'Anti-American' Teen guilty in school bomb plot

[robbob]

"A Canadian teen, who has been labelled as anti-American by prosecutors after he wore a "Joe Canadian" T-shirt to court, was found guilty yesterday in a plot to bomb his school."

<snip>

"On May 30, police raided the the house where Travis lived with parents. They found several kilograms of potassium nitrate, fuses, containers and other materials. Potassium nitrate is legal to possess and is an unlicensed substance in the U.S. It is used to pickle meats, make glass and wicks and is a key ingredient in the fuel for model rockets -- a hobby Travis and his family enjoyed."


...Watch way you say, citizens. Bushco are watching. I guess being proud to be Canadian = Anti-American in this current climate.


http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=4e553713-948c-4d10-b899-ceccd036ed79

[BattyDem]

1. A Canadian teen wears a Canadian t-shirt ...

and suddenly he's anti-American?? :wtf:

So if I wear an American flag t-shirt, does that mean I hate the rest of the world? I visited Toronto a few years ago ... I guess I should stop wearing the "Toronto, Ontario" t-shirt I bought! My "Hard Rock Cafe: Toronto" shirt should also be banished to the rear of my closet. :eyes:

[jobycom]

2. That's terrrorism, all right.

State terrorism to silence any non-authorized messages. Express your individuality, and go to jail. Pure and simple. Anyone want to take bets on which DUer they choose to make an example of? Which DUer they send to jail to silence the rest of us? Be careful, y'all, Big Brother is watching, and now he's armed.

Someone help me out with theis quote: No one is free until everyone is free--is that how it goes?

[Roland99]

3. WTF???

Travis was still wearing the shirt -- he hadn't been allowed to change -- when he was brought to court the next day. Images of Travis in his "anti-American shirt" appeared on newscasts and in area papers.

:eyes:

[MrPrax]

4. Wow...really insane...

I certainly hope there is an appeal--seems like more than enough grounds for one...

When one reads down the story, the T-shirt statement itself is rather suspect:

Although Travis was wearing a shirt and tie to court yesterday, the scene was quite different less than a week ago when Travis, who has been labelled a harmless prankster by his peers, was brought before a judge wearing his Joe Canadian T-shirt.

The shirt was enough for the prosecution to claim that the teen was displaying his contempt for the U.S. through his choice of clothing.

...

The raid's findings were enough for police to arrest Travis, who, at the time he was picked up, was wearing the popular Molson Canadian T-shirt with its famous "rant": "I have a Prime Minister, not a president. I speak English and French, not American... I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack. I believe in peace keeping, not policing, diversity, not assimilation and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal. A tuque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch, and it is pronounced 'zed' not 'zee', 'zed' !"

...

Travis was still wearing the shirt -- he hadn't been allowed to change -- when he was brought to court the next day. Images of Travis in his "anti-American shirt" appeared on newscasts and in area papers.

-------------------------

Maybe something else that should be added to the Molson Joe Canadian rant: I have prosecutors that aren't elected and don't try to influence the justice system by parading suspects in the media prior to arraignment so that they can be tried by lynch mob

Pretty outrageous--they should extradite the kid to Canada

[October]

5. It's more than the shirt

The kid had potassium nitrate, fuses...and a history of being very Anti-America...not just pro-Canadian. In addition, he threatened to blow up the school and put it in writing on the bathroom walls.

He supposedly had enough of the stuff in his house to level the high school.



http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14667281&BRD=1685&PAG=461&dept_id=45363&rfi=6

[Lisa]

18. so he was the one who first reported the threatening message ...

"The drama began on Friday, May 27, according to school officials and prosecutors, after the suspect reported finding the first threatening message written on the bathroom wall. Later on, two students informed authorities they thought they knew he was really behind the threat."

I suppose it's possible that he wrote it himself and then told the authorities about it -- but that would be quite strange, if he actually were planning to blow up the place. Especially since a second message was written after he was already in custody.

[October]

22. This case is so strange

I live in the area...so I'm trying to sort through it all...

A woman I know condemned him completely. (She's a Ph.D. high school Science Teacher who lives close to this story.) She gave me the "facts" about the potassium nitrate, etc.

Now, another woman I know is actually friends of the family and she says he is completely innocent. (I'm maintaining her anonymity), but she says:

"He is innocent. What residents should be afraid of is the following: Untruthful law enforcement, teachers who are afraid to lose their job, so they are silent (because the principal told them to be), one teacher who lied (even got her story screwed up on the wittiness stand, and had to fudge it, and correct it. Unfortunately, Travis' attorney wasn't forceful with her), and a DA who decided this is just the story she needs to make her re election a victory. The lesson is this: It can happen to you folks. Someone can point a finger at you, and before you know it, you're a prisoner facing 4 years for something you didn't do. No kidding. Amy knows some of the facts, not all.

Call me if you really want to know details. This is incredible. A grave injustice. I have lost all faith in our local judicial system. The cops scare me, all of the people who you think would protect you do not.

I don't blame people for thinking what they do. All they know is what they read. But what they've read are simply regurgitations by the DA. The papers allowed themselves to be used as one of her tools."

Wow.

So now I've heard two passionate opinions on this, and I take back what I first stated. Excuse my ignorance, please. There is definitely much more to this than a t-shirt...but this is absolutely frightening on so many levels.

It's ugly. I can't keep up these days!

[amazona]

6. wtf ?

I don't understand. Arrested on May 30th and convicted without a jury trial on June 13? How can this be right? Was this young man allowed no defense at all?

I understand that he was a homesick Canadian citizen and underage to boot but how in earth does that take away his right to a fair trial by jury?

I would not be involved in the model rocket hobby today, with the climate of hysteria we have, but when I was younger, this hobby was a rite of passage for many teen-age nerds, including my own brother, and it was entirely harmless. Wearing a T-shirt and having a hobby and being homesick should not be a crime.

Unless there is more to the story, sounds like this judge is effin' nuts. His parents must be sick that they ever moved the family here.

[BlueStateGirl]

11. No juvenile trial in Pennsylvania is a jury trial. It's a hearing, with a

judge, usually closed. The judge opened Travis's hearing to the public due to the nature of the charges.

[amazona]

12. OMG! How terrible!

That poor family finally curses the day they left Canada. That is scary.

[geek tragedy]

7. They got a conviction on that crappy evidence?

Maybe there's more than the story's saying, but there didn't appear to be much of a case at all.

[mbperrin]

8. Shoulda worn a Confederate shirt!

There's those American values!

[BlueStateGirl]

9. I live near Doylestown, and I'd just like to mention some things the

article leaves out. He was cited in 2001 for making homemade naplam and selling it at his middle school, and earlier this year he was arrested for shooting paitballs at passing cars. He also possessed 22 pounds of potassium nitrate. Computer evidence also showed he had visited explosive making websites. Although the prosecution could not prove he had a recipie.

Also, no juvenile trial in Pennsylvania is a jury trial.The article makes it sound like he was singled out. In fact, the judge opened this one to the public because of the nature of the charges. They are usually closed preceedings.


I do not know if he is guilty or not.

But I don't was singled out because he was Canadian and allegedly anti American.

[amazona]

13. ok thanks for that

He does sound like a loser with the added information but, cripes, if it's going to be open to the public, I don't understand why no jury. That seems a bit un-American in itself even if it is the way it has always been done. This way, the boy's anonymity as a minor is not protected and yet he still has no jury of his peers.

[marbuc]

23. Anti-American Freepers?

I'm sure several Freepers make napalm, and possess caches of guns. Does this make them Anti-American?

[Dogmudgeon]

10. Egads. That's my neck of the woods.

Doylestown, PA.

And it's a liberal town, an artists' mecca.

I've met Judge Kenneth Biehn. He's OK, but the D.A. (Diane Gibbons) is a GOP nutter. I wonder what was really going on. I know we have some militia nuts around here, maybe the cops thought the kid was one of them.

The War on Terrah is getting too close to home.

--p!

[Massacure]

14. 'Anti-American' teen guilty in school bomb plot

http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=4e553713-948c-4d10-b899-ceccd036ed79&page=1

A Canadian teen, who has been labelled as anti-American by prosecutors after he wore a "Joe Canadian" T-shirt to court, was found guilty yesterday in a plot to bomb his school.

<snip>

On May 30, police raided the the house where Travis lived with parents. They found several kilograms of potassium nitrate, fuses, containers and other materials. Potassium nitrate is legal to possess and is an unlicensed substance in the U.S. It is used to pickle meats, make glass and wicks and is a key ingredient in the fuel for model rockets -- a hobby Travis and his family enjoyed.

<snip>

The raid's findings were enough for police to arrest Travis, who, at the time he was picked up, was wearing the popular Molson Canadian T-shirt with its famous "rant": "I have a Prime Minister, not a president. I speak English and French, not American... I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack. I believe in peace keeping, not policing, diversity, not assimilation and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal. A tuque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch, and it is pronounced 'zed' not 'zee', 'zed' !"

<snip>

Travis was still wearing the shirt -- he hadn't been allowed to change -- when he was brought to court the next day. Images of Travis in his "anti-American shirt" appeared on newscasts and in area papers.

In the United States, Anti-Americanism is the one crime you are guilty of until proven innocent...

[Flammable Materials]

15. Oh, holy SHIT...this was a MOLSON BEER AD CAMPAIGN. n/t

[Lisa]

19. here is the ad the T-shirt was based on

http://archives.cbc.ca/400d.asp?id=1-73-1395-8738&wm6=1

(and the text)
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-72891/CanadianClub/CCsales/ad.html


I, too, am Canadian -- I did find the ad mildly funny (the first time -- though not after it was repeated ad nauseum). I suppose it was meant to appeal to under-30s guys, but even some of them started to get bored with it after awhile. I probably wouldn't wear the T-shirt because it's a bit over-the-top (or as one of my friends puts it, "too American".

[Joebert]

16. I like how the Canadians are able to put this in context...

"(Seventeen-year-old Travis Biehn walked out of a Pennsylvania courthouse in handcuffs and leg irons yesterday after being convicted of uttering terroristic threats and possessing incendiary devices.) Meanwhile, Michael Jackson left a California courthouse in a black SUV, bound for his Neverland Ranch, after being acquitted on all 10 charges associated with the child-molestation accusation against him."

It's a good thing he was white, or he might have resisted arrest, if you know what I mean.

[rainbow4321]

17. Canadian family fears after son convicted(mother: `It's crazy down here,')

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1118785812514&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724

The mother of a Canadian teenager convicted of bomb threat charges in the United States says she's furious, considering an appeal and worried about threats to her family.


The family has received threatening emails and Biehn said she's concerned about Internet blogs about the case, which ignited emotional debate in Canada and the U.S. after authorities painted the 17-year-old as an angry youth who hates Americans. "They're horrific," she said of the Web comments. "One person even commented on the fact that he passes our street every day. That's really scary.

The boy's father, Brant, who moved the family to the Philadelphia area in 1997, testified the materials were used to make harmless smoke bombs for fireworks displays and burn a tree stump in the backyard to make way for a fish pond. "The stump has been burned and the pond is half-constructed but no one looked at that," Annette Biehn said yesterday.


Goldman accuses District Attorney Diane Gibbons of publicly trying the youth before his trial and stirring nationalistic sentiment, telling reporters he was anti-American and pointing to the "I am Canadian" T-shirt he wore to a court appearance. "That's unfair," he said. "There were two trials. The first one was in the media."

[Initech]

20. What the hell?

When is that shirt "anti-American". It doesnt say "I hate America" anywhere on that shirt now, does it?

[IndianaGreen]

21. Here is Molson's Joe Canada commercial

I have a Prime Minister,
not a President.
I speak English and French,
NOT American.
and I pronouce it ABOUT,
NOT A BOOT.

I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack.
I believe in peace keeping, NOT policing.
DIVERSITY, NOT assimilation,
AND THAT THE BEAVER IS A TRULY PROUD AND NOBLE ANIMAL.
A TOQUE IS A HAT,
A CHESTERFIELD IS A COUCH,
AND IT IS PRONOUCED 'ZED' NOT 'ZEE', 'ZED'!

CANADA IS THE SECOND LARGEST LANDMASS!
THE FIRST NATION OF HOCKEY!
AND THE BEST PART OF NORTH AMERICA!

MY NAME IS JOE!
AND I AM CANADIAN!

http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-72891/CanadianClub/CCsales/ad.html