Thanks to Dr. Dobson and Family Talk for airing my testimony today. Great timing too, since the Shattered ebook released today! (http://amzn.to/eFe42T).
400-408 – • New York Daily News (4/6/2011) Cops defend use of pepper spray on 8-year-old during tantrum; boy threatened to stab teachers. Eight-year-old Aidan Elliot was pepper sprayed at school on Feb. 22nd in Lakewood, Colorado, by police after throwing a violent tantrum in his classroom, during which he overturned desks, threw chairs, threw a television, cursed and spit at teachers, even threatened to kill them, and even tried to stab some teachers with a sharp piece of wood he had torn off the wall. He was even violent with the police, saying "Get away from me you m-f-ers!" It was the third time police had been called to the school to deal with Aidan.
• True Crime Report (4/6/2011) Aidan Elliot, Death-Threat Hurling 8-Year-Old, Pepper-Sprayed By Cops at School. (EXPLICIT LANGUAGE EDITED)
Normally it would be way out of line from the cops to pepper-spray an 8-year-old who's acting up in class. But as you will see in today's installment of Great Moral Dilemmas of the Day, Aidan Elliot is not your normal 8-year-old. He goes to school in Lakewood, Colorado...
That's where he was in a special class for kids with behavior problems at Glennon Heights Elementary School. As he tells ABC News, "I was rowdy on the bus... They didn't let me do something I wanted to do. We needed to do stuff, but they wouldn't let me. They put me in a corner with chairs and they called my mom. It was really the teachers because I just got really upset with them."
Upset is something of an understatement.
According to teachers and police, Aidan threatened to kill them. He was spitting and throwing chairs while threatening teachers and other students with a sharp piece of wood he waved like a knife.
The teachers in his class aren't the bravest kind. They actually barricaded themselves in an office to prevent the kid from getting them. "I kind of blow up a little," Aidan says. "I said I'm going to kill you once you get out of that room."
That's when the cops arrived. Aidan promptly told them that "I will kill you motherf-ers," something he'd also told his teachers. So the cops decided to pepper-spray his ass before nabbing him.
His mother, Mandy Elliot, is naturally outraged that the cops would pepper-spray an 8-year-old kid. And we would normally be outraged too. After all, how hard is it for teachers or cops to subdue a little 8-year-old without blasting him with chemicals?
The problem is that Aidan isn't your average 8-year-old. When you start telling teachers and cops that "I will kill you motherf-ers," it's probably time he learns a lesson usually reserved for kids when they reach their teens.
Namely: There's a whole lot of people in this world bigger and badder than you, son. Call this a very teachable moment.
But who cares what we think. The far more important question: What do you think, dearest reader?
• The Blaze (4/6/2011) 'YOU FU**ERS!' WILD CO 8-YEAR-OLD PEPPER SPRAYED AT SCHOOL AFTER OUTBURST.
Local station 9News explains what led cops to that drastic action:
Aidan "was climbing the cart and spitting at teachers. He also broke wood trim off the walls and was trying to stab teachers with it."
"I wanted to make something sharp if they came out because I was so mad at them," Aidan said. "I was going to try to whack them with it."
The report goes on to say Aidan, "was holding what looked like a sharpened one foot stick and he screamed, 'Get away from me you f—ers.'"
Lakewood Police officers ordered the 8-year-old to "drop the stick." When he refused, they sprayed him with pepper spray twice until he dropped the piece of wood and was handcuffed.
Naturally, Aidan's mom, Mandy, isn't happy.
"I'm sure what he was doing wasn't right, but he's 8 years old," Mandy told 9News. "They walked in, asked him to drop the stick, and then sprayed him with the spray… I think it's excessive."
• YouTube (4/6/2011) Pepper Sprayed 8-Year-Old Boy Speaks Out on 'GMA' (04.06.11).
413-423 – Calls – Did the school do the right thing in calling the cops? Did the cops do the right thing pepper spraying him? Parents, what would you want your child's school to do? Teachers, ever have to call the cops on one of your students? Ever wish you had? Cops, ever have to pepper spray a violent student on campus? Lawyers, is this a big money-maker for you? Shrinks, could this be Oppositional Defiant Disorder as defined in the DSM-IVtr (link)?
428-437 – Calls –
443-452 – Calls – Donald Ghrist calls in, he runs the autismacademy.org, and has dealt with children like Aidan. Their number 818-882-0200.
458-508 – Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside since 1979 (harvest.org/church), host of the Harvest Crusades since 1990, and host of A New Beginning heard twice daily here on KKLA at 5:30am and 12:30pm. And now, he's also the pastor of Harvest Orange County! And, coming this Sunday, they'll be having their first official Sunday morning services as a church at 1130am, with a live message by Pastor Greg. On March 10th, they celebrated their two-year anniversary as a Bible study, and since then, they've seen 1,751 people make professions of faith in Jesus Christ – and this Sunday, they officially become a church, with the facility located at 2727 Campus Dr., Irvine (near the corner of Campus and Jamboree, between the 405 and the 73). Tomorrow night will be the final service at the old location, 2777 McGaw Ave at Jamboree.
• Greg and his wife Cathe have had two sons, Christopher (1975–2008 July 24) and Jonathan (1986). And they have three grand daughters: Stella (2006) and Lucy (2008) from Christopher & Brittany, and Riley (2005) and Alexandra (2010) from Jonathan & Brittni.
• The Christopher Laurie Memorial Golf Tournament is this Monday, April 11th, at Dove Canyon (link)
• The Auckland New Zealand Harvest Crusade is June 25-26 (link).
• The Angel Stadium Harvest Crusade is August 12-14 (link).
• The Dodger Stadium Harvest Crusade is September 10 (link).
512-523 – Calls –
528-539 – Calls –
544-554 – Calls – Leslie, works with Donald Ghrist at the autismacademy.org in Northridge, and they deal with children like Aidan every day. They say there are a number of things that went wrong in this scenario. Chief among them, the mental health program that Aidan wasn't running, nor was his mother, nor was the school district. There was a big interim step, namely, calling in the mental health intervention team before calling the cops. Parents with children with these challenges must take it upon themselves to get educated on what to do should something like this begin to occur. Their number 818-882-0200.
558-608 – Mark Baker, Clinical Psychologist and Executive Director of La Vie Christian Counseling Centers (laviecounseling.org, KKLA Helpline (800) 801-5242) in Pasadena and Santa Monica, and author of the million-copy bestseller Jesus, The Greatest Therapist Who Ever Lived. Hear Mark teach on emotional and spiritual growth at DrMarkBaker.com.
Paul Karpf, Founder and CEO of Financial Recovery USA (financialrecoveryusa.com, 800-385-0745), is just one of ten companies in America certified by the Attorney General as a "Certified Foreclosure Consultant," and he has an "A" rating from the BBB. Call before 8pm tonight to schedule a "face to face," and Paul will waive the $250 fee. His offices are in the city of Orange and in Woodland Hills.
612-623 – Mark Baker and Calls
628-639 – Mark Baker and Calls
644-655 – Mark Baker and Calls
• WSJ (4/6/2011) The Ryan Resolution: The most serious attempt to reform government in a generation.
• USA Today (4/6/2011) Glenn Beck to go off the air.
• USA Today (4/6/2011) U.K. astrophysicist wins $1.6 million religion prize.
Martin Rees, a 68-year-old expert on the extreme physics of black holes and the Big Bang, is the recipient of the 2011 Templeton Prize, the John Templeton Foundation announced Wednesday. The 1 million pound ($1.6 million) award is among the world's most lucrative.
Rees — who professes no religious belief — was chosen because of the nature of his research, which he said invites everyone "to wrestle with the most fundamental questions of our nature and existence," said Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr.
