In Maryland, a Soviet-Style Punishment for a Novelist

[Flagg]

The Atlantic

In Maryland, a Soviet-Style Punishment for a Novelist

An eighth-grade teacher who writes fiction under a nom de plume is ordered to undergo an "emergency medical evaluation" for his novel about a school shooting.

Jeffrey Goldberg

Sep 1 2014, 1:04 PM ET

From the Dept. of Insane and Dangerous Overreactions to Fictional Threats:

A 23-year-old teacher at a Cambridge, Md. middle school has been placed on leave and—in the words of a local news report—"taken in for an emergency medical evaluation" for publishing, under a pseudonym, a novel about a school shooting. The novelist, Patrick McLaw, an eighth-grade language-arts teacher at the Mace's Lane Middle School, was placed on leave by the Dorchester County Board of Education, and is being investigated by the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office, according to news reports from Maryland's Eastern Shore. The novel, by the way, is set 900 years in the future.

Here is part of a breathless, law enforcement-friendly report from WBOC, which describes itself as "Delmarva's News Leader":


He's a man with many names, and the books he has written have raised the concerns of the Dorchester County Board of Education and the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office.

Early last week the school board was alerted that one of its eighth grade language arts teachers at Mace's Lane Middle School had several aliases. Police said that under those names, he wrote two fictional books about the largest school shooting in the country's history set in the future. Now, Patrick McLaw is placed on leave.

Dr. K.S. Voltaer is better known by some in Dorchester County as Patrick McLaw, or even Patrick Beale. Not only was he a teacher at Mace's Lane Middle School in Cambridge, but according to Dorchester Sheriff James Phillips, McLaw is also the author of two books: "The Insurrectionist" and its sequel, "Lillith's Heir."

Those books are what caught the attention of police and school board officials in Dorchester County. "The Insurrectionist" is about two school shootings set in the future, the largest in the country's history.

Phillips said McLaw was taken in for an emergency medical evaluation. The sheriff would not disclose where McLaw is now, but he did say that he is not on the Eastern Shore. The same day that McLaw was taken in for an evaluation, police swept Mace's Lane Middle School for bombs and guns, coming up empty.



Imagine that—a novelist who didn't store bombs and guns at the school at which he taught. How improbable! Especially considering that he uses an "alias," which is apparently the law-enforcement term for "nom de plume." (Here is the Amazon page for The Insurrectionist, by the way. Please note that the book was published in 2011, before McLaw was hired.)



According to an equally credulous and breathless report in the Star-Democrat, which is published in Easton, Md., the combined efforts of multiple law-enforcement agencies have made area children safe from fiction. Sheriff Phillips told the newspaper that, in addition to a K-9 sweep of the school (!), investigators also raided McLaw's home. "The residence of the teacher in Wicomico County was searched by personnel,” Phillips said, with no weapons found. “A further check of Maryland State Police databases also proved to be negative as to any weapons registered to him. McLaw was suspended by the Dorchester County Board of Education pending an investigation and is no longer in the area. He is currently at a location known to law enforcement and does not currently have the ability to travel anywhere.”



I've tried to reach the sheriff, so far unsuccessfully, to learn whether McLaw's "inability to travel anywhere" means that he is under arrest. It is somewhat amazing that local news reports on this case don't make clear whether McLaw is under arrest, and if so, on what charge. It is equally astonishing that the reporters on this story don't seem to have used the words "First Amendment" in their questioning of law-enforcement officials, and also astonishing they don't question the Soviet-sounding practice of ordering an apparently sane person who has been deemed unacceptable by state authorities to undergo a psychological evaluation.



It would be useful to know if McLaw is under investigation for behavior other than writing two novels—and perhaps he will be shown to be a miscreant of some sort—but so far, there is no indication that he is guilty of anything other than having an imagination, although on Maryland's Eastern Shore, as news reports make clear, his imagination is considered an active threat.



Dorchester County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Wagner told WBO that police will be present at the middle school "for as long as we deem it necessary," and the sheriff said that law-enforcement officials across the Delmarva peninsula have been given McLaw's photo in case he shows up in their jurisdictions—though again, it is not clear if he is, in fact, in police custody at the moment.



If law-enforcement authorities in Dorchester County have additional information that implicates McLaw in a crime, or in the planning of a crime, it is imperative that they release it immediately. As it stands now, they appear to be violating the constitutional rights of a citizen, and also, by the way, teaching the children of their county something awful about the power of fear over reason.

There is just... I mean I don't even... WHAT THE FUCK?

[cosmicalstorm]

If you write a detailed account of a school-shooting while working at a school in a country that suffers about one big school-shooting a year and a couple of smaller ones... well that might be a problem. It's not exactly Soviet territory if you ask me.
If he did go and shoot a place up after writing this and being publicly known to have written this the local law enforcement and school-officials would be dragged through a mile of shit for "not acting on it".

[Steve]

To the mindset of such people, it's safer to do this than to not do it and then have McLaw shoot his school up, which could cost them their jobs and make them look stupid. Better to violate his rights (which of course they'll insist they didn't and that his writing on the subject was suspicious enough to warrant this) than risk the children getting hurt.

[Simon_Jester]

Honestly, if I were a parent and heard this I very well might want the teacher in question to have to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

I would not, however, want the town sheriff to hold the guy in some kind of bizarre legal limbo where he's apparently "not allowed" to leave town or contact anyone, at least if that insane newspaper is to be believed.

[AniThyng]

Where are we going to draw the line then? Should we hold grr Martin for a evaluation to ensure he's not in fact a sadistic rape fetishist?

[Flagg]

This is literally a case of mass hysteria. The people who need psych evals are the people gleefully violating every right this poor man has. He wrote 2 books set 900 years in the future! And they are published on amazon under a pseudonym! Frankly everyone involved should be out of a job, and the teacher simply because he should be a billionaire.

[mr friendly guy]

If you write a detailed account of a school-shooting while working at a school in a country that suffers about one big school-shooting a year and a couple of smaller ones... well that might be a problem. It's not exactly Soviet territory if you ask me.
If he did go and shoot a place up after writing this and being publicly known to have written this the local law enforcement and school-officials would be dragged through a mile of shit for "not acting on it".

Yeah. A detailed account of a school shooting set 900 years in the future.

[mr friendly guy]

Hey I know this author who wrote under an abbreviated name about an assassination of the President set 264 years in the future. I think it was the last episode of season one of Babylon 5. We totally need to get this guy and do a psych evaluation on him. I mean writing about assassinating politicians and coming from a country with a history of that stuff. Totally reasonable.

[Zixinus]

Does anyone have any idea of what the books contain?

Because if they do contain what are clearly fantasies of a teacher going on a shooting spree and the author glorifying this, then at least one can see where the reason for concern coming from. Not a sufficient excuse to treat this man as a criminal for a crime he did not commit, but at least it would make some sense as to what spark this hysteria.

Those books are what caught the attention of police and school board officials in Dorchester County. "The Insurrectionist" is about two school shootings set in the future, the largest in the country's history.

I cannot comprehend how they think that the last sentence's two parts fit together. They are set in the future! It is the largest school shooting in the country's history! Just erm, in the future! You know, which hasn't happened yet but will in 900 years in the future. We should prosecute him now!

[Dominus Atheos]

Does anyone have any idea of what the books contain?

I'm assuming that you didn't post this by telegram, and that they do in fact have the internet in your country.

“On 18 March 2902, a massacre transpired on the campus of Ocean Park High School, claiming the lives of nine hundred forty-seven individuals--the largest school massacre in the nation's history. And the entire country now begins to ask two daunting questions: How? and Why? After the federal government becomes involved, and after examining the bouquet of black roses that lies in front of the school's sign, it becomes evident that the hysteria is far from over.

Eight hundred twenty-five kilometres north of Ocean Park High School, situated in the suburbs of Phantom Park, Pacifica, is Krossephire Technical Academy. Having a student population that exceeds nineteen thousand, it is the nation's largest school. Krossephire is known as a very structured, academically superior institution with very minor problems. At least, that was before the threats began.

After Krossephire Tech begins receiving sinister threats foreshadowing the occurrence of a massacre substantially larger than that of Ocean Park, Agent Jessica Leigh Hearn and her federal investigative unit become involved and the severity of the situation only intensifies as they pursue a dangerous and intelligent killer who is as invisible as the government agency they work for.

Amid the hysteria that inescapably follows, Keith, Nick, and Mitchel--three twelfth-year students at Krossephire Tech--intervene after Mitchel overhears a confidential conversation. As the administrative effort to conceal the terrorising occurrences rapidly begins to fail, the three begin to conduct their own amateur investigation that ultimately puts them into serious conflict with the federal government, the Krossephire administration, as well as themselves. Simultaneously, Jessica and her team discover that the events of Ocean Park and Krossephire Tech are interrelated. And as they follow the trail of black roses, they learn an interesting yet appalling story--a parallel of the shooter's identity. And as Nick, Keith, and Mitchel struggle to survive their slowly deteriorating school, this teenage executioner makes known that he is not like typical school assassins. He is not a copycat killer. He is not a psychologically unstable maniac. He is intelligent and knows how to kill silently and without detection. His victims are not selected at random. He is after someone--and he will stop at nothing until he is face-to-face with the one person to whom he owes much retribution. However, he will not distinguish between those he hunts and those who get in his way.”

http://www.amazon.com/The-Insurrectioni ... B0075CP2SG

[Patroklos]

We suspend kids for making "bang bang" hand gestures, I suppose this makes things consistant? My head hurts.

[Zixinus]

I'm assuming that you didn't post this by telegram, and that they do in fact have the internet in your country.

Yes, but I was assuming that someone on a sci-fi forum might be familiar with what sounds like a sci-fi story. So I was asking a person's subjective input on probably a whole novel.

[TheFeniX]

I can buy the Insurrectionist off Amazon right now. Maybe I should, then end up in jail because... I don't know.. please think of the children? Here's a thought: maybe a school teacher has some opinions or other noteworthy ideas about school shootings they wanted out there and maybe even make a few bucks in the process. How many teachers have actually performed a "school shooting?" I know there was something about a fired teacher coming back and shooting his boss, but that's not exactly the same thing as shooting a bunch of students. Teachers seem extremely low risk for killing their students, the reverse cannot be said.

Holy shit, I live in a country where you get arrested for publishing novels. What have they even charged him with: conspiracy to publish fiction? I mean, I know this shit isn't new for the US, but at least I wasn't alive when "COMMUNISM!!!!" was a thing.

I'd charge the cops with kidnapping, because why the fuck not? I mean, they're making up bullshit to fuck with people, why not do the same? Maybe then they could write a book about blatant civil rights violations, and they can publish it, and we could arre.... no wait, it'd be filed under non-fiction. Move along.

[Eulogy]

What goddamn fucking insanity. This is literally a pack of monkeys flinging shit at someone they do not like.

[Iroscato]

Interesting timing. I read recently about a teacher who posted tweets saying she wanted to stab some kids, among other things. Her punishment? A reprimand, and she was allowed to continue teaching. I know which teacher I'd be more concerned about.
The tone from the excerpt is clearly not endorsing school shootings in any way, and is critical of the administration for the way it handles the fallout.
Let us not forget, this would be a non-event if certain parts of the US weren't so hellbent on going back to the days of wild west and giving guns to everyone with a working pair of hands.

[TheFeniX]

Interesting timing. I read recently about a teacher who posted tweets saying she wanted to stab some kids, among other things. Her punishment? A reprimand, and she was allowed to continue teaching. I know which teacher I'd be more concerned about.

I'm not defending idiots on Twitter, but even I've said some incredibly crass things in my life-time. Things if taken seriously by wrong parties could land me in deep shit, even though they were only said out of frustration or me just trying to crack a sardonic joke.

If someone says something out of frustration that could be construed as violent, yet turns out to be nothing: I don't see a problem with a reprimand. Her tweets are hard to take as anything more than incredibly tasteless and bore from dealing with students that do not want to be taught. She's basically saying out loud what a lot of teachers in her position are probably thinking.

Honestly, I'm a lot less scared of people who run their mouths than those who continually bottle it in and act like they're ok, when it's obvious they are not. People need to vent and we're getting more and more to the point where you can't say a fucking word without being crucified. She needs to do what my wife does: vent to me (or less specifically, someone she trusts).

[Eternal_Freedom]

If you write a detailed account of a school-shooting while working at a school in a country that suffers about one big school-shooting a year and a couple of smaller ones... well that might be a problem. It's not exactly Soviet territory if you ask me.
If he did go and shoot a place up after writing this and being publicly known to have written this the local law enforcement and school-officials would be dragged through a mile of shit for "not acting on it".

As the article said, the book was published in 2011, before the guy was hired. It clearly wasn't an issue then, so why is it one now?

Besides, as far as I know most school shooters don't tend to be the type to write a book well enough to get it, and a sequel, published.

[Ralin]

. She's basically saying out loud what a lot of teachers in her position are probably thinking.

All of us think that. Every single one of us.

Besides, as far as I know most school shooters don't tend to be the type to write a book well enough to get it, and a sequel, published.

A Kindle book. It doesn't take much more than uploading a readable manuscript that doesn't violate any major laws or Amazon regulations to get published. FIMfiction literally has more of a screening process than the Kindle store.

EDIT: On the plus side, judging from a glance at the product page this does seem to be predictably helping his sales and visibility.

[Simon_Jester]

Hey I know this author who wrote under an abbreviated name about an assassination of the President set 264 years in the future. I think it was the last episode of season one of Babylon 5. We totally need to get this guy and do a psych evaluation on him. I mean writing about assassinating politicians and coming from a country with a history of that stuff. Totally reasonable.

If he worked in the White House, the Secret Service might at least read the novel and think about it a little...

[TheFeniX]

Hey I know this author who wrote under an abbreviated name about an assassination of the President set 264 years in the future. I think it was the last episode of season one of Babylon 5. We totally need to get this guy and do a psych evaluation on him. I mean writing about assassinating politicians and coming from a country with a history of that stuff. Totally reasonable.

If he worked in the White House, the Secret Service might at least read the novel and think about it a little...

Which no one would be complaining about. But whisking him out of state (which is what I assume they mean by "The sheriff would not disclose where McLaw is now, but he did say that he is not on the Eastern Shore," but that could just mean they've moved him out of the general area: still dumb) for "emergency medical evaluation?"

I'm not cool with people being kidnapped by law enforcement. What charges have been brought against him? Has he spoken with a lawyer? Seen a judge? Are they waiting until they can run him through interrogation before coming up with charges, you know, because it's not like the 5th amendment exists or anything.

The best that can be hoped from this whole fucking stupid ordeal is that he's released after being violated by police, and sues the shit out of everyone. No one loses their job because "you can't be too careful these days" and the taxpayers dole out a few million dollars because why the fuck not?

Maybe the guy turns out to be a serial killer in training (lack of) evidence aside. But even if he is: if writing some fiction kind of sort of related to the job you do is what kicked off this whole ordeal, it's really fucking sad. We've got kids shooting up schools after leaving behind large paper trails and even posting Internet videos that law enforcement were aware of, but ignored for reasons, yet let's dump millions chasing down this Dr. who wrote two books that got some soccer moms riled up.

[mr friendly guy]

Hey I know this author who wrote under an abbreviated name about an assassination of the President set 264 years in the future. I think it was the last episode of season one of Babylon 5. We totally need to get this guy and do a psych evaluation on him. I mean writing about assassinating politicians and coming from a country with a history of that stuff. Totally reasonable.

If he worked in the White House, the Secret Service might at least read the novel and think about it a little...

Ah, Babylon 5 was a television show (the relevant story was an episode not a novel) and the President was assassinated by the Vice President in the season finale which the heroes failed to prevent. We better start looking at J Michael Strazincsky. I mean what type of name is "J" anyway? Its clearly an alias.

[Vejut]

There really isn't much on Marylands eastern shore but a resort, soybeans, and alot of oyster shells. Its more likely "not on the eastern shore" means "in a baltimore psych hospital".

That said, massive overreaction, and I agree, Dorset county sherrif and possibly the state troopers really need to get slapped hard for this.

Edit: md law allows 48 hrs involuntary confinement if the police think you're an immediate danger to yourself and others withou charge. After that you must be released or charged.

[J]

I mean what type of name is "J" anyway? Its clearly an alias.

You called? J is a perfectly legitimate and amazing name! Did I mention amazing? Yes, amazing. And hi!

---

Back on topic. While school shootings are a regular event in the US, how many of them were perpetrated by school teachers? Have there been instances of teachers going on killing sprees in their own schools? I'm struggling to recall any instances of teachers going postal, though, I admit it's not something I really follow in the news.

[Batman]

J is perfectly acceptable in and of itself. The problem is when the J is the only part of your name you won't spell out. JMS was never shy about spelling out the Michael Straczynski part of his name, so why the J?

[Simon_Jester]

Ah, Babylon 5 was a television show (the relevant story was an episode not a novel) and the President was assassinated by the Vice President in the season finale which the heroes failed to prevent. We better start looking at J Michael Strazincsky. I mean what type of name is "J" anyway? Its clearly an alias.

Yes, I know. My point is, if you work in a certain environment, with a guy who writes stories about devastating crimes happening in a similar environment, I think you have a right to at least be curious and possibly concerned.

This doesn't justify harassing him, but it's not like you have to be insane to care about the teacher who writes novels about serial killers stalking schools or whatever.