# South Carolina boy arrested for threatening his school with a dinosaur **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201 "2014-08-22T14:31:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/1 "2014-08-22T14:31:14Z")
Article here: [Police, lawyer release statements on student's alleged dinosaur killing](http://www.live5news.com/story/26319685/cops-summerville-high-school-student-arrested-after-writing-threatening-message-on-assignment) > [@](#): > > \*SUMMERVILLE, SC (WCSC) - A Summerville High School student who says he was arrested and suspended after writing about killing a dinosaur using a gun in a class assignment has hired a lawyer. > > Attorney David Aylor, who is representing 16-year-old Alex Stone, said his client’s arrest over a creative writing assignment on Tuesday was “completely absurd,” and is seeking to appeal the suspension and “proceed with the legal issues of [Stone’s] arrest.” […] > > Stone said he and his classmates were told in class to write a few sentences about themselves, and a “status” as if it was a Facebook page. Stone said in his “status” he wrote a fictional story that involved the words “gun” and “take care of business.” > > “I killed my neighbor’s pet dinosaur, and, then, in the next status I said I bought the gun to take care of the business,” Stone said. > > Stone says his statements were taken completely out of context. […] > > Investigators say the teacher contacted school officials after seeing the message containing the words “gun” and “take care of business,” and police were then notified on Tuesday.\* I, for one, am outraged – if stegosauruses are outlawed, only outlaws will have stegosauruses! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/2 "2014-08-22T14:40:38Z")
It doesn’t sound to me like the dinosaur was the issue here. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/3 "2014-08-22T15:06:32Z")
16 year olds go hunting quite often. Rural schools here even close 1 day to allow the high school students and their teachers to deer hunt. Owning a gun isn’t a big deal. Even if you want to hunt dinosaurs. I’m surprised a teacher in South Carolina isn’t familiar with the culture of hunting. Calling the cops over a creative writing assignment? The teacher was alarmed by a dinosaur hunt? Thats crazy. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/4 "2014-08-22T15:28:44Z")
This is the sequence I’m getting from the story: Boy writes assignment containing the words “gun” and “taking care of the business.” Not in the same sentence I don’t think. School contacts police who search the kid’s locker and book bag but find no gun. School questions kid about the words and be becomes ‘very irate.’ Kid continues to be disruptive and is placed in handcuffs by police, who are there because of the word ‘gun.’ Sounds to me like the school was a bit heavy handed calling the police and the kid didn’t take well to being treated like a criminal, so he acted like an irritated teenager. A lot depends on how irate and disruptive he was. I’m giving the school a D, the kid and the police a C- and the reporter a D-, in red ink. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/5 "2014-08-22T15:38:59Z")
the kid should state that the story could only be taken as unbelievable fantasy because Spielberg shot the last one decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/6 "2014-08-22T16:23:23Z")
Boom! Boom! Acka lacka lacka boom! h t tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYKupOsaJmk (I’ve broken the link since, although I wouldn’t consider it NSFW as we would normally think, some of the dancers are wearing rather brief outfits. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/7 "2014-08-22T17:28:42Z")
So… where did “threatening his school with a dinosaur” come from? ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/8 "2014-08-22T17:45:33Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > So… where did “threatening his school with a dinosaur” come from? Perhaps he was trying to start a [food fight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crBIa_DmRt8&t=6m8s)? ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/9 "2014-08-22T17:48:05Z")
Maybe it was [Harry Dresden, age 16](http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101218093433/dresdenfiles/images/3/3a/Sue.jpg)… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/10 "2014-08-22T17:51:44Z")
What kind of ammo do you use to take out a Stegosaurus? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/11 "2014-08-22T17:54:51Z")
> [@](#): > > A Summerville High School student who says he was arrested and suspended after writing about killing **a dinosaur using a gun** in a class assignment has hired a lawyer. If I saw a dinosaur using a gun, I’d kill it too. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/12 "2014-08-22T18:00:05Z")
So this is pretty much like the other recent freak-out over the girl who was kicked out of school for saying “bless you”. Which in reality was she walked out of school screaming about her Christian right to religious expression and only received detention for that. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/13 "2014-08-22T18:07:25Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > So… where did “threatening his school with a dinosaur” come from? Perhaps the OP is in journalism school and is taking a class in Misleading Headlines 101. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/14 "2014-08-22T19:37:54Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > If I saw a dinosaur using a gun, I’d kill it too. I shot a dinosaur in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/15 "2014-08-22T20:15:54Z")
My first thought was of the story “The Boy Who Cried Dinosaur” from _My Brother Was An Only Child_ by Jack Douglas. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/16 "2014-08-22T20:34:32Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > So this is pretty much like the other recent freak-out over the girl who was kicked out of school for saying “bless you”. Which in reality was she walked out of school screaming about her Christian right to religious expression and only received detention for that. Yeah, that’s kind of what I’m getting. A teacher saw him say something about buying a gun to take care of business–language that, to my knowledge, is not normal hunter language–and got concerned enough to call the police. Y’know, if I taught high school and saw that, I might be that concerned, too. It was a misunderstanding; confronted with the misunderstanding, instead of going, “Woah, woah! Sorry, that was fiction, I was talking about a dinosaur!” the boy “became very disruptive.” At that point, I’m not sure that the arrest was fair, because I don’t know what “very disruptive” means. If it meant he was cussing out the cops and his teacher, then absolutely that’s a bogus arrest: there’s no reason why the school couldn’t handle that internally. If it meant he was knocking over desks and threatening to rape his stupid teacher, then that’s more of a criminal matter. But the dinosaur thing is a red herring. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/17 "2014-08-22T21:08:53Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > But the dinosaur thing is a red herring. Don’t you mean a red Coelacanth? ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/18 "2014-08-22T21:13:44Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Don’t you mean a red Coelacanth? Clever girl. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/19 "2014-08-22T21:16:20Z")
> [@Calatin](#): > > Clever girl. I saw what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201/20 "2014-08-22T21:18:51Z")
So the hairstyle that looks like his mom put a colander on his head and trimmed around it— I guess that’s what the kids are wearing these days? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-carolina-boy-arrested-for-threatening-his-school-with-a-dinosaur/696201.md?page=2)