LEXINGTON, Ky., April 19, 2008
Bully Tries To Poison Student With Peanuts
A Kentucky Eighth-Grader Faces Charges Of Wanton Endangerment For Attacking Classmate
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Food Allergies
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The allergic student, also an eighth-grader, did not eat the cookies and did not suffer a reaction.
Fayette County public schools spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said the incident occurred Thursday on the Morton Middle School running track, where students had gone to eat lunch and enjoy the warm weather.
As the students neared the end of their lunchtime, a student was seen putting the crumbled cookies in the allergic student's lunchbox, she said.
It was well known the other student suffered from severe peanut allergies, Deffendall said. There was no known history of problems between the two 13-year-old students, she said.
After an investigation, the student was arrested on a felony wanton endangerment charge and has been removed from the school, Deffendall said.
A person is charged with felony, or first-degree, wanton endangerment when someone is suspected of engaging in conduct that causes the danger of death or physical injury to another person, according to state legal statutes.
The student will face charges in the juvenile criminal justice system.
Deffendall could not comment on specific administrative action taken against the student, but said an expulsion comes only after a decision by the school board.
Letters went home Friday to parents of Morton students notifying them of the incident.
There is no districtwide policy regarding peanut or other food allergies, Deffendall said. Schools that have students with food allergies tailor policies to protect them. Some schools have separate "peanut-free" tables. Because a number of Morton students have known peanut and sesame seed allergies, families have been asked not to send those foods to school.
For those allergic to peanuts, even trace amounts of peanut oil can cause severe reactions and even death. Symptoms can include hives, welts and swelling that can restrict airways. Earlier this month, it was reported that a 13-year-old boy died in Australia at a school camp due to an allergic reaction to peanuts.
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See all 58 CommentsSo we see once again, it''s Bush''s fault.
Posted by magoo2u1
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Please do not spout empty conjecture.
Times have changed..yer right about bush baby..
It is to put food on the table,pay rent.pay the bills.
The man walked. What is she to do..hit the streets with her children. No sir she must work..
What is wrong is that it is exactly the same thing.
The idea that there was a time when fistfights "settled" anything is a dream. If you lost such a fight, the rest of your peers would treat you as most other animals treat their weaker members.
If someone assaults me, my goal is to make that person incapable of ever doing it again. Unless he is dead, the conflict is not over, because they will return with friends, weapons, or both, so I make sure that won''t happen, if I have only my fists and other extremities, that only drags out the process, requiring more work than necessary.
But in this story the person attempting to poison the other appears to be not a conflict, but a cowardly prank played by a sadistic kid, probably to impress his friends. Take such people, no matter the age, away from human contact, until they figure out what is right and wrong.
You are almost correct in your assessment, but apparently don''t realize that a long time ago, prices rose to the point where both parents need to work to provide just the basic necessities of life, never mind luxuries.
SUV? No. Most work two jobs just to pay the costs of survival, rent, or mortgage, school, medicine, telecommunication, power. There are many who work two jobs, but cannot afford anything other than a used car. Those working two jobs who can afford a SUV probably cannot fill the tank in one shot anymore.
Once again we see the mentality of the mob, raising it''s nasty head. "We find that boy to be a guilty little bast*rd, so evil that even the worms should not even eat him." Yet the boy has had no trial, no chance to defend himself, and no guilt has been assessed. What has been assessed up to this point, is that something happened in which this boy took a crumbled peanut cup and put it in a another boys lunch box. Whether the boy knew that the other boy had a peanut allergy was not established by the article, and whether the boy was actually capable of understanding the consequences of his actions was never established either.
I recall a child that went to school, when I was in school, he was much younger than me, but his behaviors were to say the least disturbing. I spoke at length about this boy to my mother, who knew the grandmother of the boy. I seems that hen the boy was a small child, he was terrible abused by his parents. He was looked in a closet in the dark, and beat unmercifully for even making noises. By the time this abused was discovered, the boy was five years old, and there was much damage done. I recall him beating his head to a blood pulp on the bus seat or window, and many other things that he done, in order that he might get just a wee bit of attention. While he was of an age several years over 5, he did not reflect that in his actions. He was a terrible distraction to the other students who rode on the bus, and so I decided to sit with him on the bus, and see what I might accomplish at helping alleviate the situation. I started helping him with his homework on the way home from school, and reading to him on the way to school.
It wasn''t long before he began to be less of a menace, and more inquisitive, and attentive. Over the several years I rode the bus, I watched as that boy became more and more stable. Though I am sure it was not just from my attention. By the time I graduated and was out of school, the boy was no longer a problem, and was doing well in school. Some years later this young man came up to me, and thanked for taking the time I did, and said that my efforts had turned his life around. Today that man has a family, and owns his own business, and is a productive member of society.
"It was well known the other student suffered from severe peanut allergies, Deffendall said. There was no known history of problems between the two 13-year-old students, she said."
It can, I suppose, be debated whether "well known" extends to the offender, but the article seems to imply that the offender should have known, otherwise, why should he specifically choose that particular addition to the almost victim''s lunch?
It would be an extraordinary coincidence that out of the millions of substances that humans can be allergic to, that he just happened to choose the right one to cause distress.
Just wondering.
In case you''re wondering people, I was never on a bus with a disturbed student as I am sure renrivers never was on a regular bus..... maybe a short bus though.
Thanks for caring.
Posted by brianbwb
Hello Brian good to see you on again, always like to read what you have to say. Your point is well taken, but men and women have been convicted of crimes over "extraordinary coincidence," that some time later proved to be no more than that, and after these men and women had been incarcerated for years. Because of this fact alone, I stand by my belief that any man or women charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. My question to you would be, how can we as citizens ever hope to receive a fair trial, if the jury has already decided guilt?
Posted by kraftykraut
Your surety is no doubt blinded by your stupidity, but just for the record, I road a school bus for 12 years to school almost ever day. I after all was raised on a farm, here in Illinois, where almost all children ride a school bus. Also, this was not a once effort this effort was over a long period of time, and because of the experience, along with my wife, we later became a foster parents. We raised some of the children up to the time they graduated from high school, and the went out on their own either to college, or to the work force. To this day, there are several who call, and ask us for advice, and just to tell us that they still remember and love us.
We only gave it up because my health became to bad for us to do it. It was a rewarding experience, and to me that is what life is all about, learning, and sharing, and making things better by making lives better.
One of the most obvious drawbacks of the jury system is that people come to serve with all of their biases in tow. Many people have indeed been wrongly convicted due to jury bias, and this problem can never be solved. This is one reason why I posit that capital cases should not be left in the hands of a jury, we have seen prosecutors lobby for a jury on merely "racial" criterion, as it is well known that such cases stand a chance of being decided along such idiotic considerations, rather than the truth.
In this case, however, it was a juvenile, who can only be charged with juvenile crimes, especially since the victim foiled the plan by not eating the crumbs.
Also, as far a stretch as it sounds, it is understandably hard to raise a child with a sense of morality when there appears to be none outside the home, from the bully, to the cops, and all the way to the president.
It is indeed a "jungle" out there, perhaps raising a child with hard core "no mercy" survival skills is more appropriate in these modern times.
Posted by fabrat1 at 10:33 AM : Apr 20, 2008
Schools today don''t care. They don''t care about the safety and well-being of a child. All they care about is keeping up the govt checks by maintaining a good level on the no child left behind. To that end they will expell children that has trouble in certain areas or poor skills. Either that or send them to the in-district school for the challanged/problem students.
As for the educational quality, ask your child about the history he has been taught versus what you learned. You will find many dissimilarities.
The bullying mindset is responsible for a significant percentage of what is wrong with American society and bullies are 100 percent responsible for tragedies like Columbine. The old stand-by excuse of %u201CI was just playing%u2026%u201D should be taken as a confession.
I was 15 when I told my school bus mates to shut up..A black kid of 10 boarded the bus..HE BECAME MY SEAT MATE.I saw a child. He was beated by the driver the only reason skin colour.Yes children are mean and so adults..I was call the N word for caring and I am white.
Are ye on a sp deit.
We went to a food bank and they were giving out a juice that Vince can''t have due to his meds..I told the lady that is barrrd..She got pissed..I said his doctor said no..Vince is 55.
If we have compapy over I asked are there foods ye can''t for health reasons..
We may go out and we know what we can/can''t have.
Alot of the probrlems are bad parenting..i *SEE* it every where. Children bossing their care takers.. I am appalled. The leave to beaver days ended years ago..I learnt No and no meant just that . The govt is the blame..That is I never wanted children of my own. The law is the reason. they run wild..THEY KNOW MUM/DAD CAN''T TRAIN THEM THEM THE WAY MOSE OF US WERE. I was used for the money foster parents got,they taught me noting,,I lived in fear.
Posted by fabrat1 at 01:09 PM : Apr 20, 2008"
Learn to read, the charge is wanton endangerment, not attempted murder. The two are vastly different charges.
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