Music lyrics lead to charges
A Willcox High School talent show contest ended with two students charged with threatening and intimidating by the School Resource Officer. A band made up of four high-school students entered the show and had its songs and lyrics pre-approved by administrators, as was required for all acts in the talent show, said Principal Joel Todd.
“We had gotten word before the show that there were threatening lyrics, but we approved the ones they gave us,” Todd said.
During the show, they played and sang three songs, adding lyrics to one of those, and placed second in the show, Todd said.
“There were references to particular students with pretty threatening lyrics. Names were not mentioned, but the students, including those the song was about, knew.
“There’s no way after Colombine that we can’t take that seriously and do something about it. If we did nothing, we would be condoning that behavior at a school-sponsored event,” Todd said.
Jim Dumas, a parent of one of the students charged with making threats, said he feels this is “violating their first amendment rights of freedom of speech.”
All four students were suspended - two for one day and two for three days, Dumas said. The two suspended for one day were “not as involved in writing the lyrics.”
‘Until you physically hurt someone or damage property, you’re not guilty of a crime. When you start charging people for what they think, you’re opening Pandora’s Box. Where does it end? We need to start thinking about where this is going,” Dumas said.
Willcox Police Chief Jake Weaver said that School Resource Officer Terry Ballard charged the two juveniles, but the report is currently at the city attorney’s office for review.
“It has not been referred to the juvenile court system,” Weaver said Thursday.