NY Daily News debunks attack on Track Palin. This story is appearing on the sleazier SI threads:
Newest Palin Attack: Son Vandalized Buses, Forced to Join Military (NYDaily News Debunks)
By Warner Todd Huston (Bio | Archive)
September 11, 2008 - 06:05 ET
It seems like the rumors, innuendo and smears thrown by the left against Governor Sarah Palin and her family will never stop. Apparently, the newest lie being casually thrown about by the DemocraticUnderground and the National Enquirer is that Palin's soldier son Track was involved as an unidentified vandal of Wasilla school buses in 2005. Worse, the rumormongers are denigrating Track's patriotism for joining the military and claiming that he was somehow "forced" to join to avoid prosecution. Naturally, they haven't a shred of proof. Fortunately, the New York Daily News has quickly debunked this lie.
In a DU posting from September 2, it was claimed that a "non-disclosed judicial source" said that Track Palin was an "unidentified minor" involved in tire slashings of a fleet of school buses in Wasilla in December of 2005. A 2005 report says that several teens had been found "deflating tires in 44 First Student buses, breaking mirrors and unplugging 110 buses from their engine-block heaters, which caused the buses not to start in subzero weather on Nov. 29."
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The DU poster also said that Track was forced to join the military. "Rumors are circulating," the posting claims, "about Track being forced to accept military service or jail time."
It is reported that the National Enquirer is going to drop this story based on nothing but shadowy innuendo on Thursday.
Fortunately, the New York Daily News actually interviewed a few of the people really involved in this vandalism incident and they deny that Track Palin had any involvement at all.
"Track wasn't with me. Track had nothing to do with it," participant Deryck Harris, 20, said Wednesday in an exclusive interview.
"I was friends with him. We hung out. But he wasn't there," Harris said, describing the incident as a senior prank gone awry. "It was my high school mistake. It was a really bad choice. I've paid my restitution."
The NYDaily News also spoke to another person involved in the incident.
"Track Palin was not involved [with the vandalism]," confirmed Capi Coon, the mother of another Wasilla teen arrested for the destructive spree.
Additionally, the once common judicial practice of telling troubled kids that they have a choice between joining the military and jail is rarely resorted to these days. So the claim that a judge ordered Track to join the military to avoid jail is thin gruel, indeed.
So, as it occurs, there is no proof at all that this story about Track Palin is true. Yet, the Nutroots and the National Enquirer will still try to push it just the same. Just know that there is no basis for the charge if you begin to hear this latest slander.
(Photo credit: Anchorage Daily News)
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