Our view: More meep nuttiness

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November 23, 2009

Anonymous The Salem News Mon Nov 23, 2009, 06:00 AM EST

Businesses pay big money to get the amount of notice a single word — meep — has generated for Danvers High School.

The story about Principal Thomas Murray's meep ban has gained the school worldwide exposure via the Internet. It's been of great interest to free-speech advocates and Muppets fans alike and has generated a rash of Google searches and cybercomment.

While it's a harmless expression when uttered by Muppets lab assistant Beaker, Murray says "meep" has been used in a harmful fashion by some students. School officials are right to be concerned about bullying behavior by members of the student body. But they appear to have engaged in some of their own by notifying those writing the administration about the controversy that their comments were being "forwarded to the Danvers Police Department."

To their credit, police say they don't plan any action at this time. Indeed, this might be a case best left to Kermit the Frog, Private Eye.

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