ROHNERT PARK, Calif. — Just before the final bell at Rancho Cotate High School on a recent afternoon, a campus supervisor reported to Principal Mitchell Carter on his walkie-talkie: "I'm in position. Subject in view."
The focus of the extra security was a lanky, blue-eyed, 17-year-old high school junior, Tim Bueler, whose claims of political harassment by "liberal" students and faculty have made him into something of a youth hero among conservative Web bloggers and radio talk show hosts across the country.
Since the beginning of January, Bueler has been escorted by an adult school official to and from every class and to his father's car at the end of the day. The precaution was ordered by the school district superintendent after several confrontations between Bueler and fellow members of the school Conservative Club, and other students who object to what they claim are "racist" writings in the club's political tracts.
The resulting free speech divide has ruffled feathers and formed fault lines in the 1,900-pupil, predominantly white, middle-class school nicknamed by students "The Ranch."
According to a timeline issued by the Cotati-Rohnert Park City School District, the controversy started Dec. 3 when the Conservative Club, which Bueler organized last fall, posted an inflammatory flier at the high school announcing the creation of a "Conservative Hotline," where students could report examples of "un-American" comments by their teachers.
"Let's take a stand against the liberal traitors who call themselves teachers," proclaimed the flier, which had not been approved by the club's faculty advisor as required under school rules.
In response, an anonymous faculty member proposed a "Liberal Hotline" to counter the Conservative Club. "Have you heard any un-American comments expressed by your reactionary students lately?" the flier asked, parodying the original. "Let's take a stand against the neo-conservative wing-nuts who call themselves Americans." The Liberal flier concluded: "P.S. Flush Rush," referring to right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
On Dec. 12 Bueler inflamed matters by distributing a Conservative Club newsletter in which he wrote that "Liberals welcome every Muhammad, Jamul and Jose who wishes to leave his Third World state and come to America -- mostly illegally -- to rip off our health-care system, balkanize our language and destroy our political system."
