Arrested for cheering at graduation ceremony

MattShizzle
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Arrested for cheering at graduation ceremony

 

7 busted after cheers erupt at S.C. graduations.

It's an effort to reduce disruptions, but for some, it's 'like a funeral in there'

 

Updated 6:59 p.m. ET, Tues., June. 10, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. - When Rock Hill school officials tell commencement crowds to hold their applause until the end, they mean it — police arrested seven people after they were accused of loud cheering during the ceremonies.

Six people at Fort Mill High School's graduation were charged Saturday and a seventh at the graduation for York Comprehensive High School was charged Friday with disorderly conduct, authorities said. Police said the seven yelled after students' names were called.

"I just thought they were going to escort me out," Jonathan Orr told The Herald of Rock Hill, about 70 miles north of Columbia. "I had no idea they were going to put handcuffs on me and take me to jail."

Orr, 21, spent two hours in jail after he was arrested when he yelled for his cousin at York's commencement at the Winthrop University Coliseum.

Rock Hill police began patrolling commencements several years ago at the request of school districts who complained of increasing disruption. Those attending commencements are told they can be prosecuted for bad behavior and letters are sent home with students, said Rock Hill police spokesman Lt. Jerry Waldrop.

All the cases, except for one that includes a resisting arrest charge, will be handled in city court and are punishable by a maximum of 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Orr said he thinks people should be allowed to cheer.

"For some people, it might be the only member of their family to graduate high school, and it was like a funeral in there," Orr said.

William Massey, 19, was arrested but said he plans to fight the charge. He said he simply "clapped and gave a little whoop" when his fiancee's name was called. Massey said there were warnings before the ceremony but none that said he could be arrested.

He said not everyone who cheered was arrested.

"There's a lot more people that did it than six or seven," said Massey, who graduated from Fort Mill last year.

Fort Mill Principal Dee Christopher says school officials don't ask that offenders be arrested but that he plans to keep a police presence at future graduation ceremonies.

"We think it's important for every graduate's name to be heard and for every person in the arena to be able to see that student cross the stage. ... That's why we have disruptive guests removed," he said.

Last year in Galesburg, Ill., five students were denied diplomas from the city's lone public high school after enthusiastic friends or family members cheered for them during commencement. Students could get their diplomas after completing eight hours of public service for the school district.

 

 

What the fuck is up with these fascist cocksuckers? A graduation isn't supposed to be somber it's supposed to be happy. The people there had every right to riot and kill every cop and school official there! Then you got the idiots who say "well it was a rule" - it was an unjust rule. You have no duty to obey an unjust rule, and unlike what some pacifist types say you have no right to "take the consequences" either. You have the right, in fact the duty, to kill anyone who tries to arrest you for violating an unjust rule. I would say from a civil rights era perspective I'd be more Malcolm X or the Black Panthers than Martin Luther King. At the very least I hope the ACLU gets involved in a lawsuit and the school district and police department wind up bankrupt.

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The Doomed Soul
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I fail to see how any of

I fail to see how any of them could be charged at all o_O?

It boggles my mind, the amount of legal issues that will arise from this 1 incident.

What Would Kharn Do?


Loc
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MattShizzle wrote:  The

MattShizzle wrote:

 

 The people there had every right to riot and kill every cop and school official there!

What?

Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible

dudeofthemoment wrote:
This is getting redudnant. My patience with the unteachable[atheists] is limited.

Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.


MattShizzle
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I mean once they started

I mean once they started acting like the Gestapo and arresting people for fucking cheering.


Loc
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So in your opinion,these

So in your opinion,these students would have been right to kill an entire faculty, most of whom had nothing to do with the incident. You also believe that they then would have been right to kill several armed police officers.

Yes,it was a stupid thing to get arrested for.But these things happen.Should we kill anyone who does something silly? Heck,next time I'm stopped in a random roadblock I'll kill the cop for falsely pulling me over, and suffer no consequences!

No doubt you're right.Let's not think of all those people's families who would loose loved ones,the university with a dead faculty, and the loss to the cities crime fighting capability. Clearly students should go on killing sprees when treated unfairly.

Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible

dudeofthemoment wrote:
This is getting redudnant. My patience with the unteachable[atheists] is limited.

Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.


MattShizzle
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I said the officials, not

I said the officials, not the entire faculty. And it was a high school, not a university. Theres a big difference between being stopped and arrested - don't you think killing Gestapo and Nazi officials would have been justified? I think that killing people who oppress is justified. At the very least the police and school officials involve need to lose their jobs.

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MattShizzle
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By the way I think the very

By the way I think the very idea of laws against "disturbing the peace" or "disorderly conduct" are a bad idea because they are too vague - obviously we do need to keep people from (for example) playing their stereo at top volume in the middle of the night, but these are just too open - including instances where peaceful protesters have been arrested.

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Boon Docks
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It's too bad people aren't

It's too bad people aren't arrested when they "pray" at public school functions.  That would be too cool.


MattShizzle
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Boon Docks wrote:It's too

Boon Docks wrote:

It's too bad people aren't arrested when they "pray" at public school functions.  That would be too cool.

 

I'd definitely be against that. Not just for the freedom of speech issue, but it would give them more ammo for the "Christians are oppressed" crap they spew already.

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MattShizzle wrote:By the way

MattShizzle wrote:
By the way I think the very idea of laws against "disturbing the peace" or "disorderly conduct" are a bad idea because they are too vague

This I do agree with.  Some of those laws are worded in such a way that they could be used to describe just about any action whatsoever.  Of course, one would hope that juries and appeals to constitutional protections could get people out of trouble in cases where such laws are abused, but just dealing with the legal system can be expensive and time consuming, and juries are rather unpredictable.


MattShizzle
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I think the more I read the

I think the more I read the more I agree with libertarians - except on the economic issues. I'm worlds apart with them on that. I do think maybe we do need individuals to have guns to keep the government from getting too oppressive. Just need to keep them from the actual criminals.

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