Idaho student says teacher tossed his Mexican flag in trash

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_re_us/flag_incident

TWIN FALLS, Idaho - A high school student says he may file a lawsuit against a physical education teacher who took a Mexican flag he had brought for Cinco de Mayo and put it in the garbage.

Clint Straatman denies Froylan Camelo's version of events but said he took the flag Monday because "white kids" might have hurt the 16-year-old. He said he put it in a garbage can because he had no place else to keep it.

Camelo said he was changing into gym clothes at Minico High School in Rupert when Straatman told him, "Give me the flag."

"I said, 'What's the problem?'" Camelo, speaking in Spanish, told The Times-News of Twin Falls. "He said, 'The problem is that we are in the United States and not in Mexico.' He grabbed it from me. He threw the flag in the garbage can."

Camelo said that Straatman told him the flag would be returned at the end of the school day, but that Straatman taunted him instead.

"I asked, 'Where is my flag?'" Camelo said. "He said, 'What, the U.S. flag?' I said, 'No, the one for Mexico.' But he wouldn't give it to me."

Camelo said he then took the undamaged flag out of the garbage. He said he's been contacted by the American Civil Liberties Union and is considering a lawsuit against Straatman.

Camelo and others brought Mexican flags to the south-central Idaho school to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the May 5 recognition of Mexico's victory over the French army on that day in 1862. About a third of the student body is Hispanic.

Straatman denied saying the words Camelo attributed to him, and said the student may have misunderstood him because of his poor English skills. He said he took the flag from Camelo after Camelo had been waving it in the school gym, and denied withholding it later.

"I had to confiscate it so it wouldn't escalate any problems in class," Straatman told The Times-News. "We're worried about that stuff all the time. We always have kids saying stuff to each other, and we have a lot of fights between kids."

Scott Rogers, superintendent of the Minidoka County Joint School District, said an investigation has been started. He said he could not comment specifically about personnel decisions.

"We believe in nondiscriminatory practices and cultural sensitivity," he said. "We train for that and talk about that. If there is a teacher making derogatory comments we don't approve of that. We also don't approve of a student disrupting the classroom."

Rogers said he was at the school early Wednesday and that the school was quiet. He said he noticed a few students wearing clothing in the colors of the Mexican flag — red, white and green — in protest of Monday's incident.

[scarlett]

Good for the teacher!!

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

Why is Mexico such a half-assed Third World toilet? Yeah some holiday.....defeat of the French army my arse 

Although the Mexican army was victorious over the French at Puebla, the victory only delayed the French advance on Mexico City; a year later, the French occupied Mexico.

and you can thank the Yanquis when you get a chance....

American President Abraham Lincoln had supported the republicans under Juárez, but was unable to intervene due to the American Civil War. Immediately after the end of the war, in 1865, United States Army General Philip Sheridan, under the supervision of President Andrew Johnson and General Ulysses S. Grant, assembled 50,000 troops, and dispatched them to the border between Mexico and the United States. There, his corps ran patrols to visibly threaten intervention against the French, and also supplied weapons to Juárez's forces.[1] The US Congress had unanimously passed a resolution which opposed the establishment of the Mexican monarchy on 4 April 1864. On 12 February 1866, the US demanded the French withdraw their forces from Mexico, moved soldiers to positions along the Rio Grande, and set up a naval blockade to prevent French reinforcements from landing. The US officially protested to Austria about the Austrian volunteers in Mexico on the 6th of May.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_intervention_in_Mexico

[scarlett]

Arse? are you a canadian?

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

Arse? are you a canadian?

  No, I just think cussing on a forum is silly.

[gorknoids]

Arse? are you a canadian?

     Are you?  I only ask because my grandparents were, and I grew up on the border.  I've ice-skated internationally a few times.

[spunkloaf]

I wish I were still in high school.  After reading something like this, I'd be going to school wearing questionable attire and sporting swastikas just to piss off the admin.

Doesn't surprise me that it's a phy-ed teacher who did this, too.  They're always assholes to the kids, especially the un-sporty ones.

[gorknoids]

Fuck Mexico.  Gym coaches notwithstanding.

[spunkloaf]

Fuck Mexico?  Why stop there?  Americans can seem to find a problem with just about any country.  That's why we're most hated, and why we can start wars whenever we please.

[gorknoids]

I'm simply trying to bring balance to America. 
The 2% who subscribe to the "Fuck America" theme need to be countered, lest we list.  After that, really, I wish Mexico would just disappear so that I could drive to Rio.

[spunkloaf]

No need to list, it's obvious that you're referring to me.  I don't subscribe to anything, thanks.  Despite the succumbing and dumbing down of this other "98%", I have a free mind and it fits perfectly in a (dying) free nation.

And if 2% of this country hates what is going on (it's more like 50%--don't kid yourself), that's 100% more than there ought to be.

Besides--does that make sense?  Does hating other nations really demonstrate American patriotism to you, or are you just trying to piss somebody off because of their political view?

Either way, I think "Fuck Mexico" a fucking stupid thing to say, especially in this context where Mexico has done nothing wrong.  No offense, if it can be helped.   

[pittypat65]

Arse? are you a canadian?

     Are you?  I only ask because my grandparents were, and I grew up on the border.  I've ice-skated internationally a few times.

Yes I am a Canadian. I have dual citizenship as my parents are Canadian. However I was born legally in Montana and am a US legal citizen as well.