RUSH: You know, this is just one of those days. This is from the St. Cloud, Minnesota Times: ‘A St. Cloud State University student in a teacher-training program at Technical High School left the school in late April because he says he feared for the safety of his service dog. The school district calls it a misunderstanding, and officials there say they hoped Tyler Hurd, a 23-year-old junior from Mahtomedi who aspires to teach special education, would continue his training in the district. Hurd said a student threatened to kill his service dog named Emmitt. The black lab is trained to protect Hurd when he has seizures. The seizures, which can occur weekly, are from a childhood injury. The dog has a pouch on his side that assists those who stop to help Hurd. Hurd said he was unable to finish his 50 hours of field training at Tech. The university waived the remaining 10 hours, he said. He plans to do his student teaching outside a high school setting. ‘We came up with a solution because I felt threatened by it,’ Hurd said. The school district and university are working to make sure a similar situation doesn’t happen. Kate Steffens, dean of the college of education at St. Cloud State, and Tech assistant principal Lori Lockhart met Thursday.’
Now, I have read to you halfway through this story. You still don’t know why this guy left, do you? You have not heard me say why this guy decided to leave this school? All you’ve heard me say is he has seizures, once a week, he has the dog with the pouch, and the pouch contains ingredients to help passersby help the guy when he has the seizure. That’s why the dog is there. Somebody threatened his dog, felt his dog wasn’t safe, so he gets out of there. The university people said it was a big mistake. Here is the reason. ‘The threat came from a Somali student who is Muslim, according to Hurd, St. Cloud State and school district officials. The Muslim faith, which is the dominant faith of Somali immigrants, forbids the touching of dogs. Hurd trained at Talahi Community School and Tech. He said his experience at Talahi was good. The Somali students there warmed to the dog and eventually petted him using paper to keep their hands off his fur, Hurd said. Things didn’t go as well at Tech, Hurd said. Students there taunted his dog, and he finally felt he had to leave after he was told a student made a threat. Hurd met with Lockhart but said he did not feel comfortable continuing.’
The administrator said it’s a big misunderstanding. Maybe so, who knows, but here’s the bottom line. As I say, this is just one of those days. One Muslim student from Somalia was able to force this kid from a school in the United States of America because he needs a dog to help him when he has seizures. I don’t know if this is a matter of life and death when the guy starts having seizures, but obviously pretty close. So the dog is there, sort of like a seeing eye dog and in the same vein. So one Muslim Somali student was able to force this kid from a school in the USA, in this country, because he needs a dog to help him, and the Muslim faith, the dominant faith of Somali immigrants forbids the touching of dogs.