THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2007
NEWS
5A
》 TECHNOLOGY
Blogging leads to arrest
BY RYAN J. FOLEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MADISON, Wis. — Bloggers and free speech advocates are calling on prosecutors not to file charges against a teacher arrested for allegedly posting an anonymous comment online praising the Columbine shooters.
Some were disturbed by the post police say James Buss left on a conservative blog, but other observers said it was a sarcastic attempt to discredit critics of education spending.
The suburban Milwaukee high school chemistry teacher was arrested last week for the Nov. 16 comment left on www.bootsandsabers.com, a blog on Wisconsin politics. The comment, left under the name "Observer," came during a discussion over teacher salaries after some commenters complained teachers were underworked and overpaid.
Buss, a former president of the teacher's union, allegedly wrote that teacher salaries made him sick because they are lazy and work only five hours a day. He praised the teen gunmen who killed 12 students and a teacher before committing suicide in the April 1999 attack at Columbine High School.
"They knew how to deal with
the overpaid teacher union thugs. One shot at a time!" he wrote, adding they should be remembered as heroes.
The comment disturbed at least one teacher, who called police in West Bend, 40 miles north of Milwaukee and home of the blog's administrator. Police traveled to arrest Buss at his home in Cudahy, south of Milwaukee, last week after the blogger gave them the anonymous poster's IP address.
After his arrest, Buss spent an hour in the Washington County jail before he was released on $350 bail. He did not return phone messages and e-mails seeking comment, and it was unclear whether he had a lawyer.
Washington County District Attorney Todd Martens is considering whether to charge Buss with disorderly conduct and unlawful use of computerized communication systems.
"If you look at all the factors in this case, it's pretty clear it would be a mistake to charge," said Larry Dupuis, legal director of The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin. "At worst, it was somebody expressing admiration for somebody who did something reprehensible. But the more reasonable explanation is this is somebody who is trying to mock the conservative view of teacher salaries."
Police Capt. Toby Netko defended the arrest. He said the teacher who complained was disturbed by the reference to "one shot at a time" and other educators agreed it was a threat.
"What happens when you say bomb in an airport? That's free speech, isn't it?" he said. "And people are taken into custody for that all the time."
Donald Downs, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and expert in free speech, said that "all sorts of unsavory, controversial speech" are protected by the First Amendment.
"It has to be intended to incite violence" to be illegal, Downs said. "If it's tongue-in-cheek, there's virtually no way they can claim that."
Downs added, however, that the school district might have legal grounds to discipline Buss. The teacher has been placed on paid administrative leave while his school district considers what action to take.
Sara Larsen, superintendent of the Oak Creek school district where Buss has worked since 1994, said she was "dismayed, disappointed and discouraged" by the posting. She had worked closely with Buss when he was president of the teacher's union for three years ending in 2006.
》 HEALTH
Poor refrigeration ruins vaccines
BY MELANIE S. WELTE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DES MOINES, Iowa — Every year, thousands of American children go through the tearful, teeth-grinding ordeal of getting their vaccinations, only to be forced to do it all over again. The vaccines were duds, ruined by poor refrigeration.
It is more than a source of distress for parent and child. It is a public health threat, because youngsters given understrength vaccines are unprotected against dangerous diseases. And it accounts for a big part of the $20 million in waste incurred by the federal Vaccines for Children program.
"This is a substantial problem that needs to be addressed through prevention, and when problems are discovered, often times through revaccinations," said Dr. Lance Rodewald, director of immunization services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
By CDC estimates, hundreds of thousands of doses of vaccines against such diseases as flu, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, mumps, measles, chicken pox and the cervical cancer virus are thrown out each year because of poor refrigeration at clinics, hospitals and doctors' offices.
Iowa, more than 1,000 families were notified by letter and telephone that they needed to get their children revaccinated. State officials found that the refrigerator at the clinic that administered the shots repeatedly dropped below freezing over a 17-month period in 2005 and 2006, potentially ruining the vaccines stored there.
"We just didn't notice it," said Dr. Ray Sturdevant, president of the Prairie Pediatrics and Adolescent Clinic.
Poor refrigeration has been blamed for similar problems elsewhere around the country over the past 21/2 years:
— In St. Cloud, Minn., a clinic had to revaccinate 8,600 patients, most of them children.
— In Lane County, Ore., 500 children and adults had to get another shot.
— In western Florida, it happened to about 250 kids.
"We do everything we can to advise and to make people aware that this is very expensive vaccines they're dealing with and we really want to handle it properly and store it properly to prevent these things from happening — but they do," said Charles Alexander, chief of immunization with the Florida Health Department.
In Sioux City and other cases, the spoilage resulted from a combination of factors: The refrigerator malfunctioned or was not set or maintained at the proper temperature — a problem that can be caused simply by leaving the door open for a while — and the workers responsible for regularly logging the temperature did not seem to
recognize when the readings were off.
Inadequate refrigeration can cause vaccines to lose their potency, although experts say spoiled childhood vaccines are not dangerous in themselves if given to a youngster.
And there are no known cases of children contracting a disease because they had been given a vaccine rendered ineffective by poor refrigeration.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, center, clasps his hands before the start of the funeral for Sean Taylor on the Florida International University campus in Miami Monday, Dec. 3.
In one recent case in Sioux City,
Three teens held for murder
BY MATT SEDENSKY ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAYLOR SLAYING
MIAMI — Three men were held without bail Tuesday in the killing of Sean Taylor, placed on a suicide watch and described as extremely distraught a day after thousands mourned at the funeral of the Washington Redskins star.
Charles Wardlow, 18. Jason Mitchell, 19, and Venjah Hunte, 20. appeared briefly by videoconference from Miami-Dade County jail, where they will remain after Judge John Thornton Jr.'s ruling.
The three suspects and a fourth one, Eric Rivera, 17, all face charges of unpremeditated murder, home invasion with a firearm or another deadly weapon and armed burglary. Rivera is being processed at a juvenile detention center, jail officials said.
The three stood silently during the hearing. They were seen on video wearing special garments designed to keep them from using the clothes to make a noose.
Asked how he would defend his client, Smith said simply: "Stay tuned."
Attorneys said all the men were agitated and jail officials confirmed that those denied bail were under suicide watch.
occurred," said Rivera's attorney, Wilbur Smith. "His expression to me was that 'I can't believe this kind of thing happened.'"
"He's very distraught," said Hunte's attorney, Michael Hornung. "He's scared."
Hornung offered glimpse of his client's possible involvement. He said Hunte was the only one of the suspects with a valid driver's license and behind the wheel at least part of the time. He said Hunte did not have a gun and did not know his friends' plans.
"Just a bunch of friends that evening said they were going to the East Coast and he went along," Hornung said. "He had no idea whatsoever what was going on."
Hunte is cooperating with police.
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Wardlow's attorney, David Brener, did not return a phone message. Another lawyer has said there is a fifth suspect police are seeking, though police would not confirm that.
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Probable cause affidavits for Mitchell and Rivera said the two confessed to participating in armed burglary. According to the reports, Mitchell and Rivera admitted entering the home and said someone had a gun and shot Taylor, but they didn't identify who. Police and attorneys also have said some of the young men confessed, though they wouldn't elaborate.
The court proceedings came a day after Taylor's funeral, which was held at a university arena and drew about 3,000 mourners. Among those attending were NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, 300 members of the redskins organization, O.J. Simpson, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and actor Andy Garcia.
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