A popular Texas English teacher has been placed on paid leave and faces possible criminal charges after a student’s parents complained to police that a ninth-grade class reading list contained a book about a murderer and necrophile.
Kaleb Tierce, 25, is being investigated for allegedly distributing harmful material to a minor after the student selected Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Cormac McCarthy’s “Child of God” off the list and read it. ABC News
overreaction
The cops? They called the cops? I’m sure the good people of Tuscola are relieved that their police resources are being used on scary books instead of drunk drivers, child molesters and wife beaters.
Jerks. How do people like that even have a phone?
ALA should pay for this teacher to have a hot-shit white shoe lawyer. Better use of their money than SRRT.
Sometimes I miss being a cop
Every now and the as a police officer I was able to bring a modicum of common sense to a situation by the sage advice I was able to provide. Who am I kidding, I was able to make people realize they were idiots by laughing at them.
A guy complained that some other fine upstanding citizen failed to pay for the marijuana that was delivered to him. The merchant wished to press criminal charges for theft. (truthfully in that case I would assume it would be more of a civil matter as there was no storefront or counter from which the merchandise was stolen but it was more of a contractual dispute).
I could not contain myself and I laughed at the idiot and told him I would be happy to arrest the man for not paying for his spleef – a minor crime indeed, but I would also have to arrest him for selling the whacky weed, a much more serious felony.
Sometimes you just have to laugh at people – not with them at them – to make them realize they are stupid.
I would have laughed at the people who called the cops to complain that a book on a high school reading list – a book that has sold millions of copies and that is ubiquitous in the public libraries- is so far beyond reasonable as to be a crime. I would have laughed and laughed, and when that annoyed them I probably would have arrested them. I lost my patience with pinheads a long time ago.
Re:Sometimes I miss being a cop
Is “whacky” the preferred spelling? Or, is it “wacky”?
I did a ride along in Tempe, AZ and after going to a call and finding nothing there but upset family members the officer I was with left as soon as possible, “If there is no crime committed then leave. Don’t get mixed up in their stuff.[paraphrased]” I, however, wanted to wait and see if anything neat would happen.
Re:Sometimes I miss being a cop
Technically I believe it is loco rather than whacky or wacky.
Something will happen, trust me. I could sit for an hour on the ‘regular customers’ and find at least a misdemeanor arrest. That is why cops sit in store parking lots rather than mobile home parks. Fewer freaks.
Re:Sometimes I miss being a cop
Hee hee, stories like that are the reason I watch ‘Cops’. A coworker sent me a story from etiquettehell forums, a hotel worker related a story where a guest came to the desk and asked for the cops to be called. Apparently, the hooker he hired stole his cologne and cash. The 911 operator laughed and sent out a cop, the cops came out got the guy to admit that he’d hired a prositute, then hauled him in on a solicitation charge. Funny thing is, the next week same guy was back at the hotel with a hired friend.
Moral of the story? People are dumb, they overreact and do silly things. I honestly don’t understand how this town can charge the teacher with anything. I don’t understand the nuances of law but this just seems like a waste of tax payer’s money.