Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 18:21:22 -0500 (EST)
From: danceswithcarp <dcombs-AT-bloomington.in.us>
Subject: Re: News from Hysteria



I just got off the phone with the city editor at the paper that printed
the blurb on the kid who was expelled for laying out the anarchy zine. The
report was released late Friday evening by the school system (good timing,
but probably no accident) and the reporter essentially just printed the
release with no questions asked due to Saturday's paper already being laid
out. The reporter is not one I know as it has been over 2 years since I
last columned for them.

The editor did agree it was an odd story and he was going into an
editorial/reporting meeting and he is suggesting that not only do they
probe deeper into that story, but that they cover the whole crack-down
issue from a more libertarian point of view of student rights.  We talked
about Tinker v. Des Moines and students not "surrendering their rights at
the schoolhouse door," and the ACLU (liberals) story on increased
expulsions for protected speech; issues like Levi's t-shirt with Lady
Liberty taking a hit.

But Levi came home today with exactly zero new information on the story.
He talked to the ANuS receiver and that kid knew nothing either.  
Tommorrow he'll try other sources.  He can't believe that there's a
16-year old anarchist classmate at the school that neither he or his
friends know of. (was that bad grammar?).  Levi's moving into
skateboarder/hackey-sack mode, but he mingles with A Big Cross Spectrum of
grrrls and pals so if he can't turn up any information then the entire
thing is suspect.  Shoot, it was one of his pals that got convicted of the
anthrax threat--this kid is wired in.

Anyways, chuck0, you got the drop on me on that story, but I was going to
report it as soon as Levi came home today with the lowdown.  Having wirked
for this newspaper I understand the necessity of confirming anything
written by "HT Staff Report."   I was there for 5 years and never met a
reporter named "HT Staff Report."  That almost always means someone
rewrote a press release and didn't ask questions.  The same guy covers
most of the local political press conferences.



carp