View Full Version : Progress in the War on Sharpies
KG4JYD
04-22-2008, 04:51 AM
Eight-year-old Eathan Harris was suspended from Harris Park Elementary School in Westminster, Colorado.
His offense? He used a black Sharpie marker to color a small area on his sweatshirt. When a teacher saw him smelling the marker and the spot on his clothes, the teacher sent the eight-year-old to principal Chris Benisch, who promptly suspended him for... substance abuse.
"This is really, really, seriously dangerous," Benisch announced, warning that smelling the marker fumes could cause the boy to "become intoxicated."
Just one small problem: that's really, really, seriously... not true.
According to toxicologist Dr. Eric Lavonas, of the Rocky Mountain Poison Control Center, non-toxic markers like Sharpies, while pungent-smelling, don't get you high.
"I don't know whether it would be possible for a real overachiever to figure out a way to get high off them," Lavonas said. "But in regular use, it's just not something that's going to happen. If you went to Costco and bought 50 bags of Sharpies and did something to them, maybe there's a way to get creative and make it happen."
But in the zero-tolerance War on Sharpies, like the larger War on Drugs, truth doesn't get in the way of action.
Indeed, according to local TV station KUSA, the incident has led Principal Benisch to take the War on Sharpies to a new, um, high.
"We've purged every permanent marker there is in this building," he proudly told KUSA.
We can only hope Principal Benisch purges the school of pencils, too. After all, we don't want kids exposed to the danger of lead poisoning, do we?
(Source: "8-year-old suspended for sniffing marker," KUSA:
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=89333 )
W1GUH
04-22-2008, 06:14 AM
Don't have anything to say to this except that it is obviously an indication of how overboard the whole thing is. So much so it makes me speechless.
Yup, and that's the quality of the staff teaching your kids.
Not looking too good for the old US of A...
n2ize
04-22-2008, 06:49 AM
Oh My GOD!! This lad is doomed !! He is clearly a Sharpie junkie. For the rest of his life he'll be hopelessly hooked on Sharpies. Imagine what his life will be like. Spending all his money on Sharpies, borrowing Sharpies, begging for enough money to cop a Sharpie, STEALING Sharpies just so he could get his dailiy fix of Sharpie and send himself to the narcotic throes of Sharpie La La Neverland !! And eventually even dealing Sharpies to other kids so he can support his Sharpie habit. And suffering the horrific agonizing pangs of withdrawl when he can't get his Sharpie fix in time !! This is TERRIBLE.
It may be too late for this unfortunate lad, but it's not too late for other kids. Thanks to a brave and quick thinking principal who has ignored the facts and suspended this crazed Sharpie fiend from the school and made sure that absolutely no Sharpie will be found in that school to temps other innocent minds into the dark, deep, and dismal realms of Sharpie junkiedom !!
I just noticed I have 3 Sharpies on my desk. 1 black Sharpie, one Orange and one ultra Permanent Sharpie. This is terrible dangerous. I am doomed to become a Sharpie junkie. I think it'stime the DEA classify Sharpies as dangerous narcotics.
W3MIV
04-22-2008, 11:10 AM
We can only hope Principal Benisch purges the school of pencils, too. After all, we don't want kids exposed to the danger of lead poisoning, do we?
Since pencil "leads" contain no lead, this is not a worry. Did as well in chemistry as you did in history, did you, Matt?
K8ERV
04-22-2008, 11:25 AM
Since pencil "leads" contain no lead, this is not a worry. Did as well in chemistry as you did in history, did you, Matt?
Maybe not, but the carbon (graphite) will contribute to global warming. Pencils gotta go.
I found 6 Sharpies here, going to burn them today. Sure appreciate the heads up to the danger.
TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
N4VGB
04-22-2008, 11:29 AM
Yup, and that's the quality of the staff teaching your kids.
Not looking too good for the old US of A...
We'll try to keep the lid on things until you get back to save us. :p:p:p
n2ize
04-22-2008, 02:31 PM
Since pencil "leads" contain no lead, this is not a worry. Did as well in chemistry as you did in history, did you, Matt?
Ah but Albert, facts don't factor in whence one is principal in command. Much as the toxicology reports didn't factor in with regards to the Colorado schools versus the Sharpies.
n2ize
04-22-2008, 02:31 PM
We'll try to keep the lid on things until you get back to save us. :p:p:p
Keep a lid on what ? Crayons ??
KD6NIG
04-22-2008, 02:36 PM
Do they still allow paste in school? I know of some classmates who used to snack on it. How about glue? I remember the stuff in grade school smelled like the dickens. Especially rubber cement-you could melt nose hairs if you within a mile of it.
Sharpies, though they do stink, never reached the level of many things like that. But I don't have kids so I don't know whats in schools nowadays.
Heck, I remember varnishing and clear sealing wooden projects in wood shop. That stuff smells like heck too. Probably don't even allow that anymore. I know my old high school used to teach welding also, but probably not anymore with liability being the way it is now.
n2ize
04-22-2008, 02:39 PM
Do they still allow paste in school? I know of some classmates who used to snack on it. How about glue? I remember the stuff in grade school smelled like the dickens. Especially rubber cement-you could melt nose hairs if you within a mile of it.
Sharpies, though they do stink, never reached the level of many things like that. But I don't have kids so I don't know whats in schools nowadays.
Heck, I remember varnishing and clear sealing wooden projects in wood shop. That stuff smells like heck too. Probably don't even allow that anymore. I know my old high school used to teach welding also, but probably not anymore with liability being the way it is now.
Remember the Ditto machines and the Ditto handouts ? Hand and typewriten pages in that purplish blue ink that a couple of whiffs would get you buzzed. They called em spirit copiers. What would these principals do now ? They'd have ditto page junkies to deal with ...
k8wpj
04-22-2008, 02:43 PM
Reminds me of a case we had in the news some time ago.
An idiot principal in Ohio suspended a junior high school student, with a documented medical history of asthma and allergies, for a violation of the schools' zero tolerance drug use policy, after it was determined she was keeping antihistamines, in her locker along with an inhaler.
Both items were being used as prescribed for known medical problems, and were being used with the knowledge of school officials, and her parents.
It was only after another kid got busted for stuff he had no business carrying whined to his parents.
When exactly did adults lose the abilty to think rationally and act responsibly? Has leading by example really become dated and extinct?
I never ceases to amaze me how some people just seem to go out their way to look stupid, and it's only getting worse. Just turn on the news any given night and you'll find people proud of doing stuff we wouldn't dare even joke about doing 30 years ago.
N4VGB
04-22-2008, 02:46 PM
Keep a lid on what ? Crayons ??
The Sharpies of course. The wife leaves the lids off all the time, nothing more useless than a dried out Sharpie. :D
KD6NIG
04-22-2008, 02:49 PM
Reminds me of a case we had in the news some time ago.
An idiot principal in Ohio suspended a junior high school student, with a documented medical history of asthma and allergies, for a violation of the schools' zero tolerance drug use policy, after it was determined she was keeping antihistamines, in her locker along with an inhaler.
Both items were being used as prescribed for known medical problems, and were being used with the knowledge of school officials, and her parents.
It was only after another kid got busted for stuff he had no business carrying whined to his parents.
When exactly did adults lose the abilty to think rationally and act responsibly? Has leading by example really become dated and extinct?
I never ceases to amaze me how some people just seem to go out their way to look stupid, and it's only getting worse. Just turn on the news any given night and you'll find people proud of doing stuff we wouldn't dare even joke about doing 30 years ago.
I can imagine the lawsuit if she had an attack and couldn't use her inhaler because it had been banned. I imagine they'd be on the hook for the medical expenses as well as much more.
N4VGB
04-22-2008, 02:51 PM
1-When exactly did adults lose the abilty to think rationally and act responsibly?
2-Has leading by example really become dated and extinct?
1-It seems to have occurred in the last 20 years.
2-Indeed it has.
n2ize
04-22-2008, 02:54 PM
The proper title for this would be "Idiocy at it's Best".
N4VGB
04-22-2008, 03:00 PM
I can imagine the lawsuit if she had an attack and couldn't use her inhaler because it had been banned. I imagine they'd be on the hook for the medical expenses as well as much more.
I don't see why this youngster should be saved from breathing difficulties at all? Those of us in need of instant relief had our Albuterol inhalers taken away to save mother earth from the tiny amount of CFC involved in each treatment. The currently available inhalers require 10-20 minutes to be effective. Anyway, after you pass out the bronchial tubes usually relax and normal breathing usually returns. :(
k8wpj
04-22-2008, 03:08 PM
I can imagine the lawsuit if she had an attack and couldn't use her inhaler because it had been banned. I imagine they'd be on the hook for the medical expenses as well as much more.
The school fought back, ( and ultimately lost) saying they were'nt keeping her from her meds, their solution was that she wasn't allowed to self medicate, she would need to keep everything in the dispensary, and in the event of an attack, she'd need to go to the nurses office and let THEM make the decision to medicate, rather than allowing her to self medicate.
The bigger idiots in the story were the parents of the second child who was found to have illegal substances in his locker, and who actually tried to make the case that since the girl with asthma had drugs in her locker, their son should be allowed to keep his stash of grass in his...
k8wpj
04-22-2008, 03:11 PM
I don't see why this youngster should be saved from breathing difficulties at all? Those of us in need of instant relief had our Albuterol inhalers taken away to save mother earth from the tiny amount of CFC involved in each treatment. The currently available inhalers require 10-20 minutes to be effective. Anyway, after you pass out the bronchial tubes usually relax and normal breathing usually returns. :(
You're joking, Right?
N4VGB
04-22-2008, 03:25 PM
You're joking, Right?
NO, I'm still extremely irritated that when I'm suffering from breathing problems that I have to wait for relief because Al Gore says so! :mad:
KG4JYD
04-22-2008, 03:41 PM
Don't have anything to say to this except that it is obviously an indication of how overboard the whole thing is. So much so it makes me speechless.Government schools should be abolished.
K8ERV
04-22-2008, 03:46 PM
I can beat all your stories. When a co-op student, one of my chores was to climb way into a large tube (like a gun barrel) and wipe it clean with a rag soaked in carbon-tet. Didn't harm me at all. I am ok, ok, ok---
TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
N9MOQ
04-22-2008, 05:54 PM
Since pencil "leads" contain no lead,
That's what made it the perfect analogy. Sharpies can't get you high, and are banned, thus why not ban pencils to prevent lead poisoning, if they don't contian lead. Get it?
When I read the part about the pencils and lead, I had a great laugh out of it, because I understood the brilliant comparison that was being made.
KB9YCO
04-22-2008, 06:51 PM
Ah yes, more brilliant nonsense from the people that brought us "zero tolerance" and the war on vice and drugs! How's that drug war going anyway? It seems like they've really eliminated the criminal element since there are no more gangs or organized crime involved in drug trafficking.
Just say no to markers!! (...and he came in late from school with multi-colored rings around his nostrils...)
Airplane glue - Lenny Bruce (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgJr4jm8xr8)
KD0DKI
04-22-2008, 06:56 PM
What happens to the teacher if she doesn't report it?
She did her job to protect the child.
Is all the information included in the news (media) article?
There are 2 sides to every story, this kid could have been a junky for all we know from this story.
n2ize
04-22-2008, 06:57 PM
Government schools should be abolished.
Might as well go all the way and become a totally illiterate and uneducated nation.
What the hell is a Sharpie?
K2WH
What happens to the teacher if she doesn't report it?
She did her job to protect the child.
Is all the information included in the news (media) article?
There are 2 sides to every story, this kid could have been a junky for all we know from this story.
Elementary school there guy, 8 years of age.
I highly doubt the kid was a junkie. Not much to the other side of the story that we aren't already slapping our heads over I think.
K8ERV
04-22-2008, 08:47 PM
There are 2 sides to every story
I always thot there were 3 sides: My side, Your side, and the Army's side.
(and a sharpie is obviously the opposite of a dullie).
TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
What the hell is a Sharpie?
K2WH
A particular brand of Magic Marker, known for having a sharp point on the felt tip.
kc9jwa
04-22-2008, 09:04 PM
Don't have anything to say to this except that it is obviously an indication of how overboard the whole thing is. So much so it makes me speechless.
Tell me about it, this country is way overboard with stupid stuff, scaring teachers who have to go and make themselves look likeidiots cause the cops, bosses, ect, want to go on this little stuff instead of going after murders, rapists, violence, guns, fights, all the big stuff. Hey elmers glue man i was amused love to pu tit on hands peel if off, or smell it, but heck didnt most. Yeah i can see if the child was sniffin somethin very harmful. Heck my sister decided to take my one and only sharpie, i miss it, it looked so neat , and it colored so good, man maybe shes a sharpie junkie, lol yeah wow what esle can thios country come up with.:eek::rolleyes:
We'll try to keep the lid on things until you get back to save us. :p:p:p
Hehe, you'll have to save yourselves mate. Rugged individualism and all that rot you know.
Cheers!
W1GUH
04-22-2008, 09:20 PM
Eating paste? I remember that, the white stuff in the small jar. I didn't make a habit of it (lucky?), but it did taste kinda good.
I wouldn't touch mucilage (the stuff in the tall jar with the rubber applicator) though, that was nasty!
n2ize
04-22-2008, 09:51 PM
What happens to the teacher if she doesn't report it?
She did her job to protect the child.
Is all the information included in the news (media) article?
There are 2 sides to every story, this kid could have been a junky for all we know from this story.
Ahard core life long 8year old magic marker junkie.
w2amr
04-22-2008, 10:59 PM
[QUOTE=KD0DKI;1203253]What happens to the teacher if she doesn't report it?
QUOTE]
She has to turn in her paint huffer.
W1GUH
04-23-2008, 03:46 AM
It's altogether possible (though it'd make the story even worse), that both the teacher and principal went home and did bong hits all night. Could be that they've been forced to be so unreasonable by the forces out there to protect us from ourselves.
KC9IUX
04-23-2008, 03:49 AM
Might as well go all the way and become a totally illiterate and uneducated nation.
That's what was going on before government indoctrination centers, I mean public schools?
kc7jty
04-23-2008, 06:05 AM
When I sniffed the mimeographed paper in Catholic grade school in the 50s the nun would just beat the crap outta me. That's what made me dopey for a while not the fumes.
n2ize
04-23-2008, 07:28 AM
It's altogether possible (though it'd make the story even worse), that both the teacher and principal went home and did bong hits all night. Could be that they've been forced to be so unreasonable by the forces out there to protect us from ourselves.
I think that teacher and principal have been smoking Sharpies. :D:D This is almost as bad as the imbecile politician who wants to ban plastic bags from a few weeks ago.
kb2vxa
04-23-2008, 01:23 PM
My first sniff of a Magic Marker got me hooked.I heard Mexican weeds get you high so I switched to El Marko. Along came Sharpies but the point is small so little can be inhaled but Sanford King Size item number 15000 has a wide tip and fits the nose perfectly. The label says "do not shake" probably because that gives you a hell of a rush. Maybe I should have heeded "use in ventilated area" because now I'm hopelessly addicted and suffering from severe brain damage. Now you know why my posts are mostly incoherent, I have some moments of lucidity these days as does Georgie down there in the DC electric chair but his are few and far between; he likes Sharpies a bit too much.
Here's one for the kid to take up with his teachers, hopefully they participate in the PTA. Take note of the school connection.
Indeed, the Sharpie has become so popular in American culture that it is the marker of choice for the President of the United States, George W. Bush, who reportedly likes Sharpies so much that he often rejects other writing utensils in favor of them. The President's Sharpies carry his signature and have the words "The White House" emblazoned upon them. There are even special Camp David Sharpies.
Apparently, many celebrities have personalized Sharpies, but Sanford North America president Howard Heckes told U.S. News and World Report that "it's pretty cool" to supply the President of the United States. "Sharpies are good for the President of the United States or the president of the PTA," Heckes said in a September 2006 interview.
Bush is hooked on Sharpies, I'm hooked on Sharpies, my dog is hooked on Sharpies and my KID! OH! THE HUMANITY!
JUST SAY NO TO SHARPIES!
K8ERV
04-23-2008, 02:55 PM
. That's what made me dopey for a while not the fumes.
Did you recover?
TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
KG4JYD
04-25-2008, 12:08 PM
Since pencil "leads" contain no lead, this is not a worry. Did as well in chemistry as you did in history, did you, Matt?1- I didnt write this. 2- You obviously missed the joke. :rolleyes:
kc9jwa
04-25-2008, 03:07 PM
I llove this thread, you guys are hialrious. I thought for a moment i was at my neighbors we were sitting watchin tv, her cat they call snape decided to chase somethin we couldnt see. Im like trolls, aliens, munchkins, or maybe thinkin now he hooked on sharpies.:D
KG4JYD
04-25-2008, 03:34 PM
I found 6 Sharpies here, going to burn them today. Sure appreciate the heads up to the danger.DOn't do that... it'll pollute the atmosphere and contribute to global whining!:rolleyes:
n2ize
04-25-2008, 05:02 PM
I hope this principal was told to resign or was promptly fired. Such a person should not be near children.
kc9jwa
04-25-2008, 05:09 PM
DOn't do that... it'll pollute the atmosphere and contribute to global whining!:rolleyes:
Or a bunch of addicted munchcins after you, wanting thier marker high.:D
k4kyv
04-26-2008, 09:50 PM
That reminds me of the high school teacher, in Ohio IIRC, who was ordered by administrators to remove the soldering guns from his electronics lab because they violated the school district's zero tolerance weapons policy that forbade anything that resembled a "gun". ("Stick 'em up or I'll fill you full of hot lead!")
Makes about as much sense as the grocery store refusing sell me (at age 65) beer if I'm not carrying "identity papers" on my person. I have been carded more times in the past 9 months since I started collecting social security than I ever was before age 25.
I'm surprised they haven't already banned wooden pencils in schools. A sharpened pencil can become a vicious weapon. I still have some black marks permanently tattooed into my hands from grammar school scuffles, when I got broken pencil points embedded under my skin. When I was a kid I was always warned not to horse-play with a pencil because I could "get my eye put out".
n2ize
04-26-2008, 09:56 PM
That reminds me of the high school teacher, in Ohio IIRC, who was ordered by administrators to remove the soldering guns from his electronics lab because they violated the school district's zero tolerance weapons policy that forbade anything that resembled a "gun". ("Stick 'em up or I'll fill you full of hot lead!")
And to think in days gone by high schools had rifle teams. I was on the rifle team at one high school I attended and it was not uncommon that I brought my rifle to school with me. The only restriction was that when I got to school I had to leave it with the principal who would lock it in the school vault along with the "school owned rifles" and return it to me at the end of the day when we had a match or rifle practice. At the end of practice I would carry it home. No shock, no traumas, no hassles. Everyone was normal and sensible about it. Try that nowadays and it would be a catastrophe.