[IP] East Washington teen's sketches attract Secret Service scrutiny
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Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 08:04:23 -0700
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East Washington teen's sketches attract Secret Service scrutiny
Full story:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001913678_prosser27m.html
By The Associated Press
PROSSER, Benton County — Secret Service agents questioned a
high-school student here about anti-war drawings he turned in to his art
teacher.
One of them depicted President Bush's head on a stick.
Another pencil-and-ink drawing depicted Bush as a devil launching a
missile, with a caption reading "End the war — on terrorism."
The 15-year-old boy's art teacher turned the drawings over to school
administrators, who notified a police officer assigned to work with the
school.
"We involve the police anytime we have a concern," Prosser Superintendent
Ray Tolcacher told the Tri-City Herald.
"From our perspective, it was an incident that needed to be reported to the
police on campus."
Secret Service agents interviewed the boy Friday. The student, who was not
arrested, has not been identified.
The school district disciplined him, but district officials declined to
say what the punishment was. Tolcacher said the boy was not suspended.
Tolcacher insisted it was not a freedom-of-speech issue but a concern over
the depiction of violence.
"From what I saw, (school officials) were right to be concerned," Prosser
Police Chief Win Taylor said.
The artwork was apparently part of an assignment to keep a notebook of
drawings, according to Kevin Cravens of Richland, who said he was a family
friend of the boy who was investigated.
The drawing that drew the most attention showed a man in what appeared to
be Middle Eastern-style clothing, holding a rifle. He also was holding a
stick with the oversize head of President Bush on it. The student said the
head was enlarged because it was intended to be an effigy, Cravens said.
The caption called for an end to the war in Iraq.
The boy's mother declined to talk with The Seattle Times last night. The
Secret Service did not return the Herald's calls for comment, and a message
left by The Associated Press with an after-hours duty officer in
Washington, D.C., was not immediately returned yesterday.
"If this 15-year-old kid in Prosser is perceived as a threat to the
president, then we are living in '1984.' " Cravens said.
Seattle Times staff reporter Nguyen Huy Vu contributed to this report.
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