I swear, as soon as I get that funding for a film crew to follow me around as I motorcycle about the country, I'll visit you.

or you could just show up and I'll drive you around . . .

To which I also say, "How did the freaking fake guns and drugs get onto school property???"

From everything I can find, they weren't. Other pictures on their MySpace page were taken at the school, but not those.

According to The Associated Press, the students expulsion took place on November 7th after a parent sent a letter to Belleville High School officials complaining about the teenagers posting pictures of themselves ‘scowling around a pool table laid out with long-barreled guns, and holding a half-filled baggy and a handgun in the back of a limo’.

One of the arguments made was that the limo was one that they took to a school dance, and they had the toy gun in the limo, maybe they had it at the dance. That's as close as they can get to having anything on school property.

The school board found that they were guilty of "possessing look-alike weapons and drugs, gang activity and intimidation." As far as I can tell, all based on these photos on MySpace. Different articles use "suspended," "expelled," and "banned" so I'm not quite sure, but it sounds like five kids were expelled for the rest of the school year; two others were suspended for a week or two. I think that's what's behind the suit. I could see giving them all a suspension for violating rules and being foolish, but missing a full year of school because of this?

This is part of the superintendant's explanation:

Lazaroff said that another photo that shows the students in the school gym making what looks like gang hand signals are what allowed the district to take action. "If you show me a table of kids with guns and narcotics in a home - I can't do anything - unless I can have a link to gang activity on school grounds."
In the gym photo, two of the students were also wearing red, which Lazaroff said could be a sign of gang affiliation. One of the two had a red jacket and the other was wearing a red hat.
Students who were sitting around the table but were not in the gym photo could not be banned from the school, Lazaroff said. The boy whose house the photo of the guns was taken at was not banned from school because he wasn't in the gym photo, the superintendent said.

As best I can tell, because of these photos they think that either 1) the kids actually are in a gang, or 2) are pretending to be in a gang so well that actual gang members, who often go poking around on MySpace, will be fooled, come to the school and kill everyone.

In the gym photo, two of the students were also wearing red, which Lazaroff said could be a sign of gang affiliation. One of the two had a red jacket and the other was wearing a red hat.

As best I can tell, because of these photos they think that either 1) the kids actually are in a gang, or 2) are pretending to be in a gang so well that actual gang members, who often go poking around on MySpace, will be fooled, come to the school and kill everyone.

Is the Van Buren school system near Detroit? I ask that because unless the school system has a history of gangs, then it doesn't seem like "wearing red" and/or pretending to be in a gang is serious enough to warrant expulsion.

If there's an issue with Detroit gangs, then I can see more of a potential problem. (Although, honestly, I still think expulsion was overreaction.)

50 Greatest TV Icons.

My goodness Larry Hagman looks young in that picture.

This means I am old, doesn't it?

Is the Van Buren school system near Detroit?

Yes. About 15-20 miles or so. Closer to Romulus, though, which has had a long history of being a violent school district.

Is the Van Buren school system near Detroit?

Yes. About 15-20 miles or so. Closer to Romulus, though, which has had a long history of being a violent school district.

Well, that makes the boys' photos *definite* dumbassery. Expulsion for dumbassery seems extreme to me, though I might feel differently if I had kids.

Happy Birthday, ChiKat!

A friend's son and others were ticketed for a curfew violation a couple weekends ago. They'd gone to a movie at the mall after performing in a school concert so they were all in black pants and white shirts. The officer told them that the identical colors they were wearing were suspicious and so he ticketed them at 10:03 while they were waiting for the parent on duty to come pick them up. It's a $250 fine.

I thought, "A gang of mormons?"

I was going to comment on the school thing again but then I realized I would add a whole bunch of new hedging and my earlier comments already had enough hedging for a victorian garden maze.

my earlier comments already had enough hedging for a victorian garden maze.

Enough hedging for a very large hedgehog?