James Buss

UPDATE: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel screws up AGAIN.

This time, the "editing error" is noted. An "editing error" put words in the mouths of the police -- right.

Correction: Because of an editing error, an article Saturday on a teacher's arrest in connection with a blog item that praised the Columbine High School killers incorrectly stated that police said he was “apparently posing as a teacher-hater.” That statement was not made by police.

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When will people learn that posting anonymously on the Internet is not the same as being anonymous?

Cudahy man and Oak Creek High School teacher James Buss learned that the hard way.

West Bend -- As readers of a conservative blog debated the subject of teacher salaries, a writer using the pseudonym "Observer" weighed in.

The West Bend teachers' salaries made him sick, the person wrote, adding that the 1999 Columbine High School killers had the right idea.

"They knew how to deal with the overpaid teacher union thugs. One shot at a time! Too bad the liberls (sic) rip them; they were heros (sic) and should be remembered that way," the writer said.

But police say the writer was a teacher himself - and the past president of a teachers union - apparently posing as a teacher-hater.

James Buss was arrested Thursday by West Bend police, and the 46-year-old Cudahy man could face criminal charges. He has been suspended from his job as a teacher at Oak Creek High School.

Buss, a former president of the Oak Creek School District's teachers union, is on an indefinite leave of absence from the school pending further investigation, district Superintendent Sara Larsen said. He teaches chemistry and has been employed at the school since 1994.

...[Owen Robinson, a West Bend resident and administrator of bootsandsabers.com] criticized Buss' arrest as an overreaction.

"The comments were not a direct threat to teachers," he said. "This is free speech."

...One message Buss is accused of posting praises Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. They were the high school seniors who killed 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado in April 1999 before taking their lives.

"We've got to get in back of the kids who have had enough of lazy, no good teachers and are fighting back. Kids like Eric Harris and Dylen Klebold," wrote the "Observer," whose message contained several misspelled words, including Klebold's first name.

A teacher employed by the West Bend School District read the message later that evening and immediately contacted School District administrators, West Bend police Capt. Toby Netko said.

Netko said Buss posted the message from his home computer. Netko released the text Friday.

Buss was arrested Thursday and released from the Washington County Jail after posting $300 bail.

"The teacher and district officials considered it a threat," Netko said, referring to the statement "One shot at a time" in the message.

"If you're a teacher, you would take this seriously," he said.

Maryjane Burdge, West Bend's assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, agreed that she and other officials did interpret the statement as a threat. For that reason, they notified police the same day of the posting.

Owen discusses the matter here and here and here.

I agree with his assessment of the situation, that it was a "gross overreaction for a comment left on a blog."

I also agree with Owen that Buss' arrest was unwarranted.

If every individual who left similar comments on blogs ended up under arrest, the jails would be bursting at the seams.

Yes, things changed after Columbine. The Virginia Tech shootings made officials even more jittery. Finnish teen Pekka Eric Auvinen posted his violent intentions on YouTube and carried them out, killing seven students, the principal, and himself.

Threats have to be taken seriously.

But-- Sound judgment needs to be applied to determine what constitutes a serious threat. Granted, that's easier said than done. A misjudgment can be deadly.

Buss is certainly paying the price for posting irresponsibly.

It appears that he may have posted while drunk or otherwise impaired. More likely, I think he utilized the technique of attempting to disguise himself with multiple misspellings and poor punctuation. (I'm assuming that Buss, the teacher, is more proficient at writing than his posts reveal.)

As Owen notes, the Internet provides a false sense of anonymity.

While blogs can provide forums for lively discussion, posters need to understand that they can be traced. They aren't free to say anything without being held accountable. They need to understand that they don't check their personal responsibility at the Internet's door.

The Internet is not a responsibility-free zone.

It's a creepy phenomenon. An otherwise responsible person will morph, jumping at the chance to let loose an alter ego when online. It can be remarkably reckless, as well as remarkably naive.

Will the real James Buss please stand up?