Student Arrested for Making Videogame Map of School

tanman writes "A student at the Houston-area Clements High School was arrested, sent to an "Alternative Education Center" and banned from graduation after school officials found he created a video game map of his school. School district police arrested the teen and searched his home where they confiscated a hammer as a 'potential weapon'. ' "They decided he was a terroristic threat," said one source close to the district's investigation.' With an upcoming May 12 school board election, this issue has quickly become political, with school board members involved in the appeal accusing each other of pandering to the Chinese community in an attempt to gain votes."

Re:*sigh*

[dirk]

I died a little on the inside when I read this. :(
Don't worry, you'll respawn in Mrs. Crabapple's classroom for round 2.

Re:Understood...

[eln]

Dude, you are way underestimating the seriousness of this issue. They found a hammer in this kid's house...a fucking HAMMER. He could easily have knocked one, maybe even two people unconscious with that thing before anyone could do anything about it.

What does anyone need with a hammer in their house anyway? Forget about banning him from graduation, this little mini-Osama should get sent straight to Gitmo. There is absolutely no reason to have a hammer in your home unless you intend to commit a terrorist act.

Plus, if all that weren't bad enough, this kid is ASIAN. Christ man, do you have any idea how crazy those Asians are? One of them killed a bunch of people at Virginia Tech just a short time ago. This categorically PROVES that all Asians are sociopaths just itching to shoot up a school. You can't argue with this logic, it is completely impervious.

You have no idea what we're up against here, man. This shit is SERIOUS. Don't come crying to me when your kid comes home with a big nasty bump on his head because one of these little Asian al Qaeda wannabes smacked him over the head with a mallet. You were warned.

Re:What sort of country...

[jeffasselin]

You must be new here. But really it's only half the US. The other half only lost part of their sanity.

Re:Hammers?

[FlyingSquidStudios]

A hammer is a terrorist tool because you couldn't crucify Jesus without a hammer! See? They hate Jesus! And freedom!

Look, I found a terrorist song!

If I had a hammer I'd hammer on the freedom
I'd hammer on the infidels
All over this land
I'd hammer out patriots
I'd hammer out christians
I'd hammer out apple pie and baseball
All over this land

Re:Frightening

[Garridan]

Worse, imagine what the feds would do to this guy! [silversmithing.com]

Re:Understood...

[Duhavid]

I spoke with Charles Hammerton about this, and you are neglecting many aspects.

He might have had the hammer for home defence. There is nothing
wrong with some sport hammering from time to time. Of course, we
believe that hammers should be licensed, and background checks done
before a hammer can be purchased. Training is, of course, very
important, and hammers should never be left where children could
harm themselves with them. If appropriate, a hammer lock can
be had at any high school that teaches wrestling.

Dont forget about the constitution, and the right to bear hammers.

Responsible hammer ownership is a right, and should not be infringed
by a few nut cases.

As Charles said "you can have my hammer, when you pry it from my cold,
dead fingers".

Re:Understood...

[Hoi Polloi]

If you don't stop them now then they'll work their way up to a board with a nail in it, then a screwdriver, then a big stick, and before you know it he's running around the school swinging a big, heavy backpack at people.

Re:It is ape law!

[Wandering Wombat]

I don't want to think about sodomy laws being stretched to fit....

Better grade than I got

[Anonymous Coward]

My Visual Arts teacher gave me an "Incomplete" for the course. I shouldn't have made my map for Duke Nukem Forever.

Re:Unslashdotted links

[powerlord]

Nice links. My favorite quote in the second link:

[A fellow student] said, "If somebody can make a map like that of the whole school, I mean, it does kind of scare me a little bit, and make me wonder, you know, what else they could do."

Yeah ... I mean ... they could make a 3D model of a rocket launcher or something, and then we'll all be in serious trouble. ::roll eyes::

Re:Understood...

[minotaurcomputing]

A little know fact is that the police confiscated 30 pairs of tiny "stick like" devices that the child claims were used solely for eating. It is not yet known what these devices were or what terror they may have caused to the community at large.
-m

Re:Understood...

[vought]

He could easily have knocked one, maybe even two people unconscious with that thing before anyone could do anything about it.

As a proud, lifetime member of the National Hammer Association, I must insist that we not go too far here. It's part of our constitutional rights - the right to Arm and Hammer - to arm ourselves with hammers. This incident is merely one more reason that everyone ought to carry hamers everywhere they go - if others had been armed with hammers, this student would have had a serious disincentive to consider possibly carrying out the egregious act he was prevented from possibly committing.

Soon, crazy liberal will want to outlaw air hammers, jack hammers, Mike Hammers, pipe hammers - even Diesel hammers - you name it. Act now to preserve your hammer rights - join the NHA.

Re:Understood...

[Bogtha]

There is absolutely no reason to have a hammer in your home unless you intend to commit a terrorist act.

Hey! If we outlaw hammers, only outlaws will be able to put shelves up!

Videogame map?

[Applekid]

He made a map of his school for a video game?

Excuse me, but I've been making maps of schools for Hello Kitty's Sunny Summer Adventure for years now.

Re:Understood...

[neoform]

Wait wait wait..

You mean people who make those gaming maps don't do it strictly as a training ground for their future slaughter?!

I feel so deceived, why would Jack Thompson lie to me like that?!!

In other news..

[JustNiz]

The US Government have accused Home Depot and Lowes of supplying terrorist activities on a nationwide scale, and have invoked emergency "Home Security" legislation ensuring US citizens can only buy tools made of jello.
The same legislation gives the police authority to shoot anyone selling non-jello tools (garage sales etc) on sight.

Re:Understood...

[elhaf]

Jesus, so they send him to an alternative school, where he can map that one too!
/sarcasm

Re:Oh, For Christ's F***ing Sake...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sugarland Tx: Where people too stupid to live in Houston or Beaumont go to live.

Re:Understood...

[hrvatska]

Dont forget about the constitution, and the right to bear hammers.

People are always misquoting that amendment. It's the right to hammer bears. Which, as the supreme court affirmed in smokey v. ashcroft, means that you have the right to get a bear drunk if it's more than 18 years old.

The real story... it's M$'s fault!

[modi123]

Ok... follow me here. First off a videogame was involved. Second, a hammer was the deciding vote on terrorist or not terrorist. The hammer is closly linked to what videogame? That's right - "It's me, MAAARIO!". Who is nintendo's biggest rival right now, M$ with their blasted xboxes, corporate shennanigans, and viral campaigns.

What better way of instilling fear in the parent population than linking videogames and hammers with terrorism. Parents will shy away from the overly cheerful plumber and run to the open arms of Bill Gates...

Aaaaaarg! What's next to be declared terroristic? Eating mushrooms, climbing through pipes, and collecting coins in my basement?

Re:Unslashdotted links

[markana]

Or even worse, they could collect names and photos of all the students and faculty at the school. Maybe even photos of events where students gather in large groups... and notes on the personal habits and quirks of the potential targets.

Now imagine if someone had all that scary personal data neatly organized and distributed to their fellow proto-terrorists. Who *knows* what they could do with it - it's just too frightening to imagine.

I certainly hope someone in the government is aware of this siuation. Heaven knows, the current Administration has allowed this threat to our educational system go completely unchecked for far too long...

(former yearbook terro^h^hphotographer :-)

Re:Understood...

[click2005]

as proven by Wile E Coyote

Re:Understood...

[Frederico Camara]

A Hammer is a hammer is a hammer...
You should all pay attention to the details.
Have the police found any nails? Is it a silver hammer? Have he ever visited Tom's Hardware (http://www.tomshardware.com/)? Does he have any Beatles album?
Never trust a man that keeps a hammer in his house. He can be one of those psycopaths that hangs pictures on the wall or worse, a carpenter.

Re:Understood...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just be thankful that a hammer was all he had. Just imagine the carnage that could have happened if he got a hold of one of those red Swingline staplers.

Re:Understood...

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly. I once tried using Doom (I think it was Doom, but I'm old, I forget) to model a new data center.

I wanted to create a 3D walk-through to complement the Visio diagrams I'd already done, so we could get a feel for the dimensions of the place. I was about half-way through designing it when I got sick of being asked "why does the guy have a gun?". (As I was the one _designing_ it, I didn't have to worry too much about the "terrorist" nonsense.)

Re:Understood...

[Xentor]

Hey, I wrote a text adventure loosely-based on my college, in which the astronomy building basically gets blown to hell, several other buildings are burnt down, two students are murdered, and--

Err, I mean, it wasn't my school. Any similarities were entirely coincidental, and were mere plot devices.

learn from the Marines!

[llamaxing]

Marines know that their Rifle Safety Rules can be applied to their everyday lives, ie:

1. Treat every hammer as if it were dangerous.
2. Never smash anything you do not intend to break.
3. Keep your fingers straight and off the handle until you are ready to smash.
4. Keep your hammer holstered until you are ready to smash.

Since it clearly wasn't in his hand when found, the kid didn't break the rules and, therefore, did nothing wrong.

On a second note, I thought this was rather humorous... the police took the kid's tool, but he received a "ban hammer" from the school. (yeah, that was corny)

What you folks need...

[digitig]

...is a written constitution, just like Europe. Oh, hold on, that's the wrong way around, isn't it?

Re:Remember the Blacksmith.

[Flunitrazepam]

and when the Red Coats shouted "STOP...." what did he say?

Re:Unslashdotted links

[mpe]

Even worse: The might eventually learn to operate CAD-Programs, study Architecture and build real schools! Just imagine the horrors that could happen in those places... !

They'd have problems if they wanted to install timber framed walls if they didn't have a hammer though.

Re:Understood...

[mpe]

A Hammer is a hammer is a hammer... You should all pay attention to the details.

It could have been The Hammer of Justice, as described in the well known song. That could have been really frightening to the authorities.

Never trust a man that keeps a hammer in his house. He can be one of those psycopaths that hangs pictures on the wall or worse, a carpenter.

A bit like that guy who caused so much trouble for the Romans about 2,000 years ago :)

Er...

[mqduck]

A student at the Houston-area Clements High School was arrested, sent to an "Alternative Education Center" and banned from graduation after school officials found he created a video game map of his school.

That's horrible!

School district police arrested the teen and searched his home where they confiscated a hammer as a 'potential weapon'. "They decided he was a terroristic threat," said one source close to the district's investigation.'

That's ridiculous!

With an upcoming May 12 school board election, this issue has quickly become political

That's how it should be!

with school board members involved in the appeal accusing each other of pandering to the Chinese community in an attempt to gain votes.

That's... Wait, what?

Re:Frightening

[tsstahl]

Freakin amateur wannabe.

I gotta nail gun. And a pneumatic chisel.

I simply OWN Anything within range of my air hose.

Re:Understood...

[wiz31337]

I know your post was serious and I think it is pretty awesome that you used Doom to model your data center. The fact that you got asked "why does the guy have a gun" makes this hilarious. For some reason I immediately pictured you saying "Because it is a secure data center duh!"

Re:Understood...

[Anonymous Coward]

had the teacher not told him to shut up, i woulda been hit with a chair.

Wow, you went to school with Steve Ballmer?

We have no idea what this ALC looks like...

[grantek]

The community deserves to be able to take a "virtual tour" through this facility to ensure our kids it's safe and sound - quick, someone make a Quake map of it!

Re:It is ape law!

[Afrosheen]

I didn't know the local laws had the Goatse provision tacked on.

Maybe the Democratic war chest bill had the same thing and that's why Bush vetoed it, that's the only way the veto would make sense. ;)

Re:Remember the Blacksmith.

[QRDeNameland]

I've read that that story was highly exaggerated. In reality, the blacksmith gave 20 British soldiers brandy and wine and then they were hammered.

Re:Understood...

[Lord Ender]

They should have started by making a map of there English class.

Re:Understood...

[Ghworg]

Did you make a map of your school for a first-person shooter:

• Yes.
• No.
• I started to, but didn't finish.

You missed off an option

• I thought about it, but decided it was too much work and went back to huffing paint thinners.

Re:Understood...

[Anonymous Coward]

We're outlawing hammers now?

I just wish they had outlawed MC Hammer back in 1990 ...

Re:Understood...

[Wuhao]

Oh, sure, it's all well and good to talk about the common man's right to a hammer. But, why oversimplify it as an either/or thing? Surely it is not so black and white as "you can have all hammers, or no hammers." Why would a common man need a high-grade carpenter's hammer? What about hammers with assault prongs, which are used to violently rip teeth from gums? What about sledgehammers, whose sole purvue is destruction?

I propose a few common-sense regulations on hammers. Hammers with weights over 16 ounces and two or more of the following features should be banned:
1. Handles longer than 6 inches
2. Black rubber or plastic grip
3. Concealed screwdriver or other implements
4. Attached pick or prongs
5. Metalic handle

There is simply no reason why the general public should possess the same hammers as carpenters.

Re:Understood...

[Anonymous Coward]

Its hard to say that some people shouldnt be in there - i remember i looked across the room at this guy, and he freaked out, like in the movies:

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing."

your first mistake.

The correct answer is...

"I'm trying to figure out what way is best to kill you. Should I slit your throat and give you a necktie or simply cut your balls off and shove them down your throat.

Hey do you think your flesh goes better with Mustard or Barbecue? Nevermind, I'll bring both when I eat your eyelids."

Also in a fistfight, first thing you do is grab the top of the fuckers ears and pull. If you had him his ears all of a sudden tough guys become crying pussies. At that time hit him so hard in the nuts you feel something pop.

"tough guys" need the shit kicked out of them like that so they become less of a problem to society. They need to know that people will go psycho on them and do shit they cant imagine without getting mad.

Re:Understood...

[cgreuter]

I'm getting really, really tired of you hammer nuts and your irresponsible advocacy. If you'd ever been on the receiving end of drive-by carpentry, you wouldn't be so cavalier. Hammers aren't toys and they're nothing like TV.

In real life, hammers hurt. The horror of a smashed thumb will stay with you for the rest of your life. It's not just a case of a few percussive bangs and then a cut to the next scene. No, hammers leave a lasting impression.

Also, the constitution is very clear that the right to bear hammers only applies to well regulated carpentry, not carried in some fanny pack for "home repairs". That whole "right to arm and hammer" is all well and good in theory but in practice, the price it imposes on the rest of us is just too high.

Re:Understood...

[absoluteflatness]

But they won't stop there. They'll make bigger boards and bigger nails, and soon, they will make a board with a nail so big it will destroy them all!

Re:Understood...

[bloobloo]

"That guy was quite ready to severely injure me - had the teacher not told him to shut up, i woulda been hit with a chair."

Apart from that, what was Steve Ballmer like at school?

Re:Understood...

[kcbrown]

Never trust a man that keeps a hammer in his house. He can be one of those psycopaths that hangs pictures on the wall or worse, a carpenter.

Well, yeah, I'd be worried about a guy that hangs a carpenter on his wall, too!

Re:Understood...

[The_mad_linguist]

Well, once you have a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail...

Re:Understood...

[Pichu0102]

Good poll, but where is the CowboyNeal option?

You know, let's just cut to the chase

[iminplaya]

Let's stop building schools, build more prisons, and put the kid straight in there. Cut out the middle man. That will solve all sorts of problems, like child care, labor costs, etc. The parents will appreciate it. They won't have to let them use the car anymore. Unfortunately they won't have anybody to send into the city to get their drugs for them, but they can always do like I do and just buy from the cops.

Re:Understood...

[pipingguy]

Apparently fucking around with Wikipedia wasn't enough, now Colbert is trolling Slashdot.

Re:Understood...

[abb3w]

In the early '80s, me and most of my friends had all mapped our school for Dungeons and Dragons.

Late '80s, Paranoia. Pretty accurate, aside from the entire school being underground and the access to Green-level clearance area (outdoors) required going through the (in joke) glass ceiling above the (non-existent) third-floor (nonexistent) swimming pool. Due to a personality quirk of one of the odder members of local geekdom, the local outdoors was overrun by nine-foot carnivorous supermutant squirrels; her character promptly joined the Sierra Club Secret Society. By the end of senior year, our characters had blown up every single room at some point with the exception of the Biology classroom, which had been sealed shut while being filled with a hideous green goo... and then erased from the computer's records. "Room? What room?"

I think the most dangerous-seeming three of us went on to (a) drop out of nuclear engineering to work in a deli, (b) become a professional clown, and (c) work for the US government as a I'M SORRY CITIZEN YOU ARE NOT CLEARED FOR THAT INFORMATION. TRUST THE COMPUTER. THE COMPUTER IS YOUR FRIEND. Harmless, really.

Re:Understood...

[D-Cypell]

:o(

But I get all my self defence advice from slashdot, it is a treasure trove for that kind of thing, dating advice too.

Re:Possible Defense?

[Ihlosi]

Jesus had a hammer too.

Yeah, and the Romans thought he was a troublemaker (aka terrorist) and tortured and executed him.

Hammers are dangerous.

Re:Understood...

[gomoX]

He had a hammer. A _HAMMER_. You can't talk to people like that. They are dangerous.

Re:Understood...

[guruevi]

Hah, I remember slinging a hammer out to the person that was bullying me in a workshop. They yelled I was crazy, that they were just messing with me. I said: Well, that's when I get slightly aggressive imagine if I get mad at you. They didn't do anything anymore, the next year they even became pretty good friends.

Another day I got beat up for no apparent reason by 5 tough guys on crack (literally) about 5 sizes broader than me (you know, the really heavy gang member type, I am a geek). After 2 slaps with a boxing iron by one of them and my cheek being punctured by something, I got mad, held one of them by his collar kicking in the air while chucking around punches to the other ones. They were literally standing around me like I was an angry bull until the teachers came between it and I got to go to the hospital. They got kicked out of school (because we threatened the school with leaving and with us a lot more parents).

My uncle told me once, if a gang of people is coming after you with no way out and you're alone, knock out or better yet, kill their leader, the rest will most likely become afraid and back off.

Re:Understood...

[Anonymous Coward]

You left off "...and then I woke up. That was the bestest dream ever!"

Re:PATRIOT ACT

[Sj0]

TERRORISTS! FUCK YEAH!

Coming again to save the motherfuckin' day yea!

TERRORISTS! FUCK YEA!

Taking money from the Yanks is the only way yeah!

Non-Terrorists, your time is through, 'cause now your bones turned to glue

by TERRORISTS! FUCK YEAH!