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An 8-year-old special-needs child was suspended from school and forced to undergo psychiatric counseling over a picture he drew of Jesus Christ dead on the cross for a Christmas assignment. School officials in Taunton, Mass., said the picture "violated the code of violence in the school handbook," said Toni Saunders, an educational consultant on special-needs children with the Associated Advocacy Center who is working with the boy's family. "I couldn't believe what they were telling me," the boy's father, Chester Johnson, who also works for the school system as a substitute custodian, told The Washington Times on Tuesday. "I asked...

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A Des Moines girl was suspended after school officials said she violated their weapons policy. Jazmine Martin, 12, brought an empty shotgun shell to school on Monday, a souvenir from a summer vacation to South Dakota. The shell was empty and had the word "blank" written on the front. "We went to South Dakota and went to the Circle B Ranch," said Chenoa Martin, Jazmine's mother. "There's a show of the old West -- a stampede. Had a gun shoot-out and stuff like that. When they fire their rifles, they do it into the crowd. It...

A Des Moines girl was suspended after school officials said she violated their weapons policy. Jazmine Martin, 12, brought an empty shotgun shell to school on Monday, a souvenir from a summer vacation to South Dakota. The shell was empty and had the word "blank" written on the front.

A Des Moines girl was suspended after school officials said she violated their weapons policy. Jazmine Martin, 12, brought an empty shotgun shell to school on Monday, a souvenir from a summer vacation to South Dakota. The shell was empty and had the word "blank" written on the front.

Tolerance is the mother who softens the harshness of father’s strict adherence to the rules. Since nobody’s perfect, lawmakers and judges should guard against legal surprises never anticipated by lawmakers. This isn’t rewriting the decrees but interpretation in the highest sense of the word so the law can accomplish its original intent. As Scripture says, “Who can say, ‘I have purified my heart, I am free of sin?’ There is no man on earth so righteous that he never sins!” (Proverbs 20:9) So in this article, here are 13 suggestions for lawmakers and judges to bring about a more just...

Three stories in the news this week pointed out the lunacy of what has become known as "zero tolerance". In the first case, a 6-year-old boy was suspended and threatened with reform school because he brought a camping utensil to school. Zachary Christie, a first-grader at Downes Elementary School in Newark, Del., was so proud of the spoon-fork-knife combination gift that he wanted to show it off and use it to eat his lunch. He was by all accounts a good student, who sometimes wore suits to school because he took his education seriously. He was also a Cub Scout....

Call him Mr. Zero Tolerance. The upstate New York school superintendent who suspended an Eagle Scout for 20 days for keeping a 2-inch utility knife locked in his car is unwilling to speak to the teen's family or bend in his ruling. Lansingburgh Central School District Superintendent George J. Goodwin, 55, said in a written statement that his district "has an established policy of zero tolerance with respect to the possession of weapons of any kind on school property or in school buildings." But nowhere in the school district's rule book, which is published online, is there any mention of...

Matthew Whalen, the Egle Scout in upstate New York who was suspended for having a pocket knife in his car received reassuring news from West Point today. Attending the prestigious New York military academy was always a dream for Matthew since the first grade. News 10 Albany reports: The military academy he's wanted to attend since first grade has told Matthew not to worry.

The news came out this morning that Zachary Christie, a 6-year-old Delaware first-grader, is back to school. He made news by bringing a small pocketknife with a fork and a spoon to his school. His mother didn’t know he did it. He didn’t know he shouldn’t have done it. He just wanted to bring his cool new camping tool to school to eat his lunch. He had faced 45 days of suspension from his school, and enrollment in an alternative school for troublemakers, after violating the school district’s “zero tolerance” policy on bringing weapons to school. According to today’s story...

video at link: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5380529n CBS) A 6-year-old Cub Scout recently suspended from school after bringing a camping utensil to the lunchroom made it clear he was not happy with the Delaware school district's decision. "I think it's very wrong. It's not fair at all," Zachary Christie of Newark, Del. told CBS' "The Early Show." "It's not fair for anybody," he said. Zachary's excitement over joining the Cub Scouts may just land him in reform school for 45 days. Zachary was suspended from his 1st grade class in Delaware's Christina School District after bringing a camping utensil - a combination knife/fork/spoon...

First grader Zachary Christie was recently suspended for bringing a Cub Scout camping utensil with him to school. The utensil combines a fork, spoon and a knife into one tool and Christie wanted to use it at lunchtime. His school has a "zero-tolerance" policy on weapons and the camping tool violates the district's rule. He is facing 45 days in the district's reform school. Did school officials go too far?

Boy Scouts are supposed to "Be Prepared." But how could a New York Eagle Scout prepare himself to have his dreams derailed by a school's imbalanced "zero tolerance" policy? Matthew Whalen's plan to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point may be in jeopardy because the high school senior had a 2-inch pocketknife locked in his car. The Lansingburgh Central School District initially suspended him for five days and later added another 15 days to his sentence.

Six-year-old Zachary Christie was so excited to become a Cub Scout that he brought his camping utensil to school. The tool serves as a spoon, a fork and a knife, and Zachary wanted to use it at lunch. What Zachary didn't know was that the gizmo violated his school's zero-tolerance policy on weapons. And now the Christina School District in Newark, Del., has suspended the first grader and ordered him to attend the district's reform school for 45 days. Zachary's parents insist their son did not intend to hurt anyone, and they are fighting to overturn the ruling. "Zachary wears...

1st Grader Brings Camping Utensil to School for Lunch, But Zero Tolerance Weapons Policy Leads to 45-Day Suspension - A 6-year-old boy's excitement over joining the Cub Scouts may just land him in reform school for 45 days. Zachary Christie was suspended from his 1st grade class in Delaware's Christina School District after bringing a camping utensil - a combination knife/fork/spoon - to use at lunch, prompting calls to reexamine schools' zero-tolerance policy for bringing weapons to school, according to a New York Times report Monday. Zero tolerance policies were instituted in many school districts across the country, at least...

Zachary Christie with his mother, Debbie, his father, Curtis, and the Cub Scout utensil that got him suspended from school. NEWARK, Del. — Finding character witnesses when you are 6 years old is not easy. But there was Zachary Christie last week at a school disciplinary committee hearing with his karate instructor. Zachary’s offense? Taking a camping utensil that can serve as a knife, fork and spoon to school. He was so excited about recently joining the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use it at lunch. School officials concluded that he had violated their zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and...

NEWARK, Del. — Finding character witnesses when you are 6 years old is not easy. But there was Zachary Christie last week at a school disciplinary committee hearing with his karate instructor and his mother’s fiancé by his side to vouch for him. Zachary’s offense? Taking a camping utensil that can serve as a knife, fork and spoon to school. He was so excited about recently joining the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use it at lunch. School officials concluded that he had violated their zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and Zachary now faces 45 days in the district’s reform...

Soldier suspended from school Posted: Oct 8, 2009 05:26 PM A NEWS10 EXCLUSIVE By MARK O'BRIEN LANSINGBURGH -- High school senior Matthew Whalen is the kind of student any parent would want. He's an Eagle Scout, on the honor roll, taking Advanced Placement classes, and never been in trouble with the law. He's received commendations from the City of Troy and the Boy Scouts of America for saving a woman's life, and this past summer, he completed Army basic training. All of it was accomplished before the age of 17. "I'm just trying to do what I can while I...

San Antonio police are looking for a man who walked into a downtown building housing several Bexar County offices, lit two smoke flares and threw them at a receptionist Thursday morning. Employees inside the three-story Heritage Plaza building in the 400 block of South Main Street were evacuated for about an hour at 9:30 a.m., said Arson Detective Jose Salame of the San Antonio Fire Department. A receptionist for Elite Consulting, a service provider for Bexar County's adult probation department on the building's second floor, told authorities she heard the man pull the ignition strings on the smoke flares, but...

Dougherty County School Police are investigating a complaint of excessive force against a sixth grade girl arrested for protesting having her picture taken. Her father shows scratches on 11-year-old Treneashe Graddy's neck and back. She says she was thrown to the ground and arrested at Southside Middle School yesterday. When school officials tried to take her picture for school identification, she refused because her hair was not fixed. The girl was charged with disorderly conduct, obstruction of an officer, and disrupting school.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- An actress who starred on the hit television series "Three's Company" has been arrested in Southern California and cited for drunken driving. Police said Joyce DeWitt, who played the character Janet Wood on the popular show, was pulled over Saturday afternoon after she drove past a barricade near a park in El Segundo. Sgt. Danny Kim says an officer arrested the 60-year-old DeWitt after he observed signs she had been drinking and gave her field sobriety tests. Kim says DeWitt was booked at the Police Department, cited and released on her own recognizance.

STANDISH, Maine -- Justin Denney's family watched as he ascended the Cumberland County Civic Center stage during graduation Friday night to accept his diploma, but the superintendent told him to return to his seat. The Bonny Eagle High School senior's mother said she can't believe her son's taking a bow and blowing a kiss on stage led was grounds for the superintendent to withhold his diploma. Mary Denney wants an apology, and her son wants his diploma, reported WMTW-TV in Portland, Maine. "I'm like, 'Did she not hand him his diploma?' I'm like, 'What's going on?'" Mary Denney said.

For teens, there is no greater joy than graduating high school. Shaking off the shackles of education and claiming that hard-fought diploma is truly an epic day. Unfortunately, for several students at Bonny Eagle High School in Maine, their natural exuberance has led to some surprisingly serious problems. On Friday night, when the senior class was waiting to graduate, excitement began to grow. Students bounced a large inflatable rubber duck. The noise level rose. And then came "the kiss." When called, one student walked on stage to receive his diploma and blew a kiss to his family. The school administrator,...

Justin Denney's family watched on as he ascended the Cumberland County Civic Center stage during graduation Friday night to accept his diploma, but the superintendent told him to return to his seat Mary Denney said she can't believe how her son's taking a bow and blowing a kiss on stage was grounds for the superintendent to withhold his diploma. "I'm like, 'Did she not hand him his diploma?' I'm like, 'What's going on?'" Mary Denney said. She said she and Justin both signed a code of conduct regarding the graduation when she picked up graduation tickets on Friday, she doesn't...

PELHAM, N.H. -- Two Pelham High School students were arrested Wednesday and charged with false public alarm after police found a plastic cap gun in a locker, officials said. Pelham High School was put on lockdown and Pelham police were called after school officials received a report of a handgun in the building before noon. Some parents went to the school after getting text messages from their children. "I didn't think anything. I just flew down here because I heard the SWAT team was down here," said parent Lisa Tracy. News 9's Kria Sakakeeny said a 15-year-old and 16-year-old were...

Muslims in Britain have zero tolerance towards homosexuality compared to their counterparts in France and Germany, according to a survey published today . The Gallup poll features the results of telephone and face-to-face interviews with Muslims and non-Muslims in the UK, France and Germany and is designed to measure global attitudes towards people from different faith traditions. It shows that British Muslims hold more conservative opinions towards homosexual acts, abortion, viewing pornography, suicide and sex outside marriage than European Muslims, polling markedly lower when asked if they believed these things were morally acceptable. The most dramatic contrast was found in...

When she was a 13-year-old student at Safford Middle School in Arizona, Savana Redding was strip-searched by school officials in search of - this is no joke - ibuprofen. Now she is suing the district and the officials for violating her Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. It is not good for Redding that while the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on her case last week, Justice David Souter commented, "My thought process is I would rather have the kid embarrassed by a strip search, if we can't find anything short of that, than to have some other...

A professor in Connecticut reported one of her students to the police after he gave a class presentation on why students and teachers should be allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus. Now, free speech activists say the professor’s actions are what really need to be investigated.Last October, John Wahlberg and two classmates at Central Connecticut State University gave an oral presentation for a communications class taught by Professor Paula Anderson. The assignment was to discuss a “relevant issue in the media,” and the students presented their view that the death toll in the April 2007 Virginia Tech shooting massacre...

A Northland High School student could be expelled after playing with a Nerf foam-dart gun in school. Devon Smith, 14, said he could not resist firing the toy at a friend after a classmate brought it to class. "He was shooting at another one of my friends, and I moved closer, and I had a shot and missed somebody," Smith said. Smith was suspended from school and faces an expulsion hearing this morning. Columbus City Schools spokesman Michael Straughter said he couldn't discuss Smith's case. But he said the district follows the state's zero-tolerance policy, as well as the Gun-Free...

ANSWER: When it is the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (formerly Handgun Control, Inc.) who is grading you! ...

With all this talk of “The Wild West”, I thought it might be informative to look at the reality of crime in the “wild west” cattle towns and compare them to the peaceful streets of such eastern, gun-control paradises as DC, New York, Baltimore and Newark ...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Outrage Of The Week   Friday, February 13, 2009   This week's outrage comes from Beaver Dam, Wis., where Beaver Dam school officials placed middle school teacher Betsy Ramsdale on administrative leave, following the discovery of a photograph of the teacher with a firearm on the teacher's personal "Facebook" page. A "concerned" staff member at the school where Ramsdale works brought the photo to the attention of school district officials. WKOWTV.com reported last week that schools superintendent, Donald Childs, was "unaware of any sinister intent on the teacher's part," and said the...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Zero Tolerance, Zero Common Sense   Friday, February 13, 2009   Here we go again. In yet another case of over reactive, one-size-fits-all, "zero-tolerance," zero-common sense enforcement, Marie Morrow, an honors student and drill-team commander in the Young Marines, was recently expelled from school.  Her crime?  She left three rifle shaped drill team props in the back of her car at Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora, Colo.  Colorado law mandates expulsion for any student found with a "dangerous weapon" on school grounds, which includes "a firearm facsimile that could reasonably...

Helicopters, masked police, snipers on the roof, all the works. The reason? Somebody got scared of guns. Nope, not real guns; those are banned in England. Toy guns carried by the partygoers as props for the Wild West themed party. Read on

Rules. Link Only http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=109380&catid=339

LONDON: The FBI has given to Pakistan evidence amassed by it on involvement of elements based in that country in the Mumbai strikes, including on the LeT handlers' warning to the attackers about the arrival of Indian commandos while watching the mayhem live on TV, a media report here said on Sunday. Stating that evidence is growing to prove that the Mumbai strikes were orchestrated by militants based in Pakistan, 'The Sunday Times' reported that Zarar Shah, a communications specialist of Lashkar-e-Toiba, has admitted under interrogation in Pakistan that he advised the terrorists by phone as the attacks unfolded. Controllers...

Just days ago we had read about the Islamic hatred of Jews in the UK and Denmark. Now like a life threatening disease it has spread to Belgium. As an Islamic group was caught with a mafia style hit list of prominent Jews in Belgium.

A month-long operation by British, Afghan and coalition forces saw fierce close-quarter combat. WHEN Lance-Corporal Ben Whatley was killed on Christmas Eve, he was leading his Royal Marines from the front as they fought close up with the Taliban. His family in Norfolk had put Christmas festivities on hold, expecting him home in early January. It has now emerged that the clash in which Whatley died – a helicopter-borne assault on the village of Chah-e Anjir — was the climax of a month-long operation in Helmand province involving 1,500 British, Afghan and coalition troops. The offensive, described in detail this...

The Israelis just struck back hard at Hamas in Gaza. In response, the United Nations, the European Union and the Arab world (at least publicly) expressed their anger at the killing of over 300 Palestinians, most of whom were terrorists and Hamas officials. For several prior weeks, Hamas terrorists had been daily launching rockets into Israeli towns that border Gaza. The recent volleys of missiles had insidiously become more frequent — up to 80 a day — and the payloads larger. Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists were reportedly supplying their own training and expertise. These terrorists point to the Lebanon war of...

A Star Wars lightsaber has been banned by troubled retailer Woolworths because barmy shop bosses fear it could be mistaken for a gun. Despite being in the midst of their bleakest and possibly last Christmas ever, bosses at the Midlands branch are restricting the sale of the £24.99 Christmas favourite to anyone under the age of 18. Firearms experts said the company was “going over the top” by banning the toy. Brandon Cook, who specialises in restricted sales issues with the Trading Standards Institute, said: “Some companies are going the whole hog and are banning the sale of any weapon-style...

Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis declared war on drug dealers, gangs and other law breakers on Tuesday night during a community meeting at the South HOPE Center. Maj. Hampton Gardner told the audience of about 100 people that it’s no secret that Sumter has had its share of problems, and is seeking the community’s help in combating crime to find a “common solution.” More than a dozen members of the sheriff’s office were on hand for the forum, representing all the divisions under Dennis’ auspice. “We’re being victimized by a small, small, small minority of criminals. But we are the...

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. - A fake grenade that fell out of a student's bag forced a brief lockdown and partial evacuation of West Valley High School early Friday afternoon. Around 12:30 p.m. a 14-year-old student was showing his friend a gas mask in class when a fake grenade next to the mask tumbled out of the bag and the fake charging pin on the grenade came loose. The teacher in the classroom saw the fake grenade and quickly grabbed it and the gas mask and took it to the administration office. That's when school officials called the cops and evacuated...

A head teacher who suspended the equivalent of a quarter her pupils in one year has seen exam pass rates increase by 65 per cent. Caroline Haynes, 49, adopted a zero tolerance disciplinary approach to her secondary school pupils, convinced that by allowing disruptive students to remain in class was jeopardising the chances of others. She has handed out 478 suspensions in one year at a school with 1,880 pupils and seen GCSE pass rates shoot up. Mrs Hayes criticised the Government's policy of encouraging schools to reduce exclusions, which then reflects better on their Ofsted rating. She said: "Statistics...

But Why Does The AP Report Ignore Key Part of Story? Remember when you were a young school kid and you drew a vampire during the week of Halloween? Remember how the blood was always dripping down from his menacing, pearly white teeth? Remember how it was all in good Halloween fun? Well, you can just forget THAT mister, at least if you are a 5th-Grader in the Savannah-Chatham school system in Georgia. In Georgia, if you draw a vampire you get called a gang member -- even when you were assigned to make the drawing -- and then you...

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) -- She's only 12 years old but Ashleigh Jones is feeling the heat of this election year. That’s because the seventh grader at New Smyrna Beach Middle School was called a racist by classmates for wearing a pro-Sarah Palin t-shirt. Jones is volunteering at the Republican Headquarters in New Smyrna Beach. The Palin t-shirt was a gift from her fellow volunteers. But when she wore it to school she learned just how tough politics can be. “Some of the students were calling me racist because I was Caucasian,” she said. “I wanted the...

MHS student suspended for having hunting bow in his SUV A Milaca [Minnesota] High School senior has been suspended for 10 days for having a hunting bow in his vehicle. But is the school administration following its own policies? Keith Larson realized he had forgotten the cased bow in the back of his Ford Explorer when discussion of a recent incident in Blaine took place during his first hour economics class on Tuesday, Sept. 23. Keith had said he didn’t think the Blaine student should have been suspended because the box cutter was for his job. “I didn’t see what...

Teachers have sparked fury by banning pupils from playing in the playground before school - for health and safety reasons. Children have been ordered not to play in the 15 minutes before lessons start - in case parents or their young children get injured at Ashburton Junior School in Croydon, south London. Adam Bates, 31, whose 10-year-old son Shane had a tennis ball confiscated last week, said today: "It's ridiculous, the kids are deprived of valuable play time in the morning. "Everyone's always going on about exercise but this school is clamping down on it. "My kids really look forward...

Tool from teen's part time job gets him suspended from high school Is it a weapon, or is it a tool? Blaine High School senior Tony Richard has been suspended for two weeks, and could be expelled for the entire year, after security officers found a box cutter in the teenager's car. "It's not fun, I'll tell you that," Richard said Tuesday. "All my friends are in school.. Say oh yeah it's vacation, but there's nothing to do at home all day and I still got to do all my school work and stuff. I'd rather be in school." Richard's...

HILTON HEAD ISLAND — A 10-year-old South Carolina student has been suspended from school after his pencil sharpener broke and he didn't immediately get rid of the blade inside. Authorities tell The Island Packet of Hilton Head that a teacher at Hilton Head Island International Baccalaureate Elementary School found a small razor blade on the boy in class Tuesday. A police report says it was obvious the blade came from a pencil sharpener. The report says the boy is a well-behaved, good student and cried when he was suspended for at least two days. He could face further punishment. School...

HOW far should a school go in disciplining an unruly student? And what responsibility do parents bear for that youngster’s behavior? These are issues that American educators and parents perpetually wrestle with, and they have been debated around Westchester recently because of two incidents that have received attention not just in coffee shop chitchat but also in the news media. In early June, a trustee of Ardsley’s school board resigned after other middle school parents expressed outrage at her 14-year-old son’s behavior. They accused him of bullying children and repeatedly threatening violence, including a massacre and bombing, and blamed the...

The youth and his lawyer Edward Paltzik say the charges are trumped up. In fact, Paltzik insists that teacher Sharon Cantante, like Gilda Radner's Lisa Loopner on the old "Saturday Night Live" skit, didn't mind getting a few noogies from the boys. "She had this very bizarre tendency to invite students to give her noogies," Paltzik claimed. "This teacher has a history of encouraging noogie behavior." The teen is taking his case to the state Appellate Division. The Mirenberg camp showed a photo of the eighth-grade teacher smiling broadly while absorbing a male student's noogie. The 39-year-old divorcee seems completely...