troung

Idaho student says teacher tossed his Mexican flag in trash

31 minutes ago

TWIN FALLS, Idaho - A high school student says he may file a lawsuit against a physical education teacher who took a Mexican flag he had brought for Cinco de Mayo and put it in the garbage.
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Clint Straatman denies Froylan Camelo's version of events but said he took the flag Monday because "white kids" might have hurt the 16-year-old. He said he put it in a garbage can because he had no place else to keep it.

Camelo said he was changing into gym clothes at Minico High School in Rupert when Straatman told him, "Give me the flag."

"I said, 'What's the problem?'" Camelo, speaking in Spanish, told The Times-News of Twin Falls. "He said, 'The problem is that we are in the United States and not in Mexico.' He grabbed it from me. He threw the flag in the garbage can."

Camelo said that Straatman told him the flag would be returned at the end of the school day, but that Straatman taunted him instead.

"I asked, 'Where is my flag?'" Camelo said. "He said, 'What, the U.S. flag?' I said, 'No, the one for Mexico.' But he wouldn't give it to me."

Camelo said he then took the undamaged flag out of the garbage. He said he's been contacted by the American Civil Liberties Union and is considering a lawsuit against Straatman.

Camelo and others brought Mexican flags to the south-central Idaho school to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the May 5 recognition of Mexico's victory over the French army on that day in 1862. About a third of the student body is Hispanic.

Straatman denied saying the words Camelo attributed to him, and said the student may have misunderstood him because of his poor English skills. He said he took the flag from Camelo after Camelo had been waving it in the school gym, and denied withholding it later.

"I had to confiscate it so it wouldn't escalate any problems in class," Straatman told The Times-News. "We're worried about that stuff all the time. We always have kids saying stuff to each other, and we have a lot of fights between kids."

Scott Rogers, superintendent of the Minidoka County Joint School District, said an investigation has been started. He said he could not comment specifically about personnel decisions.

"We believe in nondiscriminatory practices and cultural sensitivity," he said. "We train for that and talk about that. If there is a teacher making derogatory comments we don't approve of that. We also don't approve of a student disrupting the classroom."

Rogers said he was at the school early Wednesday and that the school was quiet. He said he noticed a few students wearing clothing in the colors of the Mexican flag — red, white and green — in protest of Monday's incident.

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gunnut

What exactly is he guilty of, if ACLU sues?

ACLU is the first organization to jump at the chance to defend the right to desecrate the flag. Should a Mexican flag, or any other flag, subject to different standards as the American flag as far as desecrating is concerned?

If ACLU argues that the teacher is not Mexican and therefore has no right to desecrate the Mexican flag, then do non-Americans have the right to desecrate the American flag in the United States?

I think the most you can get him on is failure to return the flag. But how about other items? Does the faculty have to return all seized items?

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ChrisF202

Quite frankly I see nothing wrong with what the teacher did. This is the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA not the United States of Mexico. If I was the teacher I would have ripped the flag into a million pieces and burnt it.

If he wants to celebrate a Mexican holiday then he should go back to his beloved Mexico.

This also raises my eyebrows; if he can speak English to his teacher then why is he speaking in Spanish to the newspaper? Sympathy?

Bigfella

Funny how no one ever gets this upset about St Patrick's Day.

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gamercube

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ChrisF202

I do

IMO if I was in charge the only official holidays would be:

- Labor Day
- Memorial Day
- Veteran's Day
- Fourth of July
- President's Day
- Christmas
- Thanksgiving
- Easter
- New Years
- Halloween

No St Patrick's Day, Cinco de Mayo, Martin Luther King Day, Caesar Chavez Day, Black Month, Asian Month, Native American Peoples Month, etc. People who fly the flags of foreign nations would also be subject to an investigation for sedition and possible deportation.

troung

St. Patrick's day is not only a real drinking day but the dude got rid of snakes, snakes. Come on now.

HistoricalDavid

Land of the free, home of the brave! Go Chris!!!

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ChrisF202

That is true, it also has a big religious significance in Ireland.

Unfortunatly, here in the US it seems to be only about the drinking; come to think about it the majority of my generation see holiday's as little more then an excuse to drink like animals and nothing about the significance of the holiday

gunnut

I thought that's called "Whacking Day."

troung

Come again? Never knew that.

That's just nasty.

Gun Grape

And thats what makes America Great!!! We will celebrate ANY country's holidays,. As long as it involves booze. Cinco de Mayo, St Patrick's Day,
Octoberfest, Mardi Gras

LetsTalk

Good point

Agree