Neighbours in suburban Buckingham, where huge, stately homes have lawns that require riding mowers, are focused on his court appearance Monday on charges of making terrorist threats and possessing an incendiary device that could keep Travis in juvenile custody until he's 21 if he's convicted.
"We don't know the whole story," said Jeff Griffin, who's lived beside the Biehns for seven years and has "nothing but admiration and respect" for the family.
"It's been very one-sided at this point. I think Travis is generally a good kid so I'm anxious to hear his side of the story. I hope it comes down to being a big misunderstanding."
But at the sprawling Central Bucks High School East, evacuated for a day following the discovery of scrawled threats in the boy's bathroom and Travis's arrest, parent Lou Fiore said he's convinced the court should get tough.
"If they let him out, he's going to do something. He should serve his time and get out of the country," Fiore said as he was getting the school baseball diamond ready for a game with help from son Ryan, 15, in Grade 10.
"His parents should go right now. They're not co-operating. They're talking in French. What the heck's wrong with them?"
Ryan said: "People are saying they don't want Travis back at all."
Other students say they don't know what to think.
"It's really confusing," said Charles Phillips, 16, also a Grade 10 student at the school of more than 1,000.
"I was, like, really shocked. I could have been blown up. But I don't know what his thoughts were. A lot of people are saying he just wanted attention, but to get to that point . . . If he doesn't like the place that much, then I suppose he should go."
The strain of the last couple of weeks showed on Brant Biehn's face as he got ready to visit his son at the nearby juvenile detention facility where he's been incarcerated since his June 2 arrest.
A marketing director for pharmaceutical giant Merck, Biehn was born in Cornerbrook on Newfoundland's west coast. After working in Halifax and Montreal, he moved his family, including wife Annette and daughter Tristen, 15, to this rural area near Philadelphia in 1997.
He doesn't want to comment on his son for fear of angering Judge Kenneth Biehn (no relation) who's been presiding over the case.
But Travis's lawyer, Bill Goldman, is irate that District Attorney Dianne Gibbons talked to local reporters before he had a chance to see any evidence and that she suggested his client was some kind of terrorist motivated by anti-Americanism.
"He is very unhappy with Americans and would prefer to be in Canada," Gibbons told reporters 10 days ago, stirring instant controversy and yielding headlines like: "DA: Teen bomb suspect hates U.S." in the Allentown Morning Call newspaper and "Explosion of hatred" in the Bucks County Courier Times.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/06/12/pf-1083818.html
[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on June 13, 2005]
Note: http://cnews.canoe.ca/C...
Cdn Teen Sets Off Firestorm
Posted on Monday, June 13 at 11:52 by jensonjContributed By
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"George Bush has declared the war on terrorism to be the cause of his generation. The cause of Canadian sovereignty will be ours." - John Godfrey, MP for Don Va
please accept my apology for the double post
Dio
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Now call it extreme if you like, but I propose we hit it hard, and we hit it fast, with a major, and I mean major, leaflet campaign.--Rimmer, Red Dwarf
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<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050613.wbiehn0613/BNStory/National/">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050613.wbiehn0613/BNStory/National/</a><br />
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Stupid, stupid boy. I hope he gets the help he needs. From a Canadian Press article I read earlier today, he seemed pretty nice. Potassuim Nitrate could be used to make model rocket engines, which he was fond of. But writing a bomb threat was just retarted, and now he's going to pay the price.<br />
<br />
Too bad it'll reflect on the 36 million other people who don't condone such actions.<br />
<p>---<br>"If you must kill a man, it costs you nothing to be polite about it." Winston Churchill<br />
"All this characterization about him hating Americans is very untrue," said resident Mai Pham, originally from Vietnam.
"I've talked to him about it. We joke," said Pham, who works for a Catholic parrish in adult education. "I have a special feeling for Travis because I came from somewhere else. His comfort zone is back in Canada. It doesn't mean he wants to destroy here."
Another friend said Mr. Biehn had been treated unfairly, adding that he and his father launch rockets as a hobby.
"When they launch rockets, it's a neighborhood event," said Cathy Block, a composer who has worked with Travis at a community theatre group.
"Someone can point a finger and before you know it you're being stormtrooped and your child is being taken away," she said. "Certainly since 9-11, people are very shaken and overly cautious, and to the detriment of our civil liberties. I think he's been treated very unfairly."
Student Josh Collins, 16, testified Monday that he then informed Jennelle "for the safety of our school" that a week or two before, Biehn had shown him a personal website with pictures boxes containing white powder.
Mr. Biehn told him it was potassium nitrate, said Mr. Collins.
"He said he uses it to blow stuff up," the teen testified.
"He didn't say he blows up buildings?" asked defence attorney Bill Goldman.
"No," replied Mr. Collins.
Goldman argued that there was no proof that Mr. Biehn had either written the threat or was intending to build a bomb, and pointed out that another bomb threat appeared in a different bathroom at the school the day Mr. Biehn was arrested at home.
That was dismissed by authorities as a copycat hoax
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Just incase some of you didn't read the article, here is my favorite parts. Note the last line. If the authorities dismiss it, then it must be true!!!
lol
every day for the last few years?
Too bad they caught him before he fed them a little back.
We are generally harmless with much to say and no substance. Notice we never do anything to effect trade. Canadians are the best at protecting our creature comforts. God bless Ontario and god bless America.
And supposing this were true what exactly is wrong with it? Why should we be a bunch of masochists slaving for the corporate state like those poor darn Americans?