Restraining Order Fail

A Riverside County man says he has secured a restraining order against a fourth-grade boy who threatened his son with a knife.

Robert Casteel told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that earlier this month a student at Mission Bell Elementary School pulled a knife on his 10-year-old son, Christopher, and told him that he would "get you after school."

He said he pursued a restraining order to protect his son because the school has been lenient with the alleged aggressor.

"We've already got too many things happening in schools. Kids are getting shot and stabbed" Casteel told the newspaper. "This isn't something to take lightly." School officials say this is the first time a child has been ordered by a court to stay away from a classmate. Police said a 2 1/2-inch pocket knife was recovered in the investigation, but that the student subject to the restraining order denied making any threats.

Camille: Omigoodness! I was just reading about this madness. I wish someone would've threatened me with a knife when I was in elementary school. You know, that's my weapon of choice. I have a feeling, and I'm going to do a Mark Wahlberg speculation here, that I would've gone into Steven-Seagal-From-Under-Seige-Mode (Remember, we're in my childhood).

Camille's inspiration.

I would've round-house-kicked the knife out of this kid's hand, slammed him against the lockers (Totally dating myself here! They still had them when I was in school), then asked him through clenched teeth: "So where you wanna meet up?" That's exactly what would've happened. Uh huh. Yeah.

Dante: I’m pissed that the father even had to get a restraining order! Get to this punk ass kids house and scare the shit out of him. Kids are easy to terrify and they break so much easier than they used to. If that doesn’t work show your son what to do. “Hey, this kid messes with you, grab his nuts and don’t stop until security pulls you off. Goodnight, son.”

This little asshole has already threatened him with a knife. What is there to look into? They would have to sign some new law into office to keep parents from doing the kinda shit I would have planned. And if it were me as a kid I would do what I did with any bully that messed with me: Go. Berserk.

Camille: I was talking to the verbose one about this subject: What happened between our generation and these kids, that we can't solve problems or really defend ourselves? This would never have happened in our day, or generations before us. Is it the lack of ass-whoopings? Is it the lost art of respect? I understand what a restraining order is, but in reality, that little piece of paper isn't blocking that knife-wielding kid from getting up in the other kid's face. Ugh.

Dante: There’s no easy answer to that question. You can say it’s the TV we grew up with. The way adults responded to children. Having to ask humans for answers instead of a computer. I’m glad we grew up when we did. There’s a complete difference between how I interact with people who were young or teens in the 80’s than people who had the 90’s as their birth years.


A restraining order is just a sheet of paper. Unless that kid has security around hi that bully can still do whatever he wants. Will the kid have to stay 100 feet away? If so, how will they attend the same school? Will they have to stay out of the same classes?