That is, criminal charges. The hapless prankster has been suspended and may face more school discipline for daring to put a ham steak in the proximity of Muslim students. Update from Loony Lewiston: "No charges in ham incident," by Mark LaFlamme in the Sun Journal, with thanks to James:
LEWISTON - A student who tossed ham on a school table occupied by Somali students last month will not be prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office.But that decision, announced on Wednesday, will not have any bearing the school's handling of the incident.
The Lewiston Middle School student who placed the bagged ham has been suspended, according to Lewiston school officials.
Police who investigated found that no crime had been committed, and their part of the probe ended shortly after.
"We referred our findings to the Attorney General's Office," police Chief William Welch said Wednesday night. "And we support their decision."
From the start, there was debate in the community about whether the student's actions constituted a hate crime. Muslims consider pork unclean and offensive.
A 14-year-old Somali boy told the Sun Journal last month that he was eating at a table with four other Somali students on April 11 when the ham was thrown on the table. The teen said the ham was in a bag and that the student who tossed it laughed along with other students who witnessed the incident.
School officials looked into the matter and doled out their discipline.
Letters were sent to the parents of Middle School students, and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence got involved to help address the issue.
Absolute insanity. Middle school children are often vicious and cruel. But to treat this as anything more than that is just the crazy outer edge of political correctness -- at least until the next insane story comes down the pike.
Muslims are offended by everything...the only thing they want to hear from you is "I surrender"....
Youth is our only hope. Fortunately, in the States many of them hold guns and ammo. And I'm not talking about minority youths involved in crime gangs.
The way the Maine school officials handled this had to be one of the most blatant acts of cowardice in a long time. All this will serve to do is to embolden the moslems. Soon there will be prayer rooms in the schools and teachers in hijabs. Halal food will be served in a separate area. Pork will be banned. The school day will be constructed around the 5 "prayer" rituals. We are losing our country one incident at a time. If the somalis cannot integrate, they should be removed. We owe these people nothing. Another button the somalis are trying to push is the no alcohol in cabs bit. First of all, from the governments perspective, their resident status should be examined and removed as appropriate. Next, the proper way for the public to deal with this is to refuse to get into a cab driven by a moslem.
Soon there will be prayer rooms in the schools and teachers in hijabs. Halal food will be served in a separate area. Pork will be banned. The school day will be constructed around the 5 "prayer" rituals.
All this while changing the Christmas break to "winter" break and changing the name of the Easter bunny to "spring" bunny....
Thank God Law Enforcement in Maine has Yankee common sense.
Look I hate the insanity of Islam as much as anyone, but it seems clear that this kid was teasing the other ones, if the school metered out a reasonable punishment for this teasing I would agree with it.
However getting the law involved and calling it a hate crime is absolutely ridiculous.
It's clear that the offender intended to offend. This is at best creepy, stupid behavior. Suspension was exactly what he deserved. Let's waste no tears over this.
COULD A FEDERAL LAW SUCH AS HR-1592 MAKE THIS CRIMINAL?
Am I offended by a statue of Christ placed in a bottle of urine? --Am I offended by watching skinhead Nazis' march down our neighborhood streets? --Am I offended by the klu klux klan marching down that same street? ---Am I offended by illegal aliens marching down my street demanding their rights?---Am I offended by anarchists burning the American flag on my street?-- Am I offended by self proclaimed religious zealots praising the deaths of our American servicemen at their funerals?
And of course the answer is yes, but as much as I abhorrer these disgusting people and their acts, I still believe in their first Amendment that gives them the right to do so.
--BEWARE HR 1592 MAY TAKE AWAY YOU FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS
In a completely related story, TD Banknorth announced the closing of its Lewiston office today. ‘Significantly fewer than 100 jobs’ are going out of the Country.
Robert said, "Absolute insanity. Middle school children are often vicious and cruel. But to treat this as anything more than that is just the crazy outer edge of political correctness -- at least until the next insane story comes down the pike."
Welcome to the PC zero-tolerance policies a lot of schools have now.
Just yesterday, a kid in Fort Worth, TX was arrested and kicked out of school because he and his classmates played a custom map of their high school in a shoot'em up video game. He was the one who created most of it.
There are many older examples including the numerous kids being kicked out for laser pointers being "firearm similes".
As for the teachers,They can't even spell right.
Public schools are nothing more than sheep farms.
The offender should not have done what he did. He should have been made to sit down with the Somali kid and apologize. However, if I were the parent of the offender, I would wonder a)was my son's action in response to other incidents by the Somali students? Are they completely blameless? Perhaps.. If not, how were the incidents initiated by the Somalis handled by the school? 2) After I was sure my son had apologized, I would take him out of the school. The administrators over-reacted in a very stupid and public way. To prove their point, I am certain that they will now have it in for the boy. If he drops a napkin in the lunchroom, they will accuse him of committing some environmentally unsafe action.
If you can't stand the ham, stay out of American schools.
These kinds of hysterical superstitions about "unclean-ness" belong in religious schools, not state run public educational facilities.
If you can't handle the reality (pork and all) stay back in your own lands and ban everything.
I find what the school officials did criminal, not what the kid did. Even suspension is too much for this nonsense. This is truly a pathetic display of authority!
No hate crime, because there was no crime in the first place. Goes to show what whiney crybabies these Islamists really are. Everything offends them.
With their thin skin, do they suffer a laceration or contusion whenever the wind picks up?
THE HAM OF HATE heh heh heh
Indeed, the musulmen are not only "whiney crybabies," but also they are INGRATE BASTARDS.
These Somalis should thank God that they are in first world America rather than in a poverty stricken, ultra violent third world DUNGHEAP like Somalia. But, of course, they do not thank God, but rather their phoney cult moon "god" Allah.
I think what is needed here are some classes for the muslims to educate and familiarize them with pigs, pork and pork products. They are obviously fearful of it. Similar to the training CAIR has for Christians and others to understand their beliefs. IT IS AMAZING!!! to me that 'my people' - the Jews, also ban the comsuption of pork and while we do not allow it to touch any food we consume, we have been able to live in this country for many, many years without issue while others produce, package, cook, sell and consume pork.
For starters Islam is a hate crime unto itself,and for the most part muslums offend me by their very existence and they are gonna cry about a little ham! Indeed,If it was up to me we would be stuffing dead headchoppers with ham as we send them to hell.