Student arrested over school newspaper

The River Reporter
Thursday, January 19, 1995

By TOM RUE

MONTICELLO - A 17 year-old Monticello High School student was arrested January 13th for Inciting to Riot and Criminal Nuisance 2nd, misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail and $1000 fine, for publishing an underground student newsletter on a home computer which school officials claim threatened public safety.

The youth was released on his own recognizance after being issued an appearance ticket. He is scheduled to be arraigned January 20th at 10 AM in Village of Monticello Justice Court.

The investigation began January 13th when superintendent Eileen Casey lodged a complaint with village police over students distributing an "unauthorized school newspaper," according to a blotter entry. Slightly over 50 copies are reported to have been distributed on school grounds.

Parents' bedroom searched

A police officer entered the home of the youth and took a computer disk from his parents' bedroom, according to Monticello police chief Michael Brennan, who said the youth signed a "consent to search" form in the absence of his parents. Brennan said the youth cooperated with the search. The family lives outside the village but the matter was handled by Monticello since the alleged offense is said to have occurred at MHS, Brennan said.

District Attorney Stephen Lungen could not be reached for comment.

NYS Penal Law defines Inciting to Riot as when a person "...urges ten or more persons to engage in tumultuous and violent conduct of a kind likely to create public alarm." Criminal Nuisance 2nd occurs when a person "...knowingly or recklessly creates or maintains a condition which endangers the safety or health of a considerable number of people."

Superintendent cites safety concern

Monticello superintendent Eileen Casey expressed fears of the newsletter "encouraging chaos in the school," stating that if the actions contained in the newsletter were carried out, "it would compromise the safety of the majority of students."

No one has acted on the newspaper's call to vandalize property or create unhealthy conditions, Casey admitted.

She stressed that some rules students object to have been on the books for a long time, but have not been regularly enforced. Casey said she was unaware that hall pay-phones are turned off for outgoing service during the day, as students have reported. She said bathrooms are sometimes locked when they have "extensive graffiti" until they can be cleaned.

Goshen lawyer Steven Bergstein, whose office has represented a number of clients on First Amendment cases, said the school may be on tenuous legal ground in filing present charges since even underground student newspapers are protected by the Constitution.

Bergstein said he recently studied case law on the Inciting to Riot statute, "There has to be imminence for incitement. I can't imagine somebody being arrested on that charge for simple speech."

"If a mob is gathered in the street and you're egging them on, that's one thing. But not writing in a newspaper," Bergstein asserted.

While as many as 10 students may have been involved in writing the paper, only its publisher was criminally charged. Due to the age of the defendant police would not release his name.

Entitled "the Sub-Station," the 8-page journal bears a Kiamesha Lake post office box as its publishing address. A postal clerk identified the boxholder as a local travel business.

Writers in the newsletter are identified by such pen-names as Sauce, Jac of Hearts and Polo.

"We can't bow down any more. We are almost 1,000 strong. Not even the police can handle a crowd of this size. This [is] OUR school. Let us show these power hungary, egotystical, non-caring bastards something. Let's make them dread coming to this building like we do. (Sweet Irony.)"

Though an anonymous editor promises to cut "...anything racist, sexist, and of course the slandering of any religions," a column entitled "Hotties" discusses the "sexiest females" in the senior class. One young woman is singled out by name as having the "Ass of the Week."

But many of the features seem more aimed at urging student readers to question authority and establish personal value systems of their own. The paper is said to have been laid out on the home computer of the student now facing criminal charges.

"Some lady tried to tell me the other day not to where [sic] a particular shirt to school because it had the word SUCK on the back of it. Does the word SUCK offend anyone?... Whatever happened to our first amendment rights any way?," complained one writer.

Another article editorialized on the suicide last year's of rock star Kurt Cobain, drawing moral lessons on the danger of hard-core drug use and the "selfish" manner of Cobain's death.

Calling on students to demonstrate that they are not part of "Generation X," Jac of Hearts urges littering the courtyard with garbage, smoking in the bathrooms, writing on the walls and urinating on the floor.

The paper appears to have been composed either in a hurry or by someone little much experience in such work. Small italics appear in some places suggesting insertion of "your caption" and "add your quote." Rough sketches and cartoons are also included.

Seniors are reportedly upset by the elimination of a former lounge known as Senior Lane which existed at the school for years. Some say use of walkie-talkie radios by administrators in the halls contributes to a prison-like atmosphere. Hallway pay phones are turned off to prevent drug buys. But law-abiding students are also inconvenienced when they need to call their parents or make other legitimate calls, a freshman complained.

Increased security was promised last year after violent incidents involved students and faculty. "The number one concern raised by everyone was a lack of discipline in the high school," Casey stressed.

Protesters picket at school gate

Monday morning, a group of Monticello residents gathered on Rte. 42, outside the school entrance, carrying professionally made signs calling for the ouster of principal George Will -- "Restore Sanity - Replace Will."

The underground newsletter represents a backlash against new discipline at the school, protesters said.

Jeffrey Karasik, group spokesperson, stated he graduated from MHS in 1969. His daughter Sarah, herself a recent MHS graduate, and wife Deborah, also carried signs, as did two others who declined to give their names.

"The mentality of the administration is like that of a penal institution," complained Mr. Karasik, who described the arrested boy as a personal friend.

Karasik suggested the matter might have been better handled by educators talking with students rather than having authorities search the parents' bedroom and make a arrest the young editor.

"The article was complete and utter trash; foul just for the sake of being foul. I want to emphasize that. But I don't agree with what the school did," said Karasik.

According to Karasik, the call for students to urinate on the floor relates directly to being denied lavatory use. He said he currently has a daughter enrolled at MHS, and is concerned about her welfare and authorities going overboard with a disciplinary crackdown.

Some protesters expressed intent to address the matter in some way at the next school board meeting, scheduled for January 26th, 8 PM, at MHS.