Anyone heard about this? Teacher arrested for writing fictional book about school shooting

[PrincessMommy]

sorry for such a long title... but I hate teasers.

 

Here's one article:

 

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/08/28/police-teacher-placed-on-leave-for-authoring-fictional-book-of-the-largest-school-massacre/

 

 

 

Dorchester Sheriff James Phillips told WBOC that McLaw was taken in for an emergency medical evaluation but the sheriff declined to disclose the current whereabouts of McLaw. Police swept Mace’s Lane Middle School for bombs and guns on the same day McLaw was taken in for the evaluation – coming up empty in the search.

 

This seems very disturbing. 

 

here's another article

 

http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/29/this-week-in-teachers-who-write-school-massacre-fiction-and-want-to-stab-some-kids/

 

 

 

[hjffkj]

Are you disturbed by the books or the police reaction?

[hjffkj]

Hmm I don't find that a teacher wrote about a school shooting disturbing at all. He's an author and authors write what they know. It probably wasn't the smartest idea since now he has to go through all this but I don't think the book writing is any indication that he plans to do something horrible. Unless the police have more than the fact that a teacher wrote this book I find their reaction disturbing.

[Butter]

I have to wonder if the writing is just part of the puzzle they can easily report.  I don't find it threatening or scary that a teacher would write something like that.  I just feel like there is more to this that is missing for us, but known to the police.

[hjffkj]

I'm more disturbed that the teacher mentioned in the second article talking about stabbing kids on twitter is still a teacher

[Word Nerd]

Ridiculous. I'd like to believe there must be another reason for the teacher to be removed besides writing two novels, one of which involving a school shooting, but I've seen too many unbelievable stories about zero-tolerance policies taken to extremes. If his fictional work is the only reason for all this, that's far more disturbing than anything he may have written.

[chiguirre]

If you're a ps teacher and you want to write a thriller, I'd think school shootings would be one of the easiest to research. I guess the police thought there was something suspicious about the books??? However, they didn't find anything when they searched the school. It's a very disturbing case if all they had as evidence were the books!

[Word Nerd]

I'm more disturbed that the teacher mentioned in the second article talking about stabbing kids on twitter is still a teacher

I've seen and heard people say they're feeling stabby or may go postal and have never once taken it as a serious threat rather than a joke. Using dark humor on Twitter is unprofessional and pretty stupid in this context, but I don't think that in itself should preclude her from being a teacher.

[Wheres Toto]

Wow, I wonder if Robin Cook ever had to talk to the police about his books.  :rolleyes:

 

I think it's definitely an over reaction if all they are going by is the books.   Seems like there should be more to it but how many kids get in trouble these days if they write a disturbing story or draw a dark picture?  It seems to be the new trend to over-react.

 

[Mimm]

 

Possessing handsome corporal attributes integrating an angelic face, modishly shaggy dirty-blond hair, spellbinding green eyes, and a very attractive physique, Keith is considered to be excessively sexy by the Krossephire female populace in its entirety. However the core basis of Keith's detestation by the male population is Scarlette Alexia Kane- an independently affluent and entrancing young woman who, until she became romantically involved with Keith, was deemed by most to the be approachable yet unattainable. They have been socializing amorously for almost a year now and as the vehemence of their intimacy increases, the level of persecution Keith receives from envious individuals does likewise. However with the assistance of his female companion and several genuine friends, he does not permit the malice of others to demoralise him.

 

Actual quote from the book. It's a wonder anyone was able to get through it to realize it contained a school massacre. :laugh:

 

ETA: http://www.amazon.com/The-Insurrectionist-K-Voltaer-ebook/dp/B0075CP2SG

You can read several chapters with the look inside feature. :)

[Moxie]

Actual quote from the book. It's a wonder anyone was able to get through it to realize it contained a school massacre. :laugh:

That reads like some of my kid's IEW assignments.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Assuming there is not more to the story.....people write what they know. Not only that, authors often write from their deepest fears. Hope no one ever researches what I google and whatnot.

[Mimm]

That reads like some of my kid's IEW assignments.

 

Maybe it serves as a warning to those of us that use IEW. :)

 

Either way, I find it ludicrous that he was arrested. It's just a fictional book.

[PrincessMommy]

Are you disturbed by the books or the police reaction?

 

oh sorry I was clear.  I am disturbed by the police (and school) reaction.  I would, however, like to learn more about it all before passing judgement that what they did was wrong... but on the face of it, it's very disturbing.

[PrincessMommy]

If you're a ps teacher and you want to write a thriller, I'd think school shootings would be one of the easiest to research. I guess the police thought there was something suspicious about the books??? However, they didn't find anything when they searched the school. It's a very disturbing case if all they had as evidence were the books!

 

yes, but even so... if he was doing more research, let's say about gun types or something, that would probably come up on his computer searches.  He would look guilty without understanding the circumstances about the search.

 

Can you imagine what Stephen King or Crichton's google searches would look like??!! ;)

[Jean in Newcastle]

I'm pretty sure this is one of those zero tolerance things.  Kids have gotten in serious trouble for writing poems or stories about such things.  The school probably takes the stance that if they knew that he wrote a story about a school massacre, they ignored it and then he actually carried out one that they would be headline news for having done nothing.  So they reported it.  The police have to then check it out.  The thing is though - where do you go from there?  The police are telling the school that there is nothing to worry about (or that's how I read the article) but once you've brought someone in for something like that and it's gone public, now what?  I wonder if a lawsuit by the teacher once he's released is going to come next.  

[Lovingparent]

Maybe they arrested him for being a lousy author! 

 

It seems like an overreaction if all they had was the book. Especially whisking him to an undisclosed location etc. Maybe they knew more? They had to. I am not sure police can get a warrant to search someone's place just because they wrote a disturbing book. At least, I hope they cannot. 

 

On the other side, every time, every single time a shooting occurs, people can't help but wonder whether they could have done anything to prevent it or how they didn't see the signs. So, from a school perspective, I would want to be on a safe side. 

[Lady Florida.]

Maybe they arrested him for being a lousy author! 

 

 

 

If that excerpt is any indication of what the rest of the book is like, they had probably cause. :)

 

Seriously though, I think it's ridiculous. Aspiring writers are often told to "write what you know". If there are other reasons why he's suspect besides writing bad novels about school shootings, that's different. It doesn't seem like there are, at least not from the information that's been released.

[Tap]

I am betting that either the police know more than they are saying OR they are just covering thier butts.  If they knew about the books and didn't do anything, and the teacher was a problem in the future....people would be asking "why didn't they investigate?".  It will also help to alleviate some public fears, by showing the parents that they are checking the mental status of the author/teacher before allowing them to return to school.

[Mimm]

What if he'd written about a teacher having an affair with a student, even if he had no interest in a student? What if he'd written about an underground widespread cheating scandal, even if he wasn't involved in one? Would he be arrested and questioned? The whole thing seems crazy to me.

[Word Nerd]

I am betting that either the police know more than they are saying OR they are just covering thier butts. If they knew about the books and didn't do anything, and the teacher was a problem in the future....people would be asking "why didn't they investigate?". It will also help to alleviate some public fears, by showing the parents that they are checking the mental status of the author/teacher before allowing them to return to school.

I would hope that parents aren't that illogical. Writing about murder doesn't make someone a potential murderer.

[Catwoman]

If he was going to be arrested for anything, it should have been for Crimes Against the Reading Public.

 

He's a terrible writer!!! :ack2:

[hjffkj]

I've seen and heard people say they're feeling stabby or may go postal and have never once taken it as a serious threat rather than a joke. Using dark humor on Twitter is unprofessional and pretty stupid in this context, but I don't think that in itself should preclude her from being a teacher.

 

I would disagree.  A woman who publicly calls your students assholes and repeatedly mentions violent tendencies that these children bring out in her should not be around children.  It doesn't matter whether or not she would actually do something. She clearly is incapable of handling the stress that teaching brings on in a healthy manner. No student should have to deal with a teacher to has no problem telling the whole world that she hate her students.

[Guest submarines]

That reads like some of my kid's IEW assignments.

 

Time to change your writing curriculum then. :smilielol5:

[Guest submarines]

The article I read doesn't say what he actually teaches. If it is English, he might be on probation not because of content, but because of his utter incompetence. :lol: If my kids' English teacher wrote like this, I'd be raising h*ll over his qualifications.

[OneStepAtATime]

Unfortunately, this will probably mean more people will read the book and he will come away from this thinking he's a great writer...

[Jean in Newcastle]

The article I read said that he is a language arts teacher.  That would include English.

[Catwoman]

The article I read said that he is a language arts teacher. That would include English.

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

 

I'll bet his students learn very early on that to be successful in that guy's class, they need to have a thesaurus with them at all times, and to use as many words -- preferably BIG words -- as possible in every single sentence.

 

Based on his book excerpt, it's all about vocabulary and adjectives for that dude.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

His writing style does not matter. He is not being treated as a criminal threat to children because his writing style is not admired!

1. They swept his house and his school and found nothing, absolutely nothing, that would point to a criminal plan or the intent to carry it out. Nothing on his computer, no guns, etc. They have ascertained that he is not an actual threat, but they've still got him holed up and they want to do emergency mental evaluation on him...wonder what THAT looks like...This has been made very clear -- the only thing they have against him is the fiction that he has written. FICTION. He is a writer, he is invested in the published word, he encourages his students to publish their work, he is an educator...until he dared to write fiction he was considered one of the good guys. One source says he was nominated for Teacher of the Year in 2013.

 

2. His life and career are forever altered now, with the latter probably being forever lost, because he wrote fictional stories in the setting with which he is most familiar, on a topic that is mainstream and interesting to the public. What's wrong with this picture?

3. All mainstream news outlets, and the school and the police department, are using the word "alias" when what he really has are pen names. Pseudonyms. They are trying to influence the court of public opinion by using criminalizing terminology for something that is lawful and usual. And the public is dumb enough to fall for it, because who the heck knows about pseudonyms or fiction anymore? Teacher plus mention of violence equals horrible threat to students. Q.E.D.

 

4.  Stephen King was a teacher, living in a trailer park, when he wrote some of his earliest horror novels. I hope Mr. McLaw's sub-par writing does not prohibit Mr. King from rising in his defense when the dust settles, if the story really is no more than has been reported.

Orwell. Thought police. Alternate reality. Indoctrination. Knee-jerk reaction. Mandatory psych evaluation for thoughts and writing when no crimes have been committed or even planned. THIS is what matters. Not whether the man is a good writer.

[PrincessMommy]

Thank you Tibbie.

[Ravin]

This is just so disturbing. I told DH about it and he's thoroughly disgusted.

 

Whatever happened to freedom of expression. The ACLU should be all over this one like brown on rice.

[Guest submarines]

The article I read said that he is a language arts teacher.  That would include English.

 

:eek:

 

[VeritasMama]

I thought they needed proof you had actually broken a law to arrest you. Silly me.

[Mimm]

Apparently not.

 

I do agree with Tibby and by bringing up the quality of his writing I was not attempting to justify what is being done to this man. I do find it appalling.

[ktgrok]

Actual quote from the book. It's a wonder anyone was able to get through it to realize it contained a school massacre. :laugh:

 

ETA: http://www.amazon.com/The-Insurrectionist-K-Voltaer-ebook/dp/B0075CP2SG

You can read several chapters with the look inside feature. :)

 

 

His writing should be a crime, not for the subject, but for the quality. OUCH. 

 

Seriously, I do wonder if there was another issue, as they took him for an emergency mental health check. I don't think just writing a book would end you up in the hospital. At least, I'm hoping it wouldn't. 

[Lady Florida.]

I thought people bringing up the quality of his writing was an attempt at light-heartedness. I doubt anyone here thinks it actually matters. Most of us who commented on his writing ability/style also commented in seriousness on the actual charges.

[Mrs Mungo]

His writing style does not matter. He is not being treated as a criminal threat to children because his writing style is not admired!

 

1. They swept his house and his school and found nothing, absolutely nothing, that would point to a criminal plan or the intent to carry it out. Nothing on his computer, no guns, etc. They have ascertained that he is not an actual threat, but they've still got him holed up and they want to do emergency mental evaluation on him...wonder what THAT looks like...This has been made very clear -- the only thing they have against him is the fiction that he has written. FICTION. He is a writer, he is invested in the published word, he encourages his students to publish their work, he is an educator...until he dared to write fiction he was considered one of the good guys. One source says he was nominated for Teacher of the Year in 2013.

 

2. His life and career are forever altered now, with the latter probably being forever lost, because he wrote fictional stories in the setting with which he is most familiar, on a topic that is mainstream and interesting to the public. What's wrong with this picture?

 

3. All mainstream news outlets, and the school and the police department, are using the word "alias" when what he really has are pen names. Pseudonyms. They are trying to influence the court of public opinion by using criminalizing terminology for something that is lawful and usual. And the public is dumb enough to fall for it, because who the heck knows about pseudonyms or fiction anymore? Teacher plus mention of violence equals horrible threat to students. Q.E.D.

 

4.  Stephen King was a teacher, living in a trailer park, when he wrote some of his earliest horror novels. I hope Mr. McLaw's sub-par writing does not prohibit Mr. King from rising in his defense when the dust settles, if the story really is no more than has been reported.

 

Orwell. Thought police. Alternate reality. Indoctrination. Knee-jerk reaction. Mandatory psych evaluation for thoughts and writing when no crimes have been committed or even planned. THIS is what matters. Not whether the man is a good writer.

It reminds me more of Bradbury than Orwell, but other than that, I totally agree. If the story happened as described, that is totally insanity. People should be held legally and financially liable for any damage this does to him professionally.

[Slartibartfast]

:lol:

 

Stephen King's first published novel was Carrie. I wonder how that would go over now. :lol:

 

 

[Mrs Mungo]

:lol:

 

Stephen King's first published novel was Carrie. I wonder how that would go over now. :lol:

He would be in jail, apparently. He was a teacher when he wrote that.

 

 

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.

 

In the spring of 1973, Doubleday & Co. accepted the novel Carrie for publication. On Mother's Day of that year, Stephen learned from his new editor at Doubleday, Bill Thompson, that a major paperback sale would provide him with the means to leave teaching and write full-time.

[Catwoman]

I thought people bringing up the quality of his writing was an attempt at light-heartedness. I doubt anyone here thinks it actually matters. Most of us who commented on his writing ability/style also commented in seriousness on the actual charges.

Thanks! :) I know I wasn't being serious in my posts, and I didn't get the feeling that anyone else was, either.

 

It would have taken far more restraint than I possess to not comment on the guy's writing. :D

[Mary in VA]

I'm not a big fan of lawsuits, but I hope he gets a fantastic lawyer and wins a HUGE judgement against county/school district!

[Supertechmom]

Why is any one surprised? If kindy kids can be expelled for eating pop tarts into guns and teens can be arrested and sent to court for drawing bomb scenes or writing shoot up kill em stories for English class, it only follows that a teacher can be arrested for writing about a school shooting. Too many people have been arrested/punished/investigated for the thought of violence lately.

 

We all have violent thoughts. We all make a remark somewhere to somebody about harming another without ever intending to carry out those thoughts. All in the lines of "Alice, one of the days Pow right in the kisser" from the Honeymooners. If it involves the word school, they can arrest you it seems for voicing violence. However, stalk someone and threaten them, you can't be touched. Beat your wife and you might get some jail time, maybe if they bother to put you in jail. Write a fictional story and you can be searched, arrested, and your sanity questioned.

 

Stephen king would have never become the author he is today had he started his career now. He would be in jail. Carrie certainly would have sealed his fate.

[chiguirre]

Oh no! I just saw this posted on DailyKos:

 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/01/1325358/-What-I-Didn-t-See-At-First-MD-School-Teacher-Fiction-Writer

 

I know DKos is a partisan source, but it's the only place I found an article that posted McLaw's picture. I did search and found a link to his Linked In Page, so the picture is correct, you'll have to be the judge about DKos' conclusions.

 

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/patrick-mclaw/70/654/a1

[unsinkable]

Oh no! I just saw this posted on DailyKos:

 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/01/1325358/-What-I-Didn-t-See-At-First-MD-School-Teacher-Fiction-Writer

 

I know DKos is a partisan source, but it's the only place I found an article that posted McLaw's picture. I did search and found a link to his Linked In Page, so the picture is correct, you'll have to be the judge about DKos' conclusions.

 

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/patrick-mclaw/70/654/a1

The conclusion is he was arrested because he is African American?

[Word Nerd]

I saw his photo on multiple stories about this. DailyKos is a bit slow on the uptake.

[songsparrow]

According to the DKos article, the books were published 3 years ago - before he was hired by the school district.  "Patrick McLaw is 23 years old. He's a middle school teacher. He wrote these books in college and published them in his sophomore year in college."