Seriously. What is going on with this country, or more appropriately with the state of Kentucky, when someone writes a piece of fiction and is arrested for a crime. The young man (he’s an 18 year old high school student) wrote a piece of Zombie fiction for his high school English class. Being a zombie story, there was blood and gore. Being a high school student, he chose a setting he was familiar with – high school.
Good thing Jason Chan isn’t in high school anymore, or he could be facing a felony crime for the picture that graces this article.
Where do we as a society draw the line? Shouldn’t this boy’s grandparents have talked to him before perhaps handing over his journal to police? Did he have a hit list? Or was he just planning on creating his own zombie? Stuff like this pisses me off. We all should have a protected right to create as much zombie fiction as we like, without being subjected to incarceration and possible criminal charges for writing a story.
Man, if I tried to do half of the things I or other folks on this site did while I was a kid today – I’d be sitting in the clink too. The funny thing is, through all of our story writing, role playing, running through the woods with fake guns, playing killers and all of that – no one ever got hurt. We had fun, we learned a lot, we got exercise.
Here’s the original story. If you’re as turned off by this whole thing as I am, here’s a list of Clark County and Winchester town/county offices. Let them know how you feel.
A George Rogers Clark High School junior arrested Tuesday for making terrorist threats told LEX 18 News Thursday that the “writings” that got him arrested are being taken out of context.
Winchester police say William Poole, 18, was taken into custody Tuesday morning. Investigators say they discovered materials at Poole’s home that outline possible acts of violence aimed at students, teachers, and police.
Poole told LEX 18 that the whole incident is a big misunderstanding. He claims that what his grandparents found in his journal and turned into police was a short story he wrote for English class.
“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.”
Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony. “Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it’s a felony in the state of Kentucky,” said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill.
Poole disputes that he was threatening anyone.
“It didn’t mention nobody who lives in Clark County, didn’t mention (George Rogers Clark High School), didn’t mention no principal or cops, nothing,”
said Poole. “Half the people at high school know me. They know I’m not that stupid, that crazy.”
On Thursday, a judge raised Poole’s bond from one to five thousand dollars after prosecutors requested it, citing the seriousness of the charge.
Poole is being held at the Clark County Detention Center.
