Be careful what you write – you may land yourself in jail! This 16-year-old kid has been beaten up repeatedly by school bullies – by as many as 11 at a time. His parents have complained to school officials and police, to no avail. Described as “gentle and creative,” he has become scarred by years of verbal and physical abuse by a group of his peers. As part of a school assignment, he writes a short story about a tormented teen who plans to blow up his school to avenge years of abuse from school bullies. School officials question him, the OPP and their canine unit search the school and his home, find nothing – no hit list, no guns, no bomb-making paraphenalia, nothing – but they arrest him anyway. He has been in jail awaiting a bail hearing since December 8 (four hearings over the past month were postponed). He has spent his 16th birthday, Christmas and New Year’s alone.

This is outrageous. This boy is in jail for a piece of creative writing. Sure, I know – we all should be much more sensitive now in this post-Colombine era… but where does it stop? “This case has severe implications and people are very concerned. Does this mean writers will have to worry whether they’re breaking the law with every sentence they write? Can their imagination break the law?” (thanks to MeFi)