East Washington teen's sketches attract Secret Service scrutiny

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

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Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 08:04:23 -0700
From: warren () amole com

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Comments from sender: The Art Police.......
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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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