California Grade 9 girl questioned about threats to Bush on MySpace
Sacramento AP - Upset by the war in Iraq, a 14-year-old girl vented her frustrations with President George W. Bush last spring on her MySpace.com page.
Julia Wilson posted a picture of the U.S. president, scrawled "Kill Bush" across the top and drew a dagger stabbing his outstretched hand. She replaced the page last spring after learning in her Grade 8 history class such threats are a federal offence.
Too late.
U.S. authorities found the page and placed her on their checklist. They finally reached her this week in her molecular biology class.
Wilson was taken out of class at Sacramento's McClatchy high school Wednesday and questioned for about 15 minutes by two Secret Service agents. The incident has upset her parents, who said the agents should have included them when they questioned their daughter.
On Friday, Wilson said the agents' questioning about her page on the popular teenagers' Internet gathering spot brought her to tears.
"I wasn't dangerous. I mean, look at what's (stenciled) on my backpack - it's a heart."
"I'm a very peace-loving person," said Wilson, an honour student who describes herself as politically passionate.
"I'm against the war in Iraq. I'm not going to kill the president."
Her mother, Kirstie Wilson, said two agents showed up at the family home in Sacramento's upscale Land Park neighbourhood Wednesday afternoon, questioned her and promised to return once her daughter was home from school.
After they left, Kirstie Wilson sent a text message to her daughter's cellphone, telling her to come straight home: "there are two men from the secret service that want to talk with you. Apparently you made some death threats against president bush," the message read.
"Are you serious!?!? omg. Am I in a lot of trouble?" her daughter wrote back, using shorthand for "Oh, my God."
Moments later, the girl's mother received another text message from her daughter saying agents had pulled her out of class.
Julia Wilson said the agents threatened her by saying she could be sent to juvenile hall for making the threat.
"They yelled at me a lot," she said.
"They were unnecessarily mean."
Julia and her parents said the agents were justified in questioning her about her MySpace.com posting. But they said they believe agents went too far by not waiting until she was out of school and questioning her without a parent present.
They also said the agents should have more quickly figured out they were not dealing with a real danger. Ultimately, the agents told the teenager they would delete her investigation file.
"She obviously is not a threat to society, if you look at her age, her family background, the cartoonish nature of the MySpace page," said her father, Jim Moose, an environmental lawyer.
"She is just a typical teenage girl who made a mistake," said her mother during an interview at their neatly landscaped home.
Assistant principal Paul Belluomini said the agents gave him the impression the girl's mother knew they were planning to question her daughter at school. There is no legal requirement parents be notified.
Spokesmen for the Secret Service in Sacramento and Washington said they could not comment.
The California teen is planning to post a new MySpace.com page, this one devoted to organizing other students to protest against the Iraq war.
"I decided today I think I will because it (the questioning) went too far," she said.
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