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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Win Smith who wrote (16853)	6/15/2001 1:22:24 PM
From: gao seng	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Is that the best you can do? I think that you called me a racist, just like this kid was called a racist: Kicked unconscious at school Friday, 8 June 2001 19:03 (ET) Kicked unconscious at school By LOU MARANO WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) -- A 13-year-old Houston, Texas boy who had checked out a book about Robert E. Lee was kicked in the head and sent unconscious to the hospital, a Southern heritage organization reported. The boy's mother and lawyer believe the actions of school officials set the stage for the attack. A week ago, the Southern Legal Resource Center sent out the story of Ryan Zane Oleichi to its distribution list as part of its May 30 update. Many recipients found the account so hard to believe, the SLRC felt the need to confirm its accuracy in an electronic newsletter on Thursday. April 26 is Confederate Memorial Day in Texas. In his first-period class at the Labay Middle School outside Houston, Ryan was looking at a history book he had checked out of the school library to do an assigned report. On its cover was a small Confederate battle flag. The account of what followed comes from the SLRC newsletter, written by Executive Director Neill H. Payne. It derives from Payne's conversations with Ryan and the boy's mother, Melinda Hill. Payne's account also draws on Kirk D. Lyons' interviews of Ryan and Hill as well as a letter from their family doctor. Lyons, SLRC's chief trial counsel, represents Ryan. United Press International spoke with two senior officers from the Harris County Sheriff's Department; both said they could not reveal the facts of the case because the victim is a juvenile. A call to Kelli Durham, assistant superintendent for communications at the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, went unanswered Friday. As reported in the newsletter, a black classmate asked Ryan what he was looking at. "What is that?" he asked. "It's a book." "Why do you have that flag on it?" "It's the only one in the school library," Ryan responded. At that point, a Hispanic student chimed in, "You racist. I'm gonna kick your a--," followed by other invectives. When Ryan was leaving the classroom, the first student slammed him against the lockers and issued his own threat to harm him. After school, the two caught Ryan outside the fence. The first beat Ryan to the ground, and the second kicked Ryan in the head repeatedly until he lay unconscious at their feet. Ryan spent three days in the hospital before being released to convalesce at home. Labay Middle School is not in session. Dave Straughan, director of security for the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, is surprised that he was not briefed on the incident. He said the event as UPI related it to him "is a very serious situation," and that he would go back and research the files. "You've got my curiosity up," Straughan said. Lyons and Payne believe that school officials stigmatized Ryan, increasing the likelihood of the attack. On Feb. 19, Hill was called to school by an assistant principal, who told her that her son would start three days' suspension for wearing a small Confederate patch on his shirt. Although violations of the school dress code call for only one day's suspension, the assistant principal told Hill that an example had to be made of Ryan because "he is a racist." Hill was concerned by this turn of events. She described her son as a good student and not a troublemaker, but a boy who loves his Southern heritage. He is not a racist, Hill said. In fact, "he is half Lebanese." Nevertheless, Ryan was suspended for three days and forced to apologize to all the black students for being a "racist." Payne wrote that this "set in motion the wheels of persecution that led to Ryan's beating." Students began verbally abusing and harassing Ryan. On April 20, a girl walked up to Ryan, slapped his face and threatened to sic her "posse" on him. After Ryan was hospitalized and returned to school, he received more verbal abuse and death threats. Ryan learned that the Hispanic student who kicked him was saying that he was "not satisfied and won't be until Ryan is dead." Lyons told UPI that the school did nothing when it learned of the incident and tried to represent it as a fight instead of assault and battery. The local district attorney has refused to file charges, Lyons said. Hill withdrew Ryan one week after he returned to class. She will school him at home. vny.com