NM - Burrito leads to school lockdown

[FWiedner]

Big burrito leads to school lockdown

By KRIS ABBEY

CLOVIS, N.M. - A big burrito created big brouhaha Thursday at Marshall Junior High School.

More than 600 students sat through a lockdown and building search after a passerby reported a "suspicious object" being carried into the school.

The 2-foot-long cylinder wrapped in white fabric later was revealed to be a giant burrito created by an eighth-grade boy for a career exploration class.

"He's into culinary arts," Principal Diana Russell said of the student, whose name was not released.

The boy crafted the burrito as an extra-credit project, rolling out the tortillas from scratch, she said. After filling the shell with meat, the student swaddled his creation in aluminum foil and a T-shirt to keep it warm.

Officers from several law enforcement agencies converged on the school about 8:30 a.m. after a caller reported seeing a cloth-wrapped object that appeared similar to a rifle, according to information from Sgt. James Schoeffel of the Clovis Police Department.

"A threat assessment was conducted," he said. "The school was searched."

About 50 or 60 worried parents came after adjacent streets were blocked off, Russell said. Officers combed the school for about an hour and found nothing, so Russell called a brief assembly to talk about the lockdown, she said.

Afterward, a student approached her and related how he carried a large burrito through the school's main entrance shortly before the first tardy bell.

After examining the supersized snack, Russell agreed that it might appear similar to a rifle under wraps.

"It was a very impressive burrito," Russell said, "and it looked so yummy."

http://amarillo.com/stories/042905/new_1817489.shtml

*FW Note:  Suspicious object, indeed.

You may laugh at the idiocy of the people involved in the incident, but think on this:

Your children are being taught that there are no limits on how far the state may intrude, and that they may be held as prisoners for any length of time and for any reason.

What a pathetic, cowardly, lot Americans have become.

 :x

[magooch]

Burrito huh.  Well, after all it is a gut-bomb.

[Nightrain52]

Yup, and with all those refried beans maybe it was classified as an IED-Improvised Explosive Device. Our police and government will protect us from all bad things. :-D    :-D    :-D    

[Mikey]

What I want to know is why the heck did that 'concerned passerby' not follow up immediately  - follow the kid into the school and button-hole him right there to find out what he was carrying?

You are always going to get that kind of a police response and acutally, I am glad for it especially with the spate of school shootings we have had.  

I know from personal experience that if someone has a 'well thought out plan' for creating mayhem and harm, that plan absolutely goes to hay in a handbasket and is easily stopped if the individual's train of thought and actions are interrupted before he/she can begin their ' final actions'.  

I'll tell ya right now, that if I was driving past a school and saw something that looked that suspicious I would be all over it in a hearbeat, and that would be complete with cell phone, etc., before he even got into the doors.  

You can joke all you want about gut-busting refried beans (and I lov'em), but a two foot long cylinder is just long enough for a concealed rifle barrel and that's no joke.  

I would rather take heat from the cops for rousting a kid with a 2' long burrito than to have to hang my head in shmae after hearing of another school shooting I could have had a hand in preventing.  JMHO.  Mikey.