Note from Matt Gaylor: Actually Reynoldsburg, Ohio is the birth place of the tomato. The first edible hybrid was developed there. It is hard for me to imagine the mindset of a police force that would place a camera in a high-school restroom, but with a little inside information it isn't all that hard to understand why. I've been in and around Reynoldsburg for years. Until recently my family, owned several businesses in the town and we owned part of the most expensive piece of real-estate in the area (180 acres north side of Interstate 70 and State Route 256, including the Lenox Inn).
One of my friends is a retired Reynoldsburg Police Sgt by the name of Jim Ramm. Jim also happens to be a sitting board member of the National Rifle Association http://www.nra.org/ and is chairman of the Peoples Rights Organization http://www.peoplesrights.org/, a Columbus based gun-rights group. Jim and I have talked on many occasions about issues in law enforcement and the object lack of respect for constitutional rights exhibited by some Officers. I can remember Jim reporting to me about how junior patrolmen wanted to search cars on traffic stops when it wasn't constitutionally permissible and other illegal searches. You can reach Jim Ramm at jramm@ix.netcom.com. Reynoldsburg is just eas of Columbus. Columbus has just earned the dubious distinction of being the first police force in the United States to be sued by the US Justice Dept. for civil-rights violations, unreasonable searches and seizures and police brutality. You can read about it at http://www.dispatch.com.
So given the backdrop of the area, and police state mentality of the local officers, I'm not the least bit surprised that we have this unreasonable privacy outrage. Taken only alone, one might only assume bad judgement on part of the Reynoldsburg Police Department, but look at the second story on Mosaic 2000. The feds are testing a computer program that "rates" students with a violence rating. What's next? Preemptive imprisonment?
If you wish to contact the Reynoldsburg Police you can do so by contacting their chief Jeanne A Miller <jmiller@hoa.net> or view their site at: http://www.hoa.net/reypd/
Regards, Matt-
http://libpub.dispatch.com/cgi-bin/slwebcli.pl?DBLIST=cd99&DOCNUM=20898
This article is 1999 The Columbus Dispatch
'SECRET' CAMERA REMOVED FROM HIGH-SCHOOL BATHOOM
Date: Thursday, October 14, 1999 Section: NEWS Page: 12C Byline: Julie R. Bailey Source: Dispatch Schools Reporter
Police put a video camera in a boys bathroom at Reynoldsburg High School last week, hoping to catch the person who wrote a message on a wall that could have been interpreted as a bomb threat. However, the camera was removed within hours after school custodians discovered it, Reynoldsburg Police Chief Jeanne Miller said yesterday. "It was no longer a secret,'' Miller said, explaining why the camera was taken down. She said it was not in the stalls and was positioned to videotape only the head and shoulders of people in the bathroom. Some parents and students questioned using the camera. "I don't agree with the method because I believe it was an invasion of privacy,'' said Linda Rico, whose daughter attends the high school. "My daughter was extremely upset about it, and I took her side. I'm glad to hear the camera is gone.'' Within the past week to 10 days, messages were written on walls in two rst-žoor boys bathrooms at the school, 6699 E. Livingston Ave., Miller said. A camera was placed in only one of the bathrooms, she said. Reynoldsburg schools Superintendent Richard Ross said the messages were cryptic and did not include the words "bomb threat,'' but "it could be interpreted that it could be what it meant.'' Ross said the school now has more adult supervision in student bathrooms. Miller thinks the messages were copycats of two bomb threats written on bathroom walls at Westerville South High School last month. After the threats appeared, the principal banned book bags and backpacks and made students empty their lockers so they could be searched.
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>http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/10/biztech/articles/24violence.html > >Computer Project Seeks to Avert Youth Violence > >Columbine Spurs Pilot Program at Schools > >By FRANCIS X. CLINES >The New York Times > >REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio -- Spurred by the deadly rampage at Columbine High School, >the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is working with a >threat-evaluation company to develop a computer program to help school >administrators spot troubled students who might be near the brink of violence. > >When the national pilot program, known as Mosaic-2000, begins testing at more >than 20 schools in December, its technique of confidentially vetting and >rating >potentially violent students on a scale of 1 to 10 will come not a moment too >soon for Steve Dackin, principal of Reynoldsburg High School. > >"Columbine forever changed things for all of us," Dackin said of the school in >Littleton, Colo., where two students shot 13 people to death before killing >themselves in April. > ><snip>
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