Jackson Jambalaya

The School is trying to bury the incident?

Good example of a school administrator seeking to control the victims while the inmates run the asylum. If I were the mayor of that town, I would tell the school that if they want to have a parade on my streets, the boy will be master of ceremonies. Otherwise, you can have the parade in a pasture.

I have been following the Facebook page that has been set up to support Austin Stokes. The page has over 37,000 "likes" and continues to grow.

The boy who beat up Austin has been identified by name on that page, by his own girlfriend, with whom he has a baby girl. The boy named is listed on the GCHS 2010 football roster that is available online, but according to a FB comment made by the girlfriend, he apparently has not played football since then. In fact, one of her comments suggested that he was incarcerated last fall.

Too bad...the boy is 6'5" and weighs 240 lbs, at least he did two years ago as a sophomore according to the roster. He might have made some team a good player.

5:57 wasn't there a Burt Reynolds movie about a prison football team? ....

Good movie, too, 8:18.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Austin is scheduled to return to school tomorrow (Thursday). An Ocean Springs dentist, touched by this senseless attack, fixed Austin's broken tooth at no cost to Austin's mother.

Are we forgetting that the poor victim in this scenario is the one who threw a fully loaded Coke can at the boy who turned around and popped him?

We Kenny Stokes a behavioral pass and excuse him because he's a buffoon. So, what's our reason for giving Austin a pass for his role?

I don't like that the mother, who was not there, appears to be the primary source for this story.


I want to hear what witnesses say under oath...not teens taking sides ... and especially not mothers who weren't there.

The current reaction by adults makes bullying worse!

At the heart of bullying is an emotional over-reaction to real or imagined slights and an exaggeration of normal childhood conflicts and competition where every member of the school is pressured to choose up sides.

Also, a problem with bullying is the lack of respect and deteriorating authority for teachers . The bully's parents are the first to jump to their baby boy's or girl's defense.

Right now, I see two boys behaving badly and a bunch of adults escalating a teenage conflict that, in my day, would have been seen by the adults as a way to teach better behavior instead of being a big news story. The punishment would have been meted out to both proportionately by the appropriate authorities.

If indeed an innocent victim, Austin, is being done no favors here. He is being robbed of the opportunity to stand up for himself. And, while well intended, be sure he is getting the message that he is too disabled to be other than the victim in his life story.

Yes, a fully loaded Coke can was thrown at the boy by Austin, supposedly in response to the boy calling Austin a "retard."

We have all known and seen schoolyard bullies, but there is something wrong when the "provoker" is a 17 or 18 year old former football player who is 6'5" and weighs 240 lbs. and the person targeted with the name calling is a legally blind 14 year old with cerebral palsy who barely weighs 100 lbs.

How often, 9:45, do these stories and versions contain the words 'supposedly', 'reportedly', 'said to have', 'someone said', 'according to his mother' and 'it was suggested'? As 9:39 suggested, the information spread out on the table so far (and certainly here on this JJ Blog) does little other than incite emotional reaction when we have no evidence of a full investigation and witness testimony is so far minimalized.

So, let's run the boy who weighs the most up a wooden post and light him on fire.

"A dentist was touched by this senseless attack".

>>"A dentist was touched by this senseless attack".<<

As opposed to: Many support the righteous beatdown administered to disrespectful little cripple. When it comes to messing with the football team, this little victim had better learn that it is sports that run the public schools! Here his victimhood jeopardizes the school spirit at Homecoming. There will be time to administer him his punishment jest as soon as we gitrdun on the field of dreams. GIT SUM!

The shadow falls in the woods... No one <> heard it.

Kangaroot; you simply MUST stop posting as 'anon'.

As Johnny Cochran might say, "What we haaaave here; is a rursh to jurdgment."

Regular JJ blog readers will want to recall coming to the immediate aid of the poor renter in Madison who only wanted her Christmas peacock. And quickly we sided against the arrogance of a mayor who would pester, pick on and bully the poor woman who had scraped together enough to purchase the paltry purple peacock.

And how quickly we learned the facts (pesky things aren't they?) and assembled a posse to run the peacock-tress out of town.

I think what happened to Austin was terrible. But let's not forget that he first assaulted the former football player by throwing a (full?) Coke can at him. So by Austin's own admission he committed the first crime because he believed he had been called an ugly name.

I agree with those who say that the school has an obligation to interview all of the students who witnessed the event. Apparently we were all under some false impressions for a while, such as Austin being "blind" and in a wheelchair. He's apparently not in a wheelchair and has some vision impairment -- big difference.