Matthew Whalen, a senior at Lansingburgh Senior High School, says he follows the Boy Scout motto and is always prepared
...
Whalen said he doesn't know who might have said he was carrying a knife, but he was open with school officials.
"And they said, 'Do you own a knife?' I said, 'Yes, I'm a soldier and an Eagle Scout — I own a knife.'
"And they were like, 'Well, is it in your car or anything?' And I told them, 'Yeah, it's in my car right now.'
"And they asked me to show it to them. I didn't realize it was going to be a problem. I knew it wasn't illegal — my police chief grandfather gave the knife to me."
Whalen said he took school administrators to his car because he thought their fears would be allayed when they saw it was just a 2-inch knife.
"They thought I had a dagger in my car or something like that, so I thought yeah, I'd show it to them," Whalen said.
"I showed it to them, and they told me I had a knife on school property and had to be suspended.""
Whalen said he doesn't know who might have said he was carrying a knife, but he was open with school officials.
"And they said, 'Do you own a knife?' I said, 'Yes, I'm a soldier and an Eagle Scout — I own a knife.'
"And they were like, 'Well, is it in your car or anything?' And I told them, 'Yeah, it's in my car right now.'
"And they asked me to show it to them. I didn't realize it was going to be a problem. I knew it wasn't illegal — my police chief grandfather gave the knife to me."
Whalen said he took school administrators to his car because he thought their fears would be allayed when they saw it was just a 2-inch knife.
"They thought I had a dagger in my car or something like that, so I thought yeah, I'd show it to them," Whalen said.
"I showed it to them, and they told me I had a knife on school property and had to be suspended.""
Its things like this that make me feel like a prematurely grumpy old man.
I'm an eagle scout. At any given time, you are likely to find at least one pocket knife on me, today, 2. Saturday, I had 3 on me.
I have my Leatherman Charge AL, which I love dearly. Been through fire and ice and heaven and hell with me, and is a toolbox on the hip any day of the week.
I have my Victorinox Recruit, a small swiss army knife that does wonders, and is eminently pockitable.
I have my Shrade jack knife, an amazingly durable jack knife I picked up at one of the middle-of-no-where gas stations that are unique to a texas road trip.
At many times, I have had these in situations where people recoil in shock and horror at the presence of sharp steel blade safely folded away. I don't understand it, and I don't understand how a young man with a 2'' blade in his car is any threat to anyone in a school.
Knives don't hurt people, people hurt people.
(Cross posted at Grumpy Old Men Blog)
Posts
4 comments:
I guess they really wouldn't like my SKS rifle with fixed bayonet, would they?
I seriously hate school boards.
Sola, Maybe you could call it a historical item of interest or something. :nods:
Kight, yes.
Good grief! Get real people and find the terrorists and students carrying guns on school property, not the eagle scout!
Post a Comment