THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 5, 1996 TAG: 9602020016
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
I find it unbelievable that the Williamsburg-James City County School Board found it necessary to suspend high-school senior Shane Emmett for possessing a bright orange dart gun on school property. When School Board Chairwoman Marcie Wolfe said that the policy prohibiting possession or concealment of any weapon, dangerous object or look-alike that can reasonably be used to inflict harm was properly applied in this instance, she acted like an unreasonable bureaucrat: She acted as if the rule was more important than the reason the rule was enacted in the first place.
I'm sure that I'm not the only one who understands that guns and look-alike guns don't belong at school since death is the potential outcome for each weapon or look-alike weapon brought on campus. I'm just as sure that reasonable individuals who look at the circumstances of the suspension - an orange dart gun found in the car of a good student who only recently had received it as a gift and has not shown potential for committing a lethal act - will find that the potential damage to his college career is out of proportion to the ``crime.''
The School Board is limiting Shane Emmett's future potential just to prove the points that it is in charge and that its policy is perfect.
STEPHEN SANDEEN
Virginia Beach, Jan. 15, 1996
KEYWORDS: GUNS SCHOOL by CNB