http://www.10nbc.com/index.asp?template ... y_id=20466

State police are investigating a series of death-threats against teenagers in the Gananda Central School District. The threats are being posted in on-line chat rooms and the targets are a group of kids known as "emos." If you talk to the students themselves, you'll hear "emos" defined as people who listen to hardcore punk music, who often wear black and sometimes have emotional problems. It's a term being used across the country, but it's what a group of kids in Gananda are doing with that label that has school administrators and police on edge.

"Emo is short for emotional because some kids just where black and those kids are emos because they're emotional," said Kyle Spogen, student at Gananda High School.

"Iit started off as a style of music and then people started making it a way people dress," said Clayton Leonhardt, student at Gananda High School.

At Gananda High School, emos are also targets of on-line bullying. A group of teenagers known as "the emo resistance program" or e-r-p is using myspace.com to spread hate against emos. Since the beginning of the school year, State Trooper Robert Frost has been monitoring e-r-p chat posted with the words, "help prevent emos in america."

Just because the threats are made behind closed doors, doesn't mean that they're hidden from view. In fact, school administrators have copies of them, and they're showing to them to students right now hoping to also show them the seriousness of the consequences.

We're making the students aware that any type of cyber-bullying that comes into the school will not be tolerated," said Superintendent Pat Roach. Students who bully face suspension or in some cases, criminal charges. "Sometimes they just don't understand the impact of what they're saying and doing and what others can see."

Clayton Leonhardt understands the impact. He says it's why he came to Gananda. "I moved from my old school, mainly because of people calling me emo."

What state police are monitoring now is how emos like Clay Leonhardt react to what they see on-line. "If you have pressure put over you and you're in a pressure cooker, than they're may be a time when you react to it," said Trooper Frost. So what started as a high school trend doesn't turn into a tragedy, information was given to students at an assembly, and letters are going out to parents and other school districts to educate them.

The investigation is not over. Police have taken a computer from the student who started the e-r-p group and will review its data looking for specific threats.

From what I recall from high school, people are going to find ways to make fun of you no matter what. I guess whining about it like little bitches is what qualifies them as "emo."

I guess in my world a death threat is quite a bit different than being made fun of or bullied

I just read the part that Dalen posted, so I didn't read anything about death threats. Were there?

pfft. I make death threats all the time.

i hate kids that where black.

Sounds like a whole group of people need a beatdown.

you mean were, not where.

Oh the good old days when the goths would just sneer and the punks would kick you in the balls

from the article:



for my THIRD edit

i just got your joke.

The first sentence, eighth word of Dalen's post right below the url mentions it

i like how they keep saying "emos"

i've never heard it pluralized like that. it's always been "emo kids" or "emo retards" and so forth.

The thing is they bring it on themselves. If your idea of distinguishing and expressing yourself involves listening to whiny, teenage punk bands who wear mascara, you've got to assume you're going to be made fun of.

You can't seriously expect to get highlights in your hair and wear eyeliner to class and for the rest of the school population to interpret that as you being cool.

Hmm, that's what happens when I try to read after 2/3rds of a bottle of rum.

ERM should be a band name.

My "best friend" in middle school got mad when I got a new friend and wrote all over the bus seats and the bathroom stalls "[my full name ] sucks dog's dicks". I decided after that I wouldn't tell her that her elbows were so dirty they were black, she bathed but always failed to wash those elbows. I wonder what happened to Darlene and if she ever figured it out or is she a 30-something with nasty elbows. The whole thing was silly though -- I'm a cat person.

MySpace bullies suck dog's [beeeeeep]. Emo is lame. Cats are cute.

People who are named Darlene generally have dirty elbows.