Assaulting Story
[Posted by reader_iam]
I'm not sure whether all the saturation coverage of Monday's VA Tech killings somehow didn't reach a 26-year-old Tennessee mom, or whether it really got to her (or if she's just completely oblivious, judgment-free, tasteless and stupid), but Heather Nicole Berg's decision on Tuesday to "shoot" at kindergartners in a classroom with a toy gun" has resulted in a misdemeanour assault charge being filed against her. (Church Hill, the town in which this took place, is along the Virginia border, by the way.) According to the AP article on Knoxnews.com, the police, after consulting with the local DA, decided that "her actions caused others to 'reasonably fear imminent bodily injury'." School officials had already decided to ban her from the Church Hill Elementary School for a year--though in order to enforce that, they'll have to be a little more vigilant about enforcing their own policies (see below).
From the Kingsport Times-News:
I don't know if an assault charge, even a misdemeanor one, is going to make it to or through the court system; at least the gesture, if that's what it turns out to be, might provide the opportunity to check this lady out to make sure that she really is just an idiot with an impaired sense of fun, or funny, or whatever it is she was intending.
Assuming that's the case, I hope her community assaults her right back--with waves of disapproval. (But not her kids, especially the one that, given the field-trip reference, you'd assume attends that school. Can you imagine being that kid just about now?)
I'm not sure whether all the saturation coverage of Monday's VA Tech killings somehow didn't reach a 26-year-old Tennessee mom, or whether it really got to her (or if she's just completely oblivious, judgment-free, tasteless and stupid), but Heather Nicole Berg's decision on Tuesday to "shoot" at kindergartners in a classroom with a toy gun" has resulted in a misdemeanour assault charge being filed against her. (Church Hill, the town in which this took place, is along the Virginia border, by the way.) According to the AP article on Knoxnews.com, the police, after consulting with the local DA, decided that "her actions caused others to 'reasonably fear imminent bodily injury'." School officials had already decided to ban her from the Church Hill Elementary School for a year--though in order to enforce that, they'll have to be a little more vigilant about enforcing their own policies (see below).
From the Kingsport Times-News:
[Principal Jean] Heise told the Times-News on Wednesday the woman entered the school about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday and walked to her child's kindergarten classroom without obtaining a visitor's pass from the office.You know what? If I can't even imagine what the hell this brain trust was thinking, there's no way I'm ever going to understand what goes on in the mind of someone as disturbed and twisted as the likes of Seung-Hui Cho's.
The mom paid the teacher for an upcoming field trip, and the alleged incident occurred while the teacher had her back turned logging in the payment.
"The mom walked in toward the middle of the classroom, and the teacher heard this click, click, click, click - like four to six times" Heise said. "A teacher's assistant witnessed her take a gun and point it directly toward four to five kids. With everything that's happened the last couple of days, she (the assistant) was just in shock and was upset.
"(The assistant) froze and was kind of in terror because it took a few seconds for her to realize it was a toy."
The mom then left with a small child who was accompanying her and took the gun with her. Heise said she didn't see the toy gun, but is was described as metallic silver and western style, possibly like a cap pistol.
...
Heise said one little boy seemed very shocked after the alleged incident took place, and he didn't come to school Wednesday.
"Two kids described it as a toy gun, and two kids described it as a gun," Heise said. "That's pretty scary."
I don't know if an assault charge, even a misdemeanor one, is going to make it to or through the court system; at least the gesture, if that's what it turns out to be, might provide the opportunity to check this lady out to make sure that she really is just an idiot with an impaired sense of fun, or funny, or whatever it is she was intending.
Assuming that's the case, I hope her community assaults her right back--with waves of disapproval. (But not her kids, especially the one that, given the field-trip reference, you'd assume attends that school. Can you imagine being that kid just about now?)
