[CrackMonkey] [gkm@blackdown.org: 26-Sep-00 Bonehead Of The Day Award]

[Nick Moffitt]

----- Forwarded message from glen mccready <gkm at blackdown.org> -----
Forwarded-by: Nev Dull <nev at sleepycat.com>
Forwarded-by: Peter Langston <psl at acm.org>
Forwarded-by: Jack Doyle <doylej at peak.org>
Excerpted From: <bonehead at oddballs.com>

26-Sep-00 Bonehead Of The Day Award

Today we bestow THREE Bonehead Awards

Finally! A zero tolerance bonehead award. And why not?  School is back
in session, right?

For those who are new to this, a Zero Tolerance bonehead award is given
to a group or individual who applies a "zero tolerance" policy without
using any thought or common sense.  Who uses new definitions for words
to make them fit more serious crimes so a more severe penalty can be
applied.

This first of the school year zero tolerance bonehead award goes to the
school district in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  The story, within hours of
publication, had already reached European news services which will no
doubt have fun with it.

Green Bay school superintendent Tom Joynt suspended a third-grade boy
from school.  Why did he do this?  Joynt explains it thusly, "The
student was suspended for having a replica of a gun.  School district
policy states, 'The possession of facsimile firearms is also prohibited
(including) any replica, toy, starter pistol or other object that bears
a reasonable resemblance to, or can be perceived to be, an actual
firearm.'"

If you go to the original article at:

	http://www.greenbaynewschron.com/page.html?article=104279

you will see this "replica."  It is at the end of a key chain, bought
at a gumball machine, and is no more than 1 3/8 inches in length and
kind of resembles a gun thing. Is this perceived to be an actual
firearm?

The mother is appealing and wants this taken off her son's record. "I
don't think this falls into that category," she said. "It's a key chain.
I think it's a little extreme. How far will this policy go? I think they
just should have taken it away from him with a warning to not bring it
back before suspending him."

Joynt actually believes he is being a nice guy.  He says that because
of the gumball key chain, that the student could have been expelled "and
the police could have been called."

Interestingly, back in January, we gave a zero-tolerance bonehead award
to the Bloomington, Illinois Irving Elementary School for the exact same
situation.  You can see that story at:

	http://www.escribe.com/humor/bonehead/m175.html

Do you think the boy should have a dangerous weapon violation on his record?
You can send your views to superintendent Joynt at TJoynt at greenbay.k12.wi.us

It may be a good idea to copy the Green Bay News Chronicle into your
correspondence. Their Email address is tom.brooker at gogreenbay.com

Green Bay News Chronicle 25-Sep-00
http://www.greenbaynewschron.com/page.html?article=104279

Ananova 25-Sep-00
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_68287.html
-----------------------------------------------------

Bonehead award two goes to the Nottinghamshire Police in the UK who issued
a warning to all forces across the UK stating that one of their patrol cars
had been stolen, only to eventually find it in the garage for repairs.

The force spokesman said dryly: "It seems there was some confusion about
where it was, but today the vehicle was located and we have called off the
search for it."

Ananova 22-Sep-00
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_65882.html
-----------------------------------------------------

Bonehead award three is from a story sent to me by list member Linda
Thuringer.  Thanks, Linda!

A Bakersfield, California woman received a phone call from her estranged
boyfriend telling her that he placed a pipe bomb outside the house in the
bushes and that he was going to blow her up along with the house.  So, she
went outside and, lo and behold, she saw the bomb.

If you or I were told there was a bomb outside our home, we'd get the police
ON THE TELEPHONE from some other location (we wouldn't have even gone to
look for it either). But if you're a bonehead you load your three children
into the pickup truck, along with the bomb, and start DRIVING AROUND WITH
THE BOMB looking for the police to give it to.

Fortunately, she located the police before the bomb went off.

And what say the police?  The sergeant emphasized that anyone who finds a
bomb should get away from it and call law enforcement.  Amazing that some
people need to be told to get away from a bomb.

Bakersfield Californian Aug-00


----- End forwarded message -----

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