Dear Old Golden Rule Days

Today, the putative Columbus Day holiday, the schools around here are in business, and a lot of businesses are on holiday, giving a lot of parents time to sit around over second breakfast and discuss a couple of matters of interest.

Such as how Baltimore County got on the national news last night! ABC showed the cellphone video of the man who claims his car was hit Thursday afternon by a bottle thrown from a bus filled with kids from Loch Raven Academy.  All this took place down on Putty Hill Avenue (pause for readers from out of town to snicker at the road name, and I'm sorry that road does not intersect with Cowpens Avenue, another surefire mirthmaker) by Hoerner Avenue.  The irate motorist and his NRA cap got out of his car and clambered aboard the front bumper of the bus, hanging onto the mirror strut with one hand while banging on the hood of the bus with the other, all the while hollering to the driver to stop the bus. The driver, who really already has plenty of aggravation, aimed the bus toward the police station across the street, but before they even got that far, an off-duty officer intervened, arresting the man and his NRA hat.

Sure he was mad. Who wouldn't be? But when the choices are a) get the bus number and contact the school system  or  b) get arrested and charged with four counts, the wise person goes with "a."  Not to mention how dangerous it is to cling to the hood of a moving school bus.

And then the fun continued on Saturday evening in our quiet little corner of the county, when some sort of melee began at the homecoming dance at Perry Hall High School, and a girl, presumably a student there, ran toward an exit and screamed "GUN"!

It's been five years now since a maladjusted young man brought his rifle to school on the first day of classes there and shot a fellow student, non-fatally.  So with that history in mind, PHHS students should be completely aware of the ramifications of such a claim, as should all students everywhere.  And the police were called, and there was no gun, and it was just a young woman making a horrible mistake.

But just as one can't cry "Fire!" in a crowded theatre, the right of self-expression stops far short of possibly inciting what might have turned a high school dance into a fearful fatal stampede. I have to say I hope this young woman will be expelled and sent away from her school for good. I will let you know.