Drug policy activist *searched and detained* by notorious South Carolina principal after being invited onto school grounds

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2003 02:36:41 -0500
From: Tim Meehan <tim () ocsarc org>
Subject: Drug policy activist *searched and detained* by notorious South
 Carolina principal after being invited onto school grounds
To: gnu () toad com, dave () farber net, declan () well com
Organization: Ontario Consumers for Safe Access to Recreational Cannabis


Report by Dan Goldman (dan () ssdp org) of Students for Sensible Drug Policy
(http://www.ssdp.org)

Forwarded from Loretta Nall (alabamamjparty () graffiti net) of the US Marijuana
Party (http://www.usmjparty.com)


Loretta said:

This just in from my buddy Dan Goldman who is still on the ground in South
Carolina

---

Now I promised you a good story and here it is...

On Thursday when I went back to Stratford High School, I had a rather
unexpected encounter. I started the day out as usual, passing out DPA's
information, SSDP's stickers and a few of the SSDP t-shirts that I had
left. At one point, a pair of teachers walked passed and I offered both of
them the pamphlet and booklet. One of them asked "What is it?" and one of
the students around him answered, "It has to do with keeping our school
drug-free." A heavy-set man whose name I later learned was Mr. Green, took
both the pamphlet and the booklet. The man next to him, a younger, smaller
teacher whose name I later learned was Mr. McCombs refused my offer. In my
youthful exhuberance, I said some snide remark to the effect of, "Way to
set an example for your students by remaining ignorant." I know I shouldn't
have said something like that and I didn't even think he heard me, but I
was mistaken. Read on...

Now, after most of the students dispersed, I did what I did the day before
and walked through a muddy foot path, about 30 feet over to the school
grounds to pass out a few more flyers. As I was walking back through the
foot path to my car, I saw both of the teachers again and I kindly offered
my last pamphlet to Mr. McCombs, who had neglected to take it before. This
time he was very upset. He wanted to know why I would say what I said to
him about staying ignorant. He said, "I've been to college and I've been
teaching for 4 years, don't you think I may know a little something about
keeping kids drug-free?" I said, "You may know a little something, but you
probably haven't been exposed to what's in this pamphlet, so why don't you
take one and find out?" He told me he didn't have time to read one and I
suggested he do what most people do and put it in his pocket to read when
he does have time.

Mr. McCombs continued to wonder aloud why I thought it was necessary to
undermine him in front of students and I continued to wonder to myself how
one snide comment can undermine the authority of a teacher who has their
attention every day for an hour? Now at this point, the two teachers began
threatening me with this whole issue of tresspassing on school
grounds. Since I was in fact on school grounds momentarily without
permission, I really didn't want to get into it with them. I was about to
leave with the excuse of another appointment (which was true, Ian Mance was
arriving around 4:30pm and I wanted to see him as I've been staying at his
parents' house for the last week) but then they made me an offer I couldn't
refuse....

They offered to take me to see Principal McCrackin. Now, last week Mr.
McCrackin had sent home a letter to parents offering to meet with any of
them that still had concerns about the drug raid. However, according to
the parents I've spoken with who've tried to meet with him, he's always
busy. So I didn't think I would have the chance to meet the man behind the
myth, and when the chance just presented itself like that, I thought it was
too good to be true.

Well, like everything too good to be true... It was! As I walked through
the school, continuing my witty banter with the two teachers, we entered
the principal's office and to my surprise, there were two officers of the
law instead of one Principal. Immediately, one of them, a very big man
named Cpl. Aucoin demanded my identification. Now having just seen BUSTED,
I wasn't immediately inclined to give it to him. However I did tell him my
name and I showed him the materials I was distributing. I asked Cpl.
Aucoin if I was free to go and he said, "No," that he was detaining
me. The two teachers insisted they caught me tressassing and I corrected
them and explained they encountered me in between the back of strip mall
and the school grounds on that muddy foot path. Then, in came McCrackin...

I'm not sure how many of you have seen a picture of George McCrackin, but
he's in his mid to late 50's, I would guess, dark hair that's greying but
looks like he colors it. He's about 5 ft. 7in tall and maybe 170
lbs. He's a short, stout man, the kind with a Napolean complex of
sorts. He looks tired beyond his years, like a man who has been at his job
for too long. He's been principal of Stratford High School since it opened
20 years ago and before that he was assistant Superintendent of Schools in
North Charleston and a principal and teacher for years before that, so the
man has been in education for quite some time -- his entire adult life, in
fact.

That he cares for children was evident from speaking to many people in the
community, but that he pre-judges people and labels them "good" or "bad"
and then acts towards them accordingly, was also quite evident from
speaking to his students, especially those who were at one time "good", but
then did something to get themselves labeled "bad". They speak quite
insightfully about how he treats his students.

Upon speaking to Mr. McCrackin and being threatened with an arrest for
tresspass, I decided to give up my ID. Cpl. Aucoin ran my ID as Mr.
McCrackin disappeared with his two teachers to persumably view the
videotape from one of the school's 70 surveillance cameras. He came back
and said he had evidence I was "on his campus." I admitted to passing out a
few materials to 6 students, said as much to him and apologized for not
knowing I needed his permission to pass out flyers. (It wasn't as
sarcastic as it sounds when you read this, honest.) He then asked me where
I was parked, I think because he wanted to nail me for parking in "his lot"
as well, but unfortunately as I told him, I was parked in the strip mall
parking lot, which is off school grounds. Cpl. Aucoin asked if I saw the
sign that said "For Customers Only" and I explained that I had purchased my
lunch at the Subway in the strip mall, so I was indeed, a customer.

Now at this point things got really weird. See earlier that afternoon, as
school let out, a bunch of kids were speeding around the parking lot and
burning the rubber on their tires. Then the police came and chased one of
them. I believe Mr. McCrackin was rightly concerned with this incident,
but seemed to place the blame in a strange place. (Does this sound
framiliar?) When I told them I bought my lunch at Subway, he went on about
how he was going to have that place closed down and what a dangerous
situation it was causing. I couldn't understand how a sandwhich shop could
be responsible for high school kids doing stupid things in their cars, but
I guess it makes sense somewhere in McCrackin World.

After he ended his subway tirade, I got to explaining about the "Safety
First" philosophy and from what he said to me in response, I can say with
100% certainty that this man has lost his grip on reality. He told me he
knew "Just Say No" wasn't working because they have Red Ribbon Week at
school and although it's a school of 2700 people, there were 20-30 who were
just going to do what they wanted to do anyways. I was honestly shocked
that this man who has been an educator all his life, believes that there
are only 20-30 students using drugs at his school. I spoke to at least
20-30 kids every day after school and I know I'm not hitting the lion's
share of the drug using population at that school (most of whom are
overwhelmingly marijuana smokers only), just the ones who happen to walk
home that way or hang out in that area after school. So with what must
have been a look of stupified incredulity on my face, the unexpected
happened...

George McCrackin told me to turn around and put my hands on my head with my
fingers crossed. He said he was going to search me, as he had the right to
search anyone in his school. He asked me if I had anything in my pockets I
shouldn't have. The whole time I'm in utter disbelief that I'm being
detained and searched by the principal of Stratford High School, Mr. George
McCrackin. The irony was too much.

After emptying my pockets and picking my pants back up for me (my belt
wasn't tight enough) and not finding anything of interest in my pockets
other than cash, keys and scraps of paper, I was told to sit down. He was
still looking through my stuff when he asked me, "Who's Steve Silverman?"

(I had Steve's name on a list of voicemail messages to return.) I told him
"Mr. Silverman works for an organization called "Flex Your Rights" out of
Washington, DC. It teaches young people to assert their constitutional
rights during police encounters." Neither the cops nor the principal looked
too thrilled to hear about that.

There was another cop in the room this whole time, but he never said
much. His name was Detective Brooder, and he used to work for the NYPD's
bomb squad. He took much more interest in my ID than anyone else and kept
bending it, I suspect to see if it was fake. (Earlier, when I was pulling
out my ID, Cpl. Aucoin thought my expired International Student ID card was
another license and he wanted to see that as well.) These folks in Goose
Creek law enforcement just aren't too bright. At least on these two most
recent searches, they're 0 for 2!

Before I left, Mr. McCrackin took two copies of DPA's pamphlet and an SSDP
sticker. He told me he would read the pamphlet even if I didn't believe
him (which I assured him I did) and I apologized for not having anymore
copies of the "Safety First" booklet on me to give to him. I then realized
he took the copy of the pamphlet that had the names of the teachers and
staff I had just encountered written on the back and when I asked for it
back, in exchange for a different pamphlet, I was told, "I didn't need to
have the names of his teachers." As if it was going to be so difficult to
remember all four names.

A tresspass warning was filled out with my name on it and my picture was
taken by Cpl. Aucoin. ("No smiling!" he told me.) After he snapped my mug,
I was given the warning which I was told to sign and I was reminded that it
didn't have to be this way, they could have had me arrested, if they
wanted. Now, having not lined up local counsel in advance, I wasn't too
eager to spend an evening in the Berkeley County jail and frankly, I'm glad
it didn't have to come to that. Before I left, I was also told to stay
away from the strip mall behind the school and that I would be "run out" if
I tried to come back there again. I guess tomorrow we'll see about that! I
left the principal's office, walked off campus towards my car and on my way
I ran into a few more students back in the strip mall parking lot. I told
them what happened and we had a nice laugh.

Dan Goldman
McCrackin Victim #108

---

Dan Goldman is a 2001 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he
received a B.A. in history. He has been active in SSDP since the first meeting
of the UW-Madison chapter in the fall of 1999. Since then he has attended every
national SSDP conference, and in the spring of 2001, he organized SSDP's first
regional conference for SSDP activists throughout the midwest. Upon graduating,
Dan worked for the Drug Reform Coordination Network in Washington, DC and most
recently, he was the September 11th Detention Coordinator for the American
Friends Service Committee's Immigrant Rights Program, in Newark, NJ. Dan
currently resides in Madison, WI, where he is working on his first book.


--
Tim Meehan, Communications Director
Ontario Consumers for Safe Access to Recreational Cannabis
tim () ocsarc org * http://www.ocsarc.org * 416-844-2431 

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