SETTING THE STAGE  (Annette Martinson’s comments in red)

An award winning school, Key Largo School is located on US 1 “We’re right on the main highway” in Key Largo, Florida, just a block or so from the Ocean.  Students range in age from 4  to 14 years old. The front of the school, where pick up and drop off is located is directly on the main highway from the Florida mainland to Key West.  There is a bike path near the school. As long as anyone is on the west side of the bike path they are on public land.  “I was within 20 feet of them…”  told them they could be on the bike path or to the west side of the bike path”  we are right on the ocean, I didn’t see anyone on the southern end, they would leave the bike path and give people in cars something.” School hours are from 8:30 – 3:20.  There is a staff of 80 teachers and a total of 139 employees along with 1000 students.  Approximately 150 parents pick up and drop off students daily. “The men appeared right before dismissal – have 150 people picking up children, very unsafe – did not have a school resource officer at the time…”  very unsafe.  called the sheriff’s department.  “I have a couple of vendors handing things out.  I had 1000 students to get out of school safely (other side of school) They usually have a sheriff’s car in front, but were busy.”

 Eleven school buses are also loaded in the back of the school.  Because the school is located on a major highway, a sheriff’s deputy is there on a daily basis.  In the state of Florida, anyone who does anything on school property must now go through some sort of a background check because of the Jessica Lunsford Act. “Parents came to the front desk and called the front desk to say people were approaching them.”  (Level I requirements listed below). “Jessica Lunsford Act – any person who comes to our school and interacts with children must clear our volunteer process – fingerprints, etc.  Once you are told to leave the property you are obliged to leave the property.”  “When someone says there is a stranger on campus, you go (and find out who they are).”

MARTINSON DID NOT KNOW THE MEN HAD BIBLES

Annette Martinson is an excellent educator, her school being one of the finest in the state of Florida.  Today, during our phone interview, she told me when she first began her career and a school administrator their primary job was education.  Everything has changed.  Today, education comes second, safety is an her first concern.  Because of the Jessica Lunsford Act, as the principal of Key Largo School, her hands are tied.  She must follow the letter of the law, which is designed to protect children.  Currently she is being barraged by hate email from what she calls, “….good and well meaning people have taken this article at face value – have taken this as gospel…”.  She is not angry over the constant barrage of email, some of it disturbing enough to be turned over to authorities for investigation.  Instead, she is bewildered at being the object of so much attention.  A contentious person, she is very unhappy with the World Net Daily article, but instead of wanting some sort of reckoning, she commented, “Doesn’t something like the WND need to check their facts.”  I don’t want to get into a confrontation with WND.  That is not my point.  My thing is the education of my children.” “I don’t want this.  I don’t want to deal with this.  I just hope it passes.”   Until a few days ago she had never heard of World Net Daily and was basically unfamiliar with the conservative blogsphere, now, though, she is all too familiar with it.  “I do not want to have a running battle with WND.  I am the principal with a small school, just doing my job.” 

The irony of the situation would be almost comical if Martinson’s life was not being scrutinized to the point where it is interfering with her job.  It has had a detrimental effect on her staff of 139 employees, many of them fairly young and politically inactive.  They are so angry with the conservative blog world that it has effected the way they view Republicans, even though Martinson told me she has cautioned them that they are dealing with a few extremists and not to judge all conservatives by their nasty behavior.  The irony – the same conservatives who are demanding the letter of the law be upheld when it comes to illegal immigration are willing to come to the defense of three men, all of whom were breaking the law. 

The men arrived on campus a little before 2:30PM on the afternoon of Thursday, January 19.  Because of several incidents in the community, the usual deputy sheriff who is always on hand to assist with the 150 parents who are picking their children up on the main highway, was no where to be seen.  Concerned, not about the men who were not exactly following her request to remain on public property, Annette Martinson’s attention was diverted elsewhere.  She had 11 buses to oversee on the other side of the school.  Her the person who assisted her loading the buses was not on campus that day.  After noting that the men were stopping traffic and thrusting something into several cars, she had no choice but to call the sheriff’s office and ask for assistance.  She repeated, several times, she did not know the men were handing out Bibles.  But, as she stressed, because of the Jessica Lunsford Act, it would not have mattered.  Because the men had not received a security pass, they would have been asked to leave the campus.  It is a matter of state law, not religious persecution.

In fact, after the buses were loaded and she returned to the front office she was approached by the deputy assigned to traffic duty.  “Then gentlemen were on campus when we got there, and they were arrested for trespassing”  informed the deputy.  Martinson was a bit dismayed when she heard they had been arrested, and even more concerned when she discovered they were handing out Bibles.  She is familiar with the Gideons and felt the men were definitely not living up to the actions of the Gideons.  She has been trying to ascertain their status with the Gideons and from what she has been able to read, “The Gideons have not provided them legal council”  They believe in the legal distribution of Bibles.”

Martinson went on to tell me from what she knows about the case, there was a preliminary hearing for the three men, “They had hearing and the state attorney and the state attorney get pre trial intervention, they would receive probation and the incident would go away.  The ADL refused.  They want to go in front of a judge and not a jury.  Instead of being upset about the way she has been treated, she adds, “In our community this is not an issue.   I have heard from people across the country.  My job is as a principal was to educate the children, when I first started as administration, now my first job is safety and second is education…every parent of a child in this school holds me responsible.  Being responsible isn’t always the popular thing to do….would I have done the same thing if I had known they had Bibles.”  Then she added, that she felt sorry for the men because she feels the ADL has given them some very bad advise.  She feels the issue has absolutely nothing to do with the First Amendment, and everything to do with protecting the children in her care.

MY COMMENTS (Revised)