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Boy jailed over clock change mix-up
metro.co.uk ^ | April 5, 2007 | N/A

Posted on 04/17/2007 2:15:29 PM PDT by bamahead

A fifteen-year old boy in America was incarcerated for twelve days, wrongly accused of making a hoax bomb threat - because his school had forgotten that the clocks had gone forward.

Cody Webb was arrested last month, after Hempfield Area High School received a bomb threat on their student hotline – which provides a range of information to students about the school - at 3.17am on March 11th. They believed they'd found the culprit when they traced the phone number they thought was responsible to Webb.

Unfortunately, they forgot that the clocks had switched to Daylight Saving Time that morning. Webb, who's never even had a detention in his life, had actually made his call an hour earlier.

Despite the fact that the recording of the call featured a voice that sounded nothing like Webb's, the police arrested Webb and he spent 12 days in a juvenile detention facility before the school eventually realised their mistake.

Webb gave an insight into the school's impressive investigative techniques, saying that he was ushered in to see the principal, Kathy Charlton. She asked him what his phone number was, and , according to Webb, when he replied 'she started waving her hands in the air and saying “we got him, we got him.”'

'They just started flipping out, saying I made a bomb threat to the school,' he told local television station KDKA. After he protested his innocence, Webb says that the principal said: 'Well, why should we believe you? You're a criminal. Criminals lie all the time.'

All charges against Webb have now been dropped.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chat; daylightsavingstime; education; government; govwatch
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To: bamahead

Never mind the above question . . . but I would note for the record that I didn’t get to talk to my boyfriend at two in the morning until I went to college and started paying for my own phone.


41 posted on 04/17/2007 2:53:20 PM PDT by Xenalyte (Anything is possible when you don't understand how anything happens.)
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To: piytar
You're kidding, right?

Should not have said that -- after re-reading the article, I realize that it is VERY poorly written and unclear. Sorry.

42 posted on 04/17/2007 2:53:56 PM PDT by piytar
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To: bamahead

This kid has got to go to Duke University when he graduates.


43 posted on 04/17/2007 2:54:15 PM PDT by Reaganesque
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To: Vigilanteman
The principle is a PC piece of work. Cody is a good kid who happened to have the wrong ethnic background. She was hoping to make an example of him.
---
Probably the wrong sex, too.
44 posted on 04/17/2007 2:55:08 PM PDT by Cheburashka ( World's only Spatula City certified spatula repair and maintenance specialist!!!)
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To: bamahead

There should be a lot of lawsuits here, and then homeschooling!


45 posted on 04/17/2007 2:58:38 PM PDT by Leftism is Mentally Deranged
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To: bamahead

You have to be quite insane to work for a government school these days.


46 posted on 04/17/2007 2:59:38 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Turning the general election into a second Democrat primary is not a winning strategy.)
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To: bamahead

It’s funny that when the Bush administration does stuff like this, it’s applauded by the Bushbots...


47 posted on 04/17/2007 3:07:58 PM PDT by WestVirginiaRebel (The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule-H.L. Menken)
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To: bamahead
this kid was Nifonged.
48 posted on 04/17/2007 3:09:16 PM PDT by CzarNicky (The problem with bad ideas is that they seemed like good ideas at the time.)
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To: Publius6961

“I need medical attention.
I have no clue what is the point of this article.
Did the kid make the call? or not? What difference does it make what time it was?”

Congratulations. You are now qualified to be a school principal.


49 posted on 04/17/2007 3:09:24 PM PDT by soupcon
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To: RedCell

Lesson learned?

Principal: What is your phone number?
Student: (Gives home, land-line number that is on file at school)
Principal: No, I mean your personal cellphone number?
Student: None of your F.....g business.

End of conversation.


50 posted on 04/17/2007 3:09:55 PM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel
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To: Xenalyte
What legitimate call would a student make to his high school at 2:17 in the morning?

"Hey, I'm like, too stoned to come to school today. Could you send my homework with my brother, Timmy? Like, thanks. 'Bye."

51 posted on 04/17/2007 3:14:35 PM PDT by thesharkboy
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To: bamahead
"It sounds like this Principal generally treats her students unfairly and needs a serious wake up call."

The principal isn't the only one in this situation who needs a wake-up call:

County juvenile detention officials wanted to keep Webb in custody (after the charges were dismissed by the judge and he was ordered to be released) because
"They wanted him to have a mental health evaluation because he wouldn't admit to making the call."
52 posted on 04/17/2007 3:16:23 PM PDT by macmedic892 (I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.)
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To: bamahead

Cha-Ching! The boy just multiplied his college fund by 10! Good for him!


53 posted on 04/17/2007 3:29:33 PM PDT by Scarchin (+)
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To: bamahead

Have you ever tried to talk a school official out of one of their stupid snap decision? You can’t, because they are SO much smarter than everyone else.


54 posted on 04/17/2007 3:40:00 PM PDT by Fundamentally Fair (Challenged.)
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To: Vigilanteman; All
Also See:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1818890/posts
55 posted on 04/17/2007 3:47:02 PM PDT by bamahead (I think I am better than the people who are trying to reform me -- E.W. Howe)
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To: soupcon; Publius6961
"What difference does it make what time it was?"

Congratulations. You are now qualified to be a school principal.

Or a Durham County DA

56 posted on 04/17/2007 3:48:22 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (Nobody gets me)
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To: Mark was here

“”Legally, we were OK. We didn’t step on this kid’s rights,” said Mike Sturnick, supervisor for the juvenile probation office.”


57 posted on 04/17/2007 3:53:31 PM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: macmedic892
County juvenile detention officials wanted to keep Webb in custody (after the charges were dismissed by the judge and he was ordered to be released) because "They wanted him to have a mental health evaluation because he wouldn't admit to making the call."

The first mistake was a notable one, but comprehendable. This one is a doozy.

58 posted on 04/17/2007 3:57:04 PM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: Xenalyte

“What legitimate call would a student make to his high school at 2:17 in the morning?”

You’re right... jail time is, indeed, appropriate for all teens who make phone calls at 2:17 in the morning. </sarc>


59 posted on 04/17/2007 4:05:22 PM PDT by LibertarianSJ
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To: GeorgiaDawg32
but why would the kid be callin the school that early in the mornin anyway?

What difference does it make when he calls an automated announcement serrvice?

60 posted on 04/17/2007 4:06:39 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (Nobody gets me)
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