No…not because the religious right doesn’t want anybody to learn any science that contradicts the bible.  Not because right wing republicans don’t want an educated public going to the polls.  Yes…it’s all that…but it’s also this: a lot of American adults have bad memories of their treatment at the hands of teachers, administrators, principals.  Not quite as extreme as this kid’s…but similar in kind…

Time stands still for Hempfield teen in lockup

A Hempfield Area High School sophomore spent 12 days in juvenile detention after authorities in Westmoreland County mistakenly charged him with making a March 11 bomb threat, in part because the district had not changed its clocks to reflect daylight-saving time.

Cody Webb, 15, of Hempfield, was arrested March 12 and charged with a felony count of threatening to use weapons of mass destruction and misdemeanor counts of making false alarms to public entities, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and making terrorist threats.

Webb, an honors student involved in student council, tennis and the Japanese Club, was immediately taken to the county’s juvenile detention center.

"Cody never even had a (school) detention," said his mother, Linda Webb. "It was a nightmare."

Cody called the school’s automated delay announcement system.  An hour later someone called in a bomb threat.  But the time stamp was off by an hour because of the new start of daylight savings time this year. 

Now…the school officials also had, by the time they dragged Cody into the Principal’s office, a recording of the threat, but…well…like I said…there are a lot of Americans who know by now, how this story is going to go…

"Mrs. Charlton asked me if I had a cell phone. I said, ‘Yeah,’ and she said, ‘What’s the number?’ I told her, and she started saying, ‘We got him. We got him.’ I was completely oblivious to what they were talking about," he said.

In the Principal’s office, administrators demanded that Webb admit to calling in the bomb threat, he said.

"I wasn’t going to admit to something I didn’t do," he said. "Me and God know I didn’t do it."

Webb’s parents, Linda and Budd Webb, arrived at the school and listened to the recorded bomb threat. Linda Webb told administrators it wasn’t her son.

"They kept saying that it was his voice. They didn’t even know him," she said.

After a state trooper arrived, Charlton told the teen he was being arrested, and the trooper read Webb his Miranda rights.

"I was in shock," Webb said.

They had their man and nothing was going to change their minds about it…let alone the facts.   Yes…it gets better.  But you probably knew that…

The next day, Webb had a detention hearing and was held for court. After 10 more days in detention, Webb was back in court for his case to be heard. He was released to his parents’ custody that day after Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge John Driscoll continued the hearing when the state police failed to appear.

The kid, an honor roll student, has now been held in a juvenile detention center for 12 days and the police can’t be bothered to show up for his hearing because…why…?  Well…

Trooper Jeanne Martin, spokeswoman for state police at Greensburg, said the time change was an issue. Driscoll dismissed the charges March 27.

The teen said he did call the school’s delay hot line early Sunday, March 11. But that was an hour before the bomb threat was phoned in, said the family’s attorney, Tim Andrews. After Webb’s parents obtained his cell phone records, Andrews found the call times did not match.

"I found out the district had not changed their clocks to reflect daylight-saving time," Andrews said. "They were changed Monday morning."

Somebody else besides the kid’s attorney was also looking at the evidence…

"The district attorney subpoenaed the cell phone records, and it didn’t take more than a minute to see the times didn’t match," Andrews said.

Whoops!  Of course…the school considers itself blameless…

Hempfield solicitor Dennis Slyman said law enforcement did not question administrators about the school’s clocks.

"The authorities never, never asked us anything about the clocks and daylight-saving time," Slyman said. "Whatever they did was with their own investigation and outside the auspices of the school district."

It’s their fault they arrested a kid we told them had made a bomb threat, and threw him in jail…

Yes…it gets better…  You knew it did…

Budd Webb wept as he described learning that his son would be cleared.

"I got a callfrom our attorney that said he had paperwork signed by Judge Driscoll dropping the felony and misdemeanor charges against my son," he said.

County juvenile detention officials wanted to keep Webb in custody, Andrews said. "They wanted him to have a mental health evaluation because he wouldn’t admit to making the call."

(emphasis mine).  They had the wrong person, but since they couldn’t make him admit to making a bomb threat that he had not made, they felt that was evidence of a mental problem. 

And of course…they’re blameless too… 

County officials said Tuesday that Webb was in custody no longer than the law requires.

"Legally, we were OK. We didn’t step on this kid’s rights," said Mike Sturnick, supervisor for the juvenile probation office.

Well thank goodness they only kept an innocent kid in jail no longer then the law allows. 

Now…at this point…if you haven’t attended public school in America, or you had a much, Much better experience with teachers and school officials during your childhood then most people, that tape recording of the bomb threat may still be nagging at you.  How could they sit a kid and his mother down and play a recording of that does not sound like that kid making a bomb threat, and still insist that it was that kid making that threat…you may be wondering.  I see you’ve never been accused by a teacher or a principal of something doing something that you didn’t do… 

Webb gave an insight into the school’s impressive investigative techniques, saying that he was ushered in to see the principal, Kathy Charlton. She asked him what his phone number was, and , according to Webb, when he replied ‘she started waving her hands in the air and saying “we got him, we got him.”’

‘They just started flipping out, saying I made a bomb threat to the school,’ he told local television station KDKA. After he protested his innocence, Webb says that the principal said: ‘Well, why should we believe you? You’re a criminal. Criminals lie all the time.’ 

Upon further reflection, you can see how the whole republican right wing attack on public education, even, how their attack on our system of justice, plays on a deeply felt resentment a lot of Americans have toward their childhood experiences at the hands of ignorant kid hating louts who only became teachers because they couldn’t master the art of flipping hamburgers at McDonalds.

Home schooling…it isn’t just for religious fanatics anymore…

Webb’s mother arranged home-schooling for him until he decides where to continue his education. He doesn’t want to return to Hempfield.

The kid was an honors student.  He had an active academic life.  Was in the school council.  And in an instant, a jackass principal taught him a lesson about life, hard work, academic excellence and achievement he’ll never fucking forget.  And lesson about the public schools.  Somewhere, Pat Robertson is smiling.

Oh…and… 

Martin said the state police investigation into the bomb threat remains open.

No shit Sherlock.  Gotta love those awesome police investigative skills you folks there have.  When someone at the station complains their computer isn’t working, how long before someone checks to see if it’s plugged in…?  Just curious…