The BMS Page, (edited) where the Fit Hit the Shan, as it were.

The NM Page - the  page that replaced the  BMS and LLMS pages. (No longer postable.)

Open Letter to the Parents, Teachers, and Students of Belen, NM

47 USC 230 - the Federal statute that preempts state law and exempts internet content providers from liability for statements by third parties.

Albuquerque Journal - three articles archived there

Valencia County News-Bulletin - at least two articles and an opinion piece

Have a Nice Day ... in Hell! - the clean slate version of the message board that started it all

Mr. Poopy Head Hates This Site - a new message board for a person who wants the world to think this never really happened.

Free Speech in New Mexico
or as Bugs Bunny would say,
"I must have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque"

Some of you posting to the NM Page appeared confused about what happened here.  That is not surprising. The inception of the BMS and LLMS pages, the resulting news stories, my refusal to remove the pages, and then the removal of the offensive posts, happened in the space of only a few days.

For the story on how this came about, see the March 20, 2001, "open letter" page in the sidebar.  I do not apologize for my words there, but I admit they were a little strong.  I was stunned that so much effort was made to shut down the entire site, yet no one bothered to simply ask me to remove the pages at issue.  So I took a stand on the First Amendment.

It soon became clear that, despite their efforts, no one could force the closure of this site, as it was constitutionally protected speech.  That point being made, on Saturday, March 24, I pulled the posts from three different message boards after being moved by requests from certain students and a Los Cruces attorney.  The students asked for a second chance.  So I created a clean new board.

The new NM page became something different over the weekend  - people posing as me, my friend Paul (aka Agent Smith) and as other characters to stir things up (as if that were necessary).  The students generally left during the weekend.  It was just banal banter between unknown parties pretending to be other parties.  Kind of amusing, but mostly pointless.

On Tuesday, March 27, I came home to find the students (or someone) at it again, and more explicit, brutal, and demeaning than ever before.  As I stated I might,  I removed the names of the persons slandered, and made the page unusable for posting.

I realize from reviewing the March 27 "student" posts (which read a little differently than all previous posts) that it was likely a non-student who posted them.  I said I would pull the page if  student-naming hateful posts appeared, and that seems to have been the impetus for the hateful comments.  If that is the case, it only means that the true poster trusted my integrity, and was trying to use it to fit his or her agenda.  Good for you.  That officially makes you a bad person.

In reviewing the original "Have a Nice Day" posts now, I recognize names of Belen students being posted as far back as November, 2000.  This had been going on for a long time before the posts became rampant and I deduced the source. The site stats reveal that only a few people were involved in posting to the BMS page during the weekend prior to all the press exposure - probably less than 20 and possibly as few as 10.  The number of people who thought the posts should stop was much greater. 

In the coming weeks, I will re-post the original messages (edited), as well as the myriad e-mails of (mostly) support which I received during this debacle.  This will be an essay on free speech and hysteria.

It should be obvious that irony reigns supreme here.  I was forced to dig in my heels and defend a few students' right to say things that they probably wished they hadn't. The BMS page was on no search engine, and would only be accessible to those who knew about it. This could have been dealt with quietly and only a few would have ever known. The press coverage only brought in the rest of your community (and some others) to view the damage done. This story did not go national, I did not gain from it, and I have no intention of touting it here in San Diego.  It was a tempest in a teapot, and except for on this site and my new domain www.FirstFuckingAmendment.com, I intend to keep it that way.

All will be documented later on an essay about the seamy-underbelly of free speech, as exhibited by those who feel the need to cower anonymously and blurt out awful things. 

Skeeky Webo, Jr.
webmaster@seeuinhell.com

Posted 3/27/01 - edited to reflect my current understanding of the facts 3/31/01