Hat tip to Allyn Gibson for bringing this to my attention. I kept this post back for a week while I thought on it and sought out more information, and I’ve decided to upload it in the hopes that it reveals more about the story. If the incident described is accurate, then it’s an indictment of the silly overreaction of authority figures in America in response to 9/11.
The story focuses on William Poole, an 18-year-old student at George Rogers Clark high school in Clark County, Kentucky. Two weeks ago, he was arrested on suspicion of terrorism, based on a tip from his own grandparents. As far as I know, he is still in custody, and police are firm in saying that what William has done is a felony.
According to the report, what so worried Poole’s grandparents and the police were notes towards a short story wherein a high school (not explicitly his high school) is attacked by zombies.
I’ll leave Allyn to unleash his anger:
Let’s think this through. He wrote a short story about frelling zombies.
Zombies don’t exist. You can’t overrun a high school with zombies because they don’t frelling exist.
And, for emphasis, let’s quote Poole:
“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.”
Now, looking at Google News, I can see that things may not be as clear cut as the first article makes out. Indeed, I can find only this one link that mentions that Poole is being incarcerated for his fiction. I find seven other links (including this one) which don’t mention the fiction but instead say that Poole was trying to organize a gang to take over the school:
“Police recovered writings in which Poole allegedly attempted to convince other students to participate in an armed takeover.”
On other blogs, a couple of individuals have come forward, preporting to be students at Poole’s school. They have claimed that Lex 18’s article is inaccurate, and that Poole was a known troublemaker. However, in this post, Allyn and others cast doubt on their assertions. To quote Bill Leisner:
It strikes me as odd the degree of weasely language Atkins (the principal of Clark High —jb) uses. “It sounded to be kind of an advertisement or recruiting …” That’s awful equivocal for someone who presumably helped convince the police and D.A. that Poole should be locked up as a terrorist, isn’t it? Even though he can categorically state that there are no zombies mentioned, and no school projects that he was writing fiction for, he hems and haws on the point of what, exactly, these writings are, and definitely seems to be keeping open the possibility that his interpretations isn’t necessarily correct. In some circles, this is called “reasonable doubt,” and ideally should prevent trumped up charges from being filed.
If it was really the case that the notes the authorities discovered suggested that Poole was trying to organize a gang to take over the school, why haven’t these writings been released? Why haven’t names of potential recruits been named? Why is it never stated that the high school itself was named? As Allyn notes, a writer’s notes can look very much like a battle plan.
Let’s see: in my many years of producing fan fiction, I’ve written stories about terrorists campaigning against the U.S., bombing Amtrak, public buildings, et cetera. I’m not particularly pleased that what I wrote as fiction has since become the fodder for news, but it was (and remains) fiction. Do I dare show my face in Kentucky, I wonder? How about the writers of 24 which, as I recall, brought a biological weapon into a school, last season?
William Poole is not Salmon Rushdie, and the Winchester Police are not the Ayatollah, but if the facts bear out on this case, they’re on the same ladder. It may be time to start writing letters to the Writers at Risk Program and possibly to Amnesty International.
Further Reading
- The Student Press Law Center is following up on this story.
- One reason Poole’s story is so easy to believe is because it’s happened before.
Note: A follow-up article has been posted here
March 8, 2005 1:09 PM
That’s an odd and disturbing story….
March 9, 2005 1:05 PM
What we need here is a copy of the story he wrote. That’s the final verdict on what it says.
Regardless, a terrorist?
The other day I wrote over at BlogsCanada on how to turn a soda pop can into a weapon more dangerous than a box cutter. I even explained the steps to take in order to do so on an airplane.
Am I now to expect the imminent arrival of authorities looking for the Section 15 Eh Kanada terror cell?
March 9, 2005 1:18 PM
I’ve been reading about this over the course of the week too. My first reaction, however, was not that it was 9/11 related paranoia. Rather, it is post-Columbine paranoia. For years in the DC area, we’ve had stories of 8-year-olds being expelled for bringing butter knives to school and the like. The hype of school-based shootings has been a fixture of the US media at least since the late 1990s.
As more details come out, it looks like Poole may have been more than just an innocent writer as he claims. Rather than repeat what others have said, if you are intersted check out the Trentonian and Lexingotn Herald-Leader for some “water muddying” details.
What is true is that the media, particularly TV media, has created an image of schools as warzones waiting to explode, which has led to irrational “zero-tolerance” policies.
In my humble opinion, of course.
March 9, 2005 1:51 PM
Yup, there’s some mud in the water. Keep in mind that authorities are good at misdirection as well.
We’ll see.
Since this is going through due process, we should keep patient and see what middle ground develops.
March 14, 2005 11:13 PM
Poole doesn’t name the school; however, he does clearly indicate that Clark COunty, Kentucky, is identified in his writings as “Zone One.” His writings talk about taking over a high school in Zone One. Clark County, Kentucky, has only one high school — there is no need to name it. Identifying it as a high school in Clark County, Kentucky leaves you with only one option.
Many of the people Poole was recruiting are minors, so their names would not be released. However, one of them testified in court when Poole was bound over for trial. This buddy of Poole’s testified that he had a number of guns and thousands of dollars to put toward Poole’s vision of taking over the school with a gang.
The documents have been sealed because they contain names of minors (as indicated in the article from the Lexington Herald-Leader — which is, by the way, a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper).