The editors could have added "BB" to the headline, but then we are talking about the Atlanta Constitution, who called the M1 Garand an Assault Rifle".
Second-grader suspended for gun in school
Rochelle Carter - Staff
An Atlanta second-grader was suspended Friday for five days after bringing a rusty BB gun to Collier Heights Elementary School.
He brought it because classmates teased him, Principal Gwen Rogers said.
"He talked about how the children were talking about him, (saying) he was ugly and he didn't look good in these clothes," Rogers said. "He said he didn't bring it to hurt anybody, but to show them 'Hey, I have a gun.' "
The boy, 8, showed classmates the gun at the bus stop Friday morning, Rogers said. They told as soon as they got to school. He was immediately separated from other students.
Rogers found the unloaded BB gun in his book bag and reported it to school detectives.
A neighbor had given the gun to the boy, Rogers said. His mother took it away but he found it in her bedroom and brought it to school, the principal said.
The boy's reaction to teasing was unusual. This is the first time a student at the school has brought a gun into the building, Rogers said. But she's noticed in recent years that young children --- even academic achievers --- seem to get very angry when they feel peers are picking on them.
It was unclear Friday whether the boy would face criminal charges.
Rogers was aware of a case in Cobb County, where a student was initially suspended for 10 days because of a zero-tolerance weapons policy for carrying a small chain on her wallet. But she felt 10 days was too long for this child to be out of school. The suspension of the Cobb student was reversed Friday.
Atlanta Public Schools policy gives principals discretion to determine whether expulsion or suspension is appropriate when students bring weapons other than firearms to school, spokesman Seth Coleman said.
Students are supposed to be expelled for a year if they bring a firearm to school, but Rogers determined that the BB gun was not a firearm because it did not use gunpowder, Coleman said.
Rogers has asked that the boy and his parents get counseling. "I felt like it was needed, especially the way he was crying," Rogers said. "I feel like talking to someone else might help him release the anger, release some of the things that are inside him."
-- 30 --
I will give them an "A" for this clever headline, though, detailing the school's backdown on the "Tweety Bird" affair. Maybe some sanity is beginning to seep into some school systems.
Chain reaction: Cobb lifting girl's suspension
Mary MacDonald - Staff
Saturday, September 30, 2000
Eleven-year-old Ashley Smith and her Tweety Bird wallet can return to school Monday in Cobb County.
After two days of national media attention, the school district Friday afternoon abruptly reversed its decision to suspend her for 10 days for bringing the wallet and attached 9 3/4-inch chain to school.
Administrators decided the chain does not violate the district's zero-tolerance policy on weapons.
Ashley, a sixth-grader at Garrett Middle School in Austell, was suspended for four days for violating the policy.
The district agreed to lift the suspension and clear it from her disciplinary record, said Assistant Superintendent Tony Arasi, after several administrators concluded the district policy on weapons did not address what size chain could be considered dangerous.
"One of the issues was, do the kids know what chains fit the policy?" Arasi said.
The story attracted national media, including "Today" and "NBC Nightly News," which featured segments on the incident. And the district was deluged with messages, many critical.
Raymond Smith, Ashley's father, has no doubt the spotlight fueled the district's reversal.
"This is not the kind of attention institutions want, and this was certainly the kind of attention they were getting," Smith said.
The reversal surprised Smith, who described the administrators' attitude over the past three days as "very obstinate."
The district, however, said it plans to define more specifically what chain would fall under the policy.
"A 3-inch knife is a 3-inch knife," Arasi said. "But a chain, because it comes in so many sizes, one school might interpret that differently."
Smith said the district doesn't need a definition of what a "chain" is; it needs more common sense.
"It's only these zero-tolerance idiots that can't read into it," he said. "You and I could understand it."
© 2000 Cox Interactive Media
[This message has been edited by Oatka (edited September 30, 2000).]
Second-grader suspended for gun in school
Rochelle Carter - Staff
An Atlanta second-grader was suspended Friday for five days after bringing a rusty BB gun to Collier Heights Elementary School.
He brought it because classmates teased him, Principal Gwen Rogers said.
"He talked about how the children were talking about him, (saying) he was ugly and he didn't look good in these clothes," Rogers said. "He said he didn't bring it to hurt anybody, but to show them 'Hey, I have a gun.' "
The boy, 8, showed classmates the gun at the bus stop Friday morning, Rogers said. They told as soon as they got to school. He was immediately separated from other students.
Rogers found the unloaded BB gun in his book bag and reported it to school detectives.
A neighbor had given the gun to the boy, Rogers said. His mother took it away but he found it in her bedroom and brought it to school, the principal said.
The boy's reaction to teasing was unusual. This is the first time a student at the school has brought a gun into the building, Rogers said. But she's noticed in recent years that young children --- even academic achievers --- seem to get very angry when they feel peers are picking on them.
It was unclear Friday whether the boy would face criminal charges.
Rogers was aware of a case in Cobb County, where a student was initially suspended for 10 days because of a zero-tolerance weapons policy for carrying a small chain on her wallet. But she felt 10 days was too long for this child to be out of school. The suspension of the Cobb student was reversed Friday.
Atlanta Public Schools policy gives principals discretion to determine whether expulsion or suspension is appropriate when students bring weapons other than firearms to school, spokesman Seth Coleman said.
Students are supposed to be expelled for a year if they bring a firearm to school, but Rogers determined that the BB gun was not a firearm because it did not use gunpowder, Coleman said.
Rogers has asked that the boy and his parents get counseling. "I felt like it was needed, especially the way he was crying," Rogers said. "I feel like talking to someone else might help him release the anger, release some of the things that are inside him."
-- 30 --
I will give them an "A" for this clever headline, though, detailing the school's backdown on the "Tweety Bird" affair. Maybe some sanity is beginning to seep into some school systems.
Chain reaction: Cobb lifting girl's suspension
Mary MacDonald - Staff
Saturday, September 30, 2000
Eleven-year-old Ashley Smith and her Tweety Bird wallet can return to school Monday in Cobb County.
After two days of national media attention, the school district Friday afternoon abruptly reversed its decision to suspend her for 10 days for bringing the wallet and attached 9 3/4-inch chain to school.
Administrators decided the chain does not violate the district's zero-tolerance policy on weapons.
Ashley, a sixth-grader at Garrett Middle School in Austell, was suspended for four days for violating the policy.
The district agreed to lift the suspension and clear it from her disciplinary record, said Assistant Superintendent Tony Arasi, after several administrators concluded the district policy on weapons did not address what size chain could be considered dangerous.
"One of the issues was, do the kids know what chains fit the policy?" Arasi said.
The story attracted national media, including "Today" and "NBC Nightly News," which featured segments on the incident. And the district was deluged with messages, many critical.
Raymond Smith, Ashley's father, has no doubt the spotlight fueled the district's reversal.
"This is not the kind of attention institutions want, and this was certainly the kind of attention they were getting," Smith said.
The reversal surprised Smith, who described the administrators' attitude over the past three days as "very obstinate."
The district, however, said it plans to define more specifically what chain would fall under the policy.
"A 3-inch knife is a 3-inch knife," Arasi said. "But a chain, because it comes in so many sizes, one school might interpret that differently."
Smith said the district doesn't need a definition of what a "chain" is; it needs more common sense.
"It's only these zero-tolerance idiots that can't read into it," he said. "You and I could understand it."
© 2000 Cox Interactive Media
[This message has been edited by Oatka (edited September 30, 2000).]
, the others don't merit coverage(with the exception of the wife that killed her husband with a bar-b-que fork during the Super Bowl a few years back), for changing the channel 
) and not one day passed until I outgrew all of the little punks and took up the fine sport of body building where I did not hear about my girth. I was raised (okay my parents suck because the decided to feed me too much ice cream) knowing that I did not deserve much without working for it. And sometimes, no matter what I would get screwed. I learned to deal with it.