah really, they aren't even on the same engine.

[VGJunky]

Pretty damn ridiculous. Video games aren't a sign... there's usually plenty of other signs that people just plain ignore because they're too stupid to see them

[Raenok]

So much for the first amendment.

I made a Quake map of my middle school way back in the day for a SCHOOL PROJECT. And now kids are getting sent to jail for the same thing. WTF is wrong with people?

If we start to listen to some mustached guy called "Big Brother", run like HELL to Eurasia/Eastasia.

[NNY]

There's a CS map of my high school. It would be neat to see it because I don't play CS.

[Avatar of Justice]

I mean, as it turns out, I just had to help them with a background check for one of my USAF buddies, but it apparently is not about intent. It's about the fact that they disrupted my class because my cell phone was still set to loud and when I was questioned about why I would ever be listening to my voicemail in the middle of lecture I had to admit that the FBI was calling me.

I would've just lied, and said I forgot to cut my phone off or something.

[The Coop]

Not everyone is a psycho-killer.

They'd rather play the "what if?" game. Gives them some time in the spotlight... despite being in that spotlight for the wrong reasons.

[Neo Samus]

The sad thing is, I said this might happen in the VT thread. God I wish I was wrong. Oh and that Chicago Trib article was about an asian student as well. I hate how they play the "What if" game like Coop said. Sickens me.

[BlueMage]

When will people learn that being profficient in counterstrike does not make you profficient in urban warfare?

BUT YOU POINT AND CLICK JUST LIKE IN COUNTERSTRIKE!

Oh wait, we've done this already, haven't we? :)

[Merk]

Arrest Team SOHO for creating a map of all of London for The Getaway
Arrest Activision for creating a map of both LA and NYC for True Crime

[/preaching to the choir]

[Bigfoot]

Might as well ban Grand Theft Auto IV and arrest everyone involved in Grand Theft Auto IV. Isn't it supposed to be exactly like NYC? It's just training teenagers how to plan and murder people one the streets.

[Dyne]

All I can say is welcome to the world of tomorrow, in which we live in fear of each other, and nobody can say one little thing outside of being politically correct without being marked a criminal or a terrorist.

Seriously people, the world's going to hell, and nobody's doing a damn thing about it. What a waste.

[herograw]

dyne is a terrorist

[Brushfire]

Sigh..... Some people's kids.

[Villainelle]

Some anonymous parent in the comments for the original article made a great point...

There are just too many non- or mis-educated idiots out there who flip out over things they don't understand and/or misinterpret, willingly spy and report on their neighbors, and love to cultivate this neo-McCarthyist fear-obssesed thought police state etc. etc.

Rather than react every time something new and impressively more stupid happens, parents need to step up and start teaching their kids to be media/culture-savvy, and to know and defend their personal rights. Ideally this poor kid should have known that making a map of his school for an FPS is incredibly risqué--not that that should stop him from having harmless fun, but that he needs to take steps to protect himself for touching on "controversial" issues.

I do hope the family sues the fuck out of the school/law enforcement/everyone ever for caving to such blatant profiling, if only to get some media exposure of their own.

You don't just sit on your ass while this gets worse. Time to accept that white yuppie parents are going to hyperventilate every time they see a gun or a racial and/or class minority etc. and try to jail your kid before he becomes T3H T3RR0AR15T5.

[Dyne]

dyne is a terrorist
Ridiculous accusations like that, even jokingly, are what get people into trouble.
Some anonymous parent in the comments for the original article made a great point...

There are just too many non- or mis-educated idiots out there who flip out over things they don't understand and/or misinterpret, willingly spy and report on their neighbors, and love to cultivate this neo-McCarthyist fear-obssesed thought police state etc. etc.

Rather than react every time something new and impressively more stupid happens, parents need to step up and start teaching their kids to be media/culture-savvy, and to know and defend their personal rights. Ideally this poor kid should have known that making a map of his school for an FPS is incredibly risqué--not that that should stop him from having harmless fun, but that he needs to take steps to protect himself for touching on "controversial" issues.

I do hope the family sues the fuck out of the school/law enforcement/everyone ever for caving to such blatant profiling, if only to get some media exposure of their own.

You don't just sit on your ass while this gets worse. Time to accept that white yuppie parents are going to hyperventilate every time they see a gun or a racial and/or class minority etc. and try to jail your kid before he becomes T3H T3RR0AR15T5.

Exactly. That's an EXCELLENT point. People need to stop jumping to conclusions immediately without the facts of the matter at hand. The problem with this situation is the fact that the "fear" of a situation like Virginia Tech or Columbine is a very real matter. On top of that, the fear from the Virginia Tech incident is still fresh in people's minds, hence, you're going to have people jumping on every little situation as though it were on the scale of one of those tragedies. Until people learn to dissect the truth from the situation, these things are going to continue to grow out of proportion until we've no freedoms left to enjoy.

[Bigfoot]

Yeah, I'd sue too. I mean, being called a TERRORIST THREAT is freaking HUGE. Talk about slander, sheesh.

[Citris]

Some anonymous parent in the comments for the original article made a great point...

There are just too many non- or mis-educated idiots out there who flip out over things they don't understand and/or misinterpret, willingly spy and report on their neighbors, and love to cultivate this neo-McCarthyist fear-obssesed thought police state etc. etc.

Rather than react every time something new and impressively more stupid happens, parents need to step up and start teaching their kids to be media/culture-savvy, and to know and defend their personal rights. Ideally this poor kid should have known that making a map of his school for an FPS is incredibly risqué--not that that should stop him from having harmless fun, but that he needs to take steps to protect himself for touching on "controversial" issues.

I do hope the family sues the fuck out of the school/law enforcement/everyone ever for caving to such blatant profiling, if only to get some media exposure of their own.

You don't just sit on your ass while this gets worse. Time to accept that white yuppie parents are going to hyperventilate every time they see a gun or a racial and/or class minority etc. and try to jail your kid before he becomes T3H T3RR0AR15T5.

I was going to post, but she just said everything I was going to say.

[[\(-_-)/]]

This just pisses me off. Utter raw rage.

Stupid idiots need to learn how to THINK before they take actions. The guy was INSTRUCTED to use creative freedom.

Jesus motherfucking christ...

[yangfeili]

Waaaay before Columbine, when I was in 7th or 8th grade, I was planning to make a Duke Nukem map of my school. Not because I was some crazy maniac, but because it was something that I and all the friends I played the game with had a personal connection to, something which we all shared and were familiar with. Plus, there's the challenge of trying to recreate a familiar environment. It wasn't a sign of some sort of violent disconnect with my peers: it was the exact opposite, a product of a sense of camaraderie.

It's no more crazy than having a water gun fight in the school hallway during a summer program--something else we did a couple of times. I've seen maps for games based on famous sites like the Parthenon. Do we need to crack down on those as well, and on anyone who attempts to recreate a real world location?

[SetzerGabbiani]

I am disturbed as to where this conversation is going. I am reporting you all as I type this message.

But in all seriousness, you can't write papers, create maps, or even express yourself through music (Rap, anyone?) without being labled "this" or "that" anymore. Just puttin my 2 cents in.

Anyways, I gotta go take a s**t, and im gonna use the Bill of Rights as TP, cause that's about all it's worth right now. This world is going to get real "V for Vendetta-ish" soon. Get your masks ready =/

[Mr.Roboto]

Holy shit.

Think about it..Legos.

THEY'RE GIVING OUR CHILDREN THE ABILITY TO RECREATE OUR TOWNS/SCHOOLS/MALLS/ETC!ONOES!

BAN TEH LEGOS!

[herograw]

Ridiculous accusations like that, even jokingly, are what get people into trouble.

To modify ones behavior in the face of stupidity is to buy into it.

[Jillian Aversa]

Wow, this is my roommate's high school. She's Chinese American. Should I be worried now? ^_~

[The Author]

Wow, this is my roommate's high school. She's Chinese American. Should I be worried now? ^_~


Obviously.

She's Asian and thus proficient in 25 forms of martial arts. She is also good with firearms because she may have turned on a computer at some point in her life.

Do not use the common secret op trigger words around her like Jackal, Jihad, or Pretzel, or it may trigger a murderous rage.

[Darklink42]

Man, I'm suddenly glad I never made that Starcraft map of my old school. *shifty eyes*

In all seriousness though, this is bordering on complete retardation. Since when is a hammer a "Terroristic threat"? Or a lite brite a bomb threat? (Think boston) Since when do large groups of people turn into terrified rodents? I can't even imagine what is going to trigger the next major panic. How about a Tickle-me Elmo that drops out of a tree and starts giggling? Or maybe a kid that gets caught with the Calvin and Hobbes comic which talked about him blowing the school to a crater somewhere in his backpack?
I predict that by the end of a two year period, the jails will be overflowing with deliquent third graders who dared to play cops and robbers and fake shooting each other.

[Jillian Aversa]

I dunno if you guys read some of the comments posted at the bottom of the article, but people in the area surmise that the harsh punishment was actually a political move, due to an upcoming election.

[Bigfoot]

I dunno if you guys read some of the comments posted at the bottom of the article, but people in the area surmise that the harsh punishment was actually a political move, due to an upcoming election.

I wouldn't doubt it one bit.

[Nicole Adams]

Yeah, so they're trying to justify the hell out of it by any means possible. Gotta love politics!

[Zaboomafoo]

I was making a game in RPGMaker XP where all the maps were designed after the University of Louisville, but now I'm glad there was an RTP error when it was made and the game wasn't playable.

When I was in high school, some of my friends made a map of our school, but nobody cared. Well, nobody probably knew about it either.

[Dunnowhathuh]

Obviously.

She's Asian and thus proficient in 25 forms of martial arts.

Gotta love how many times that stereotype is used. I can't say much to disprove it though cuz I'm asian and know martial arts....Anyways, poor kid. Honestly, some parents overreact waaay too much sometimes. As for the authorities, I have a hammer in my room, I also have a screw driver set and a Leatherman. Guess I'd be pretty screwed if the cops came knocking on my door.

[ProFiction]

Gotta love how many times that stereotype is used. I can't say much to disprove it though cuz I'm asian and know martial arts....Anyways, poor kid. Honestly, some parents overreact waaay too much sometimes. As for the authorities, I have a hammer in my room, I also have a screw driver set and a Leatherman. Guess I'd be pretty screwed if the cops came knocking on my door.They'll be right over.