The story of how my school days ended..

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I grew up in the small town of Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada as a child. I was an awkward, shy, artistic kid who never made friends easily. I lately found out that I am affected with a very mild type of autism which has explained alot of my problems with relating to people. My single mom worked hard to ensure a reasonable standard of living for me and my year younger sister. She was very emotionally supportive and she instilled excellent values in us. I am thankful for my mom's "streetsmarts" education which I believe has kept me alive to this day. My dad lived 30 miles away in Oxford with his fiance and he was fairly well off. Dad was never really there for me in spirit and always believed that I was to blame for my various social issues. However, he has given me forms of other support for which I am greatful for. His hard work ethic rubbed off on me and carries me through many problems in life and on the job.

School was always difficult for me. I was unorganized and some subjects simply didn't interest me. I would often sit in class drawing my highly detailed pictures of whatever interested me. I was shy and quiet around my peers. I couldn't get small talk, fads or other trivial things that most people were interested in. They teased me alot and it got worse the older I got.
As I struggled on with school I was left back constantly. I should have technically graduated in 1997 but I was in grade 11 in 1999. Most of my teachers were fed up with my lack of organization and attention in class. They knew I was gifted in many ways but didn't really know what was wrong with me. One day it all went from bad to worse.....

{{This is my disclaimer}}********************************************************************************

In January of 1999, I was involved in a violent situation at the Amherst Regional High School in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada. I want to be careful to mention NO personal NAMES in this story. I assure you all that to the best of my knowledge that this is 100% true. Should anyone accuse me of libel or any such related charge, I will stand up for every word I have said here to my dying day with god as my witness.
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One day I had some items stolen from me as a prank that went to far.
I went along with this joke for awhile and just ignored it. But then the bell rang and everyone was leaving the room and nobody came forward with my things. I stopped one guy that I thought was involved and he shoved me out of the way. I went to block him from leaving the room and pushed him back. I made him drop his books when I pushed him and he got really mad. The teacher noticed what was going on and he yelled out "guy's give him his stuff back". Just then, someone ran in from the hall and pointed out where my stuff was hidden. I apologized to the guy for pushing him and moved on. What I didn't know was that he was really aggressive, well known for his bad temper and dirty fighting. I think that I embarrased his image by standing up to him. It was a very very unusual thing for me to do, I never ever stood up to anyone before that day.

He continued to follow me to my next class. He ended up hitting me from behind in the ear. It was made to look like a punch but I think he had something between his fingers that sliced me. I instantly blacked out cold in a pool of blood. When I came to I was escorted to the office and told that I would be suspended 1 day for "angrily confronting" another student and that he would be suspended 1 day also. I stood there in front of the principal, barely coherent. No police were called, no ambulance was called, the blood was wiped up and classes went on as normal. I was driven by car to the Amherst hospital and my family doctor examined me. He said it looked like a stab wound but he couldn't see how bad it was because of the bleeding. He referred me to a specialist in Moncton.

I spent my "suspension day" in the Hopital George L Dumont in Moncton plus 3 more days to repair a gash in my ear. The cut ran from my earlobe to the eardrum. The specialist said it looked like the damage was caused by a key or knife. When I got back home the police were contacted and I informed the school that I wasn't going back. My mom was undergoing cancer treatment at the time in Moncton hospital so I was on my own for awhile.

When I got home I went to the police station to fill out a statement. A couple of my friends were contacted as well as one very reluctent guy that didn't want to get involved. My friends didn't actually see what happened so they were no help. The other guy was angry that I even mentioned his name as a witness and he wasn't cooperative at all. Other than that nobody claimed to see anything but then again..I don't think I was the type of person that anyone gave a care about anyway.
So I was told that they would investigate and I would be contacted. For some reason the officer in charge mishandled the investigation and it was put on the "back burner". A month after writing a statement I was beginning to wonder what was going on. I called the police again and was told that there wasn't enough evidence or witnesses to make any charges. I wanted a criminal negligence charge filed against the school. So time went on and still....nothing happened. The next time, my mom was on her feet again from her treatments and she called wondering what was going on. Eventually she contacted the deputy police chief and he said he would figure out what was going on. The officer in charge of the investigation had messed it up! As it turns out, a few months later he was let go for botching up some other investigations....or so I heard. The Deputy Chief said that because this went on so long that nothing could be done by the police.

After it was apparent that the police were not going to do anything I tried calling some lawyers. One in Amherst was busy so I tried another one in Truro. I left messages and was ignored. After a year or so I gave up on the whole thing. I tried to continue my studies in an adult highschool and that didn't work out. So my next step was to write a grade 12 equivalency exam which I was ashamed to do. I didn't study one bit for it and ended up with one of the highest marks. I tried working, knowing that somehow I had to keep on my feet and keep going. I got a job at a local retal-hardware store and began having difficulties with some some co-workers. I was soon let go and I ended up moving to my dad's place in Oxford, Nova scotia.
I got a job at the local food processing plant driving forklift and have held it do this day. I battled between thoughts of revenge and moral values. Moral values won out in the end and I didn't hurt anyone. The move to Oxford was a wise one, I don't know what would have become of me if I stayed in Amherst. I figured that one day I was going to gather strength up and fight my cause in a non violent method. Last summer my mom contacted a local television station and left them the story. She got emails from them showing interest in the story but eventually they gave us the runaround too.

A year after the incident, I watched my former principal get on the 6 o-clock news and proclaim that his school was safe. Someone at ARHS discovered that a student made up a hit list and the news jumped all over it. That was back when the school shooting craze was hitting North America. There were bomb scares and threats happening all over the continent and everyone was hyped up about it. He went on to say that there is a zero tollerance policy at his school and that violence was not tollerated. I picked up the coffee table and flung it into the hallway stairs. I was furious. I felt that if I had been one of the basketball stars from the rich suburbs then things would have been different.

It is December 2004 now, almost 6 years have passed since my personal experience with school violence. I am extremely happy to say that I am recovering and doing well. I have a new found confidence in everything that I do. I have had my small group of loyal friends since the mid 90's and have made some new ones too. I drive a nice car, I held a decent job for 4 years now where I am respected for my hard work. I work with great people and I love them. I am set to move out to Alberta in western Canada next fall to begin college and a career that should have began 6-7 years ago.

My message to anyone reading this who feels they have been passed over by the law is this: Never ever take things into your own hands, fighting violence with violence is not the answer. You only show your enemies that you are no better than them if you do so.Suicide is not the answer either, you deserve to live free like anyone else. If there is a will then there is almost always a way to get something done the right way. I did it and I continue to do it.

Thank You,

Steve Weeks