| Summary: | 2 FRIDAY APRIL 20, 2012 NEWS SPOTS CONCORDIAN Police handcuff Georgia kindergartener The Niblet ASSOCIATED PRESS A kindergartner who threw a tantrum at her small-town Georgia school was taken away in handcuffs, her arms behind her back, in an episode that is firing up the debate over whether teachers and police around the country are overreacting all too often when dealing with disruptive students. The family of 6-year-old Salecia Johnson lashed out Tuesday over her treatment and said she was badly shaken, while the school system and the police defended their handling of the episode. Across the country, civil rights advocates and criminal justice experts say, frustrated teachers and principals are calling in the police to deal with even relatively minor disruptions. Some juvenile authorities say they believe it is happening more often, driven by zero-toler-ance policies and an increased police presence on school grounds over the past two decades because of tragedies like the Columbine High massacre. But hard numbers to back up the as-sertion are hard to come by. "Kids are being arrested for being kids," said Shannon Kennedy, a civil rights attorney who is suing the Albuquerque, N.M., school district, where hundreds of kids have been arrested in the past few years for minor offenses includ-ing such things as having cellphones in class, burping, refusing to switch seats and destroying a history book. In 2010, a 14-year-old boy was arrested for inflating a condom in class. Salecia was accused of tearing items off the walls and throwing books and toys in an outburst Friday at Creekside Elementary in Milledgeville, a city of about 18,000, some 90 miles from Atlanta, police said. Police said she also threw a small shelf that struck the principal in the leg, and jumped on a paper shredder and tried to break a glass frame. Police refused to say what set off the tan-trum. The school called police, and when an officer tried to calm the child in the principal's office, she resisted, authorities said. She was handcuffed and taken away in a patrol car. Baldwin County schools Superintendent Geneva Braziel called the student's behavior "violent and disruptive." "The Milledgeville police department was ultimately called to assist due to safety concerns for the student, other classmates and the school staff," Braziel said in a statement. Interim Police Chief Dray Swicord said the department's policy is to handcuff people when they are taken to the police station, regardless of their age, "for the safety of themselves as well as the officer." He said the child was restrained with steel cuffs, the only kind the department uses. He said the girl will not be charged with a crime because she is too young. The girl's aunt, Candace Ruff, went with the child's mother to pick her up at the police station. She said Salecia had been in a holding cell and complained about the handcuffs. "She said they were really tight. She said they really hurt her wrists," Ruff said "She was so shaken up when we went there to pick her up." The police chief said the girl was taken to the squad room, not a holding cell, and officers there tried to calm her and gave her a soda. The girl was suspended and can't return to school until August, her mother, Constance Ruff, told WMAZ-TV. "We would not like to see this happen to another child, because it's horrifying. It's dev-astating," the girl's aunt said. In Florida, the use of police in schools came up several years ago when officers ar-rested a kindergartner who threw a tantrum during a jelly bean-counting contest. A bill was proposed this year to restrict police from ar-resting youngsters for misdemeanors or other acts that do not pose serious safety threats. In Albuquerque, Annette Montano said her 13-year-old son was arrested last year after burping in gym class. "I have had some concern for a while that the schools have relied a little too heavily on police officers to handle disciplinary prob-lems," said Darrel Stephens, a former Char-lotte, N.C., police chief and executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association. Civil rights advocates, educators and law enforcement officials say a number of factors have led to the arrests. Among then: Some officers are operating withoUt special training. School administrators are desperate to get the attention of unin-volved parents. And overwhelmed teachers are unaware that calling in the police to defuse a situation could also result in serious criminal charges. Albuquerque school officials have declined to comment on the arrests there. But El-len Bernstein, president of the Albuquerque teachers union, said students' bad behavior is more extreme these days. From sexual harassment in elementary and middle school to children throwing furniture, "there is more chronic and extreme disrespect, disinterest and kids who basically don't care," she said. In Texas, a report by the nonprofit Texas Appleseed, a public interest group, estimates that 100,000 children are ticketed every year for misdemeanor offenses such as truancy, dress-code violations and swearing. CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's election commission rejected the appeals of three main contenders for president Tuesday, definitively removing the most polarizing candidates from the race to become the country's first elected leader since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. The disqualification of the three dimin-ishes the chances that an Islamist candidate will win the presidency, but there arc worries over the fallout from the decision, particularly from the supporters of one of the barred candidates, ultraconservative Islamist Hazem Abu Ismail. Around 2,000 Abu Ismail supporters had camped outside the commission's headquar-ters since the previous day, demanding he be allowed to run. When the rejection was announced Tuesday evening, some of them threw stones at security and briefly scuffled with military police. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Saudi Arabia claimed Tuesday that Al-Qaida has taken responsibility for the kidnapping of a Saudi diplomat in Yemen last month and is demanding release of prisoners and a ransom payment. Diplomat Abdullah al-Khaldi, the deputy consul at the Saudi consulate in Aden, was abducted in the Yemeni port city of Aden on March 28. Abductions are frequent in Yemen, where armed tribesmen and militants take hostages to swap for prisoners or cash. The kidnappings are usually resolved peacefully. ISLAMABAD (AP) - Osama bin Laden's three widows and their nine children were scheduled to be deported to Saudi Arabia overnight, almost a year after U.S. Navy SEALs killed the al-Qaida chief at a compound in northwest Pakistan, their lawyer said Tuesday. The family was detained by Pakistani au-thorities immediately after the pre-dawn raid on May 2 in Abbottabad. The American com-mandos left them behind but took bin Laden's body, which they later buried at sea. The relatives were interrogated by Pakistani officials and eventually charged last month with illegally entering and living in the country. They were convicted on April 2 and sentenced to 45 days in prison, with credit for about a month served. Their prison term, which was spent at a well-guarded house in Islamabad, ends Tuesday. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea accused the U.S. of hostility on Tuesday for suspending an agreement to provide food aid following Pyongyang's widely criticized rocket launch, and warned of retalia-tory measures in response. North Korea's Foreign Ministry also re-jected the U.N. Security Council's condemna-tion of Friday's launch of a long-range rocket as "unreasonable," and reasserted the nation's right to develop a civilian space program. North Korea fired a three-stage rocket Friday over the Yellow Sea in defiance of in-ternational warnings against what the U.S. and other nations said would be seen as a violation of bans against nuclear and missile activity. PHOTO BY RACHEL TORGERSON John from the Gladys Ray Shelter in Fargo helps stain a new fence. Concordia Students in Better Together worked last Saturday to help out the shelter in staining the fence and contributed with yard care. Campus Calendar Sunday Monday Tuesday 4/22 4/23 4/24 Saturday 4/21 Wednesday 4/25 Friday 4/20 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Graduating Senior Survey Completion 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Promoting Sustainability on Campus: The Luther College Experience 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM Cornstock 10:00 AM- 12:00 PM Women Connect 1:00 PM - 6:00 PM Baseball Games 5:00 PM- 8:00 PM Offutt School of Business Honor's Banquet NO PM -9:15 PM Oratorio 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM Zumba 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM Sunday Night @ Concordia 7:30 PM- 9:30 PM Vocal Jazz/Jazz Ensemble Concert 8:00 AM- 5:00 PM FM Area Ed Fair registration deadline 9:50 AM - 10:15 AM Chapel 10:00 AM- 3:00 PM Minnesota Education Job Fair 4:00 PM- 5:00 PM Department Chairs Meetings 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM Symphonia Spring Concert 9:50 AM - 10:15 AM Chapel 2:30 I'M 7:30 PM Baseball vs. Dakota Wesleyan 3:00 PM- 8:00 PM Cobber Twilight Invitational 9:50 AM- 10:15 AM Chapel 2:00 PM- 4:00 PM Farewell Reception for Jon Leiseth and Tessa Moon Leiseth 3:30 PM - 7:45 PM FM Metro Education Job Fair Thursday 4/26 9:50 AM- 10:15 AM Student Chapel 9:00 PM- 10:00 PM Tabernacle the CONCORDIAN EDITORIAL Mary Beenken Editor-in-Chief Kelsy Johnson News Editor Jessica 13allou PULSE Editor Suzanne Redekopp Sports Editor Patrick Ross Opinions Editor Carrie Johansen Copy Editor Ryan Bloom Web Editor Cathy McMullen Faculty Adviser PRESENTATION Rachel Torgerson Photo Editor Alicia Rux Graphic Designer Brittany Davila Presentation Editor CONTENT Mclisa Barish Staff Writer Steph Barnhart Staff Writer Rachel Brock Staff Writer Katie Campbell Staff Writer Meagan McDougall Stairrter Krista DiLorenzo PULSE Writer Regan Whitney PULSE Writer Kaia Miller Sports Writer Patrick Rundlett Sports Writer James Vair Opinions Writer Matthew Hansen Opinions Writer Katelyn Henegin Opinions Writer Howard Mukanda Opinions Contributor Jacob Amos Contributing Writer Kayla Culver Contributing Writer Lana Gvarnera Contributing Writer Matt Barrett Contributing Writer Marisa jackets Contributing Writer Zach Forstrom Photographer Brandon King Photographer Cathryn Erbelc Contributing Photo Paul Flessland Contributing Photo Evan Balko Contributing Photo Olivia Gear Contnbuting Photo BUSINESS Tom. 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