SCUM OF THE EARTH frontman RIGGS comments on disciplinary action taken onhis son by Junior High School faculty

September 18, 2008 - Mountain Home, Arkansas - According to an interview
recently conducted with SCUM OF THE EARTH frontman RIGGS, his 13 year old
son was recently reprimanded by his eighth grade art teacher for wearing an
inappropriate tee shirt in the class room. The art teacher, Mrs. Christy
Lawrence allegedly insulted the student in front of his peers, dragged him
out of class into the hallway and forced him to pray on his knees for
forgiveness from Jesus Christ. Later that day, the Principle had commented
that "we will have to have a board meeting about the situation".

"This is ridiculous", says RIGGS. "Mountain Home Junior High is a public
school, and there's supposed to be a separation between church and state.
The shirt my son was wearing was for my band, SCUM OF THE EARTH. It didn't
contain any foul language, it's simply a drawing of a monster on a cross...
and nothing more. You would think that someone who's an art teacher would
have some understanding of the concept of freedom of speech, and artistic
freedom of expression, however this lady is clearly a religions nutcase.
It's just another example of how these people have infiltrated public
schools, government and politics in an effort to force their own agenda upon
anyone who doesn't necessarily believe exactly what they do - regardless of
what the First Amendment of the United States Constitution says."

The First Amendment RIGGS refers to specifically states, "Congress shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or
the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances."

"This whole town is whacked... we're an honest law-abiding family that
doesn't cause any harm to anyone around here. Just because I have lots of
tattoos, long hair and play in a rock band, the entire town thinks we
worship Satan and sacrifice animals to the devil. It's difficult for me to
see what's going on in this country, how the religious right is slowly
making it acceptable to violate the very laws upon which our great country
was founded. I can respect freedom of religion, but shouldn't that also mean
that religious people should respect non-religion or other religions as
well? Time and time again, we see that the religions right clearly doesn't
believe so."

When asked if RIGGS and his son were considering legal action against the
school system, RIGGS replied, "It's not entirely out of the question. I
mean, the manner in which this woman handled the situation was extremely
inappropriate, the stuff she said and what she did. It's something we're
looking into right now, and considering contacting the American Civil
Liberties Union Foundation."