OHIO –– A Mechanicsburg High School junior was
suspended from school and later arrested this month on charges that he linked his personal
Web page to a friend’s Web site after school administrators and peers
deemed the friend’s site a threat to school safety.
Jameson Pack,
16, is charged with six counts of a first degree misdemeanor for aggravated
menacing, a fourth degree felony for complicity to menacing by stalking and a
first degree misdemeanor for inducing panic. In addition, school administrators
suspended him for 10 days and banned him from the school’s computer
facilities for two years, said Lisa Pack, Jameson’s mother.
Joshua
Allerton, the student who created the Web site, is charged with six counts of
menacing by stalking, a fourth degree felony; six counts of aggravated menacing,
a first degree misdemeanor; and inducing panic, also a first degree
misdemeanor.
According to the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office
incident report, on Sept. 9, Sandy Freeze and her daughter reported the
existence of a Web site entitled, “Melodies of Life.” The site
listed the girl and some of her friends under the category “preps.”
The report claims that the Web site endorsed violent action against the group of
individuals and encouraged the use of a semi-automatic assault type rifle
against them.
In addition to Freeze’s daughter, the report also
lists five other girls as being named on the Web site.
Neither the girls
nor the prosecutor, Nick Selvaggio, could be reached for comment.
However, according to Lisa Pack, the incident began when Allerton asked her
son to provide his MSN buddy picture for the Web site Allerton was building
off-campus. Jameson Pack submitted his picture as well as several
friends’ pictures. Jameson Pack then linked his personal MSN profile page
to Allerton’s site.
Allerton, 16, declined to comment for this
story. His attorney, Brad Singer, could not be reached for comment.
When
Jameson Pack viewed the Web site, it listed his friends’ names under
“prep” or “anti-prep,” according to Lisa Pack.
Underneath her son’s picture it stated: “James Mandu.” She
said the only thing violent on the page at that time was a picture of a gun
linking to "Counter-Strike," an online computer game that allows the participant
to play as member of an anti-terrorism unit.
According to Lisa Pack, a
few days later Allerton asked her son to show the link to one of the girls when
she got online. However, when the girl went to view the page, the site had been
changed. The Web site still listed the students as “prep” and
“anti-prep” but, now next to the cartoon gun it said: “Put
this to your foreheads preps and you’ll think twice.” Underneath
Jameson Pack’s picture it said, “Hardcore killer” instead of
originally, “James Mandu,” Lisa Pack said.
At school the next
day, Superintendent Herbert Swiger questioned Jameson Pack along with other
students about the Web site, Lisa Pack said. She said the superintendent showed
a print version of the “new” site to Jameson Pack, which he said he
had not seen before.
Swiger did not return phone calls seeking comment
for this story.
School administrators suspended Jameson Pack for 10 days
and banned him from the computer facilities because they said they were afraid
of another Columbine High School incident, Lisa Pack said.
“[The
school administrators] said they needed to set an example of Jameson so that
this wouldn’t happen again,” Lisa Pack said.
Later that
evening, officers from the Champaign County Sheriff’s Department arrested
Jameson Pack at his home, Lisa Pack said.
The pretrial date for Jameson
Pack is set for Oct. 1.
Lisa Pack said she was able to locate
Allerton’s original Web site to back up her son’s claim. She said
she is currently collecting data to file a complaint with the American Civil
Liberties Union and plans to pursue legal action against the school.
“After all of this, I feel like [Jameson’s] rights have
really been violated,” Lisa Pack said.
Although Jameson Pack
allegedly only linked to the offensive Web site, nationwide lawsuits involving
students who create off-campus Web sites that are deemed offensive have
generally protected students from punishment.
A federal court in Seattle
ruled in 2000 that a school could not suspend a student who created mock
obituaries on a Web site he built on his home computer. In 2002, however, the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled a student could be disciplined for a personal
Web site because the student accessed the site at school and disrupted the
school community.