According to the release:
Several parents who reside in and around Joplin are holding a support rally for Thomas White, the 14-year-old boy being held in solitary confinement in the Jasper County jail, having been accused of entering Memorial Middle School on October 9, 2006, and threatening administrators with a gun, and who has subsequently been certified to stand trial as an adult.
WHO: Concerned Parents, Children and Citizens of Joplin and the Surrounding Area/Child Advocates/Friends and Family of Thomas White
WHAT: A support rally demonstrating our desire for Thomas White to be remanded back to the juvenile justice system and to perpetuate a widespread awareness and intolerance of school bullying.
WHERE: Outside the Jasper County Courthouse in Joplin
(presumably on the north and west sides)
601 Pearl Avenue, Joplin, Mo. 64801
One of those who will be present, and available for interviews, according to the news release, will be Norma White, Thomas White's mother.
Organizers say they are holding the rally:
-Because many people have failed to stand up for Thomas White in the past, and we will stand up for him now.
-Because a child is NEVER an adult and should NEVER be persecuted like one in the American justice system.
-Because school bullying is NOT an excuse for school violence. It is an EXPLANATION, and we will only be able to stop asking WHY this happened and to prevent it from ever happening again when we begin to listen to the answer.
As noted Tuesday in The Turner Report, the judge who will preside over the hearing, David Mouton, has received at least seven letters that have been noted in court files, including letters from the heads of two national juvenile support organizations, Justice for Juveniles and Bully Police USA.
2 comments:
I hope they do send him back to juvenile court. There is way too much of this. School bullies were one of the reasons we pulled my grandson out of school here in Charlotte. He went to finish one term with his father in California. He ended up dead at the hands of the biggest bully of all his biological donor.
Schools never deal with bullies. The bullied are left on their own no attention no help or labeled as whiners or babies. They hear "work it out" there is no working it out. Bullies LIKE to humiliate their targets. They DON'T want to stop. When the victim finally strikes back.. guess what THEY are the ones who get punished!! One way or another.
No excuses!! Just plain hard unfortunate facts!!
I don't agree. Here in Joplin, my son was bullied and the person was counseled and it stopped. It didn't take a huge confrontation and it didn't take a loaded weapon being brought to school. The officials were great, and it worked out well for my son and also for the kid that was bullying him. They will never be friends, but there is no fear any longer.
I'm very sorry about your grandson.
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