Compare/Contrast Media Coverage

[WolverineDG]

Compare & contrast the coverage of the "Liberty 7" and a "prank" that happened at my school when I was a sophomore:

From the McAllen Monitor 5/24/79:

"3 HELD IN TEAR GAS INCIDENT--Three youths, all identified as McAllen High School seniors, were in police custody today following what apparently started out about 12:15 p.m. as a prank on the last day of classes for seniors and ended with 11 students being taken to McAllen General Hospital for treatment of injuries associated with the inhalation of tear gas.

A warrant also has been issued for the arrest of a fourth student in connection with the incident, in which tear gas spread throughout the high school building.

(snip)

According to police, a key was used to unlock the cover of an air-conditioning vent which allowed access to a tunnel underneath the school. The tunnel led to the main fan room.

One tear gas cannister, containing type CS tear gas, was opened there. Because of the central location of the fan unit, the tear gas spread almost instantaneously throughout the school. Lights also were reported to ahve gone off in parts of the building.

Police said the tear gas was of a common type, widely used for crowd control purposes. It was identified as Army issue. Police also recovered four additional tear gas cannisters and three 40-milimeter M-385 practice shells from the home of one of the suspects."

And that was that. Nothing further than this one article was written about this story. The 2 TV stations only covered it because their mobile vans were nearby, downtown covering a fire at a store. It didn't make the national media. Again, nothing sensationalized about the story; the TV coverage was "just the facts, ma'am" for an incident that made about 3,000 kids rush outside, & sent 11 students & 1 staff member to the hospital. It's all forgotten about, except those of us who were there.

It doesn't take much of an imagination to figure out how the MSM would over-hype this story today.

dg

[gkhouston]

1. very true

and if the perpetrators weren't Causasian and Christian, you could knock it up another 30 decibels.

[WolverineDG]

2. IIRC

one was Hispanic, the rest were white & at least one was very well to do. (Is this starting to sound like Columbine, but without the shootings & deaths?) One particular thug was a bully all through school. He used to beat up kids on the way to & from elementary school when we were younger. Their bonds were set ridiculously low ($3K tops, which meant mommy & daddy only had to cough up $300 to get their angels out of jail). It was never connected with this incident (at least publicly), but about a week prior to this, an army-supply/hunting supply store was broken into & ammo & canisters of tear gas were taken. :think: Some of my friends who escaped from other parts of the building reported that they couldn't use some doors because they were chained & rumor had it they had intended to chain all the doors so no one could get out. The main building at the time was shaped like a rectangle, no windows, one huge main mall down the middle & 4 smaller malls where the classrooms were on one side & the cafeteria (where I was) & stairs to the science wing on the other. The doors at the ends of hallways were the only ways out of the building.

My dad was pissed that they got off by enlisting in the military, but at least the school board yanked their final quarter credits & denied them diplomas from McAllen ISD.

On a brighter note, during my senior year, the big prank was a couple of guys riding motorcycles down the main mall during class time & making a clean getaway.

dg

[gkhouston]

3. the motorcycle sounds pretty interesting

as for the other, you know what they say: Justice may be blind, but it can smell money. x(

[Berry Cool]

4. There were at least two or three times back when I was in middle school

when the whole place was evacuated and we were loaded into school buses sitting in the lot and forced to wait there until we got the all-clear.

Why? Because some goof-off who was home sick from school that day decided to have a little fun by calling the principal's office and saying "There's a bomb in the gym."

There was never any bomb in the gym. Of course, the cops had to be sent over to investigate anyway, and the school had to be evacuated, but that was it. It was a stupid inconvenience for everyone and no doubt delighted the prankster because he was getting attention and forcing others to dance to his tune.

Did it even make the local TV news? No.

[SharonRB]

5. We had one of those, too

Some prankster rode his cycle down the hall, but I don't even remember if class was in session at the time.