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Re: Pot TV News for November 17th, 2003 with Chris Bennett
Opus,
Tue Nov 18 07:55:39 2003
Now I'm wishing I hadn't renewed my subscription to High Times, even tho' this is the cheapest it has been with the strong Canadian dollar.
Great show Chris, see you at Alan Young's talk and on Sat the 29th for the discussion.
Re: Pot TV News for November 17th, 2003 with Chris Bennett
Greginaustria,
Tue Nov 18 02:59:59 2003
Good show Chris, lots of info. I'm excited about the NDP as well. I've joined the party (well, am in the process of doing so anyway, tricky as I'm in Austria), I'll be voting by absentee or proxy ballot in the spring and am 'fired up'. A note on the HighTimes story. I checked out their website and there is no mention of any staffing changes etc. Maybe they just haven't updated their site? Hard to say. Anyway, I gave up on High Times years ago when Cannabis Canada started up. Also, I'm loving the German Cannabis Kultur, it's great practice for my Deutsch out here in Vienna. Keep up the good work, many good vibes floating to you and all the BC freedom fighters. -Greg
Re: Pot TV News for November 17th, 2003 with Chris Bennett
foam,
Mon Nov 17 21:40:35 2003
Hightimes sold us out to the dea. I'd be interested to know how much they got. Tom Forcade is rotating in his grave.. discuss this show in the CC forums >
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Saturday, November 15, 2003
Principal gets noisy show of support
Stratford High staffers, students stage horn-honking rally as a handful protest
BY SEANNA ADCOX
The Post and Courier
GOOSE CREEK--After school let out Friday, a group of Stratford High School teachers silently held signs backing Principal George McCrackin as a 50-minute stream of honking vehicles sounded off.
The gathering came two days after James Gallman, head of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, called on the Berkeley County School Board to dismiss McCrackin for inviting police into the school Nov. 5 for what turned into a drug raid with guns drawn.
By 3 p.m. Friday, more than 100 teachers and staff had converged off school grounds to wave signs with expressions such as "Honk 4 McCrackin" at hooting and honking passers-by along Crowfield Boulevard.
Students leaving school joined the teachers and were among the drivers shouting support out their windows. But faculty members refused to speak to the media, and one school official who would not give his name forced all reporters off school property before the rally began.
Teacher Kathy Wright handed out a written statement that read, "We are a group of Stratford staff members showing our support for our principal ... We have chosen to stand here with our signs to visibly show our support and to give the community a way to show theirs."
"Naturally, the district doesn't want teachers talking because of litigation that might follow," said state Rep. Shirley Hinson, a former school board member whose son graduated from Stratford. "They've not been able to say, 'We love George McCrackin.' But they're the majority. He's not looking for this ... but I think it's necessary. Where are his rights?"
Not far away, about 10 protestors held signs that read, "McCrackin must go" and "Give our kids a change."
Superintendent Chester Floyd has said neither McCrackin nor any district official knew officers would come into the school with guns drawn. In the past, no drug sweep has involved drawn weapons,Floyd said. McCrackinweapons,Floyd said. McCrackin went to police Nov. 3 with suspicions of marijuana sales, supported by students and surveillance cameras in the school.
Goose Creek Police Lt. Dave Aarons said last week that several of the 14 officers went in with guns for safety reasons, because weapons often accompany drugs and money. He said they deployed into the main hallway about 6:45 a.m. after surveillance showed the suspected students going to their normal spots.
Police found no drugs and made no arrests. Aarons and McCrackin said last week they suspect someone tipped off the students.
The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating police procedures in the raid.
"I just feel like (McCrackin) was trying to keep other students safe," said parent Angie Kelley. Her 15-year-old daughter was not among the 107 students in the hallway. "My daughter has witnessed kids trying to hide drugs."
Kelley said she took her daughter out of Stratford High last school year because of the growing drug problem and re-enrolled her only after the school's nearly 70 surveillance cameras were installed.
"I think he should be patted on the back," said Gloria Moyner.
Junior Kim Alford called the incident "blown out of proportion."
"McCrackin was just following procedures," she said.
Senior Amanda Newberry said marijuana is not the only drug available in Stratford High.
"If you ask the right person, you can find whatever drug you want," she said. "It may have scared a few kids, but maybe it scared the right ones."
Black parents have accused the raid of targeting black students. About 70 percent of the 107 students in the hall were black. Floyd has said that surveillance video showed suspicious activity at that spot in the school, at that time in the morning.
About 22 percent of the school's 2,700 students are black.
"White people were made to lay down too. That just wasn't on cameras" shown on TV, said junior John Hoff, who is white.
The two groups with signs were largely diverged along racial lines, though a scattering of black teachers and students were among the pro-McCrackin crowd.
"Get rid of him," said parent Rosalee Wise, who is black.
Holding an anti-McCrackin sign, parent Debra Davis said the raid "terrified" her ninth-grade daughter.
"It's wrong," she said. "We send them to school to learn."
During Friday night's high school football playoff game between Stratford and Spartanburg, McCrackin was escorted by a Goose Creek police officer at all times.
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