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Hacked Off
For their senior prank, three students at Lawrence High School in Kansas decided to partially shave the heads of some younger friends and siblings. The haircuts took place off campus, and the younger students volunteered for the haircuts. Still, school officials charged the seniors with hazing and bullying and suspended them. Even after parents explained they had given the OK for the head shaving, officials would not lift the suspensions.
Chekov's Gun
Officials at Center High School in Texas have barred Avery Tindol from attending the prom after they caught him with a prop gun from the drama department. Tindol and some other students were cleaning out the prop room when one of them handed him the fake firearm. A teacher spotted him with the weapon, and the school also suspended him for three days.
50 Shades of Banned
The Brevard County, Florida, public library system has pulled all of its 19 copies of 50 Shades of Grey from the shelves. Library services director Cathy Schweinsberg says the best-selling novel is pornographic.
He Had a Dream
Colorado's Meridian Ranch Elementary School held a "wax museum" day recently and asked students to come dressed as some historic figure. Second-grader Sean King decided to come as Martin Luther King Jr., so he put on a suit and a fake mustache. And since, King is white, he decided to use makeup to darken his face. One faculty member complained the "blackface" was offensive. So the principal ordered him to remove the makeup or leave school. King's parents opted to take him home.
The Benefits of Homeownership
Crowley, Texas, resident David Englett found when he tried to renew his driver's license that he had several outstanding warrants. The warrants were all for code violations at his former home in Arlington. Englett hasn't lived in the house since it was foreclosed two years ago, and he said that he thought it was the bank's responsibility to keep the grass mowed and yard clean. He had to pay Arlington $150 to remove the hold on his license, but officials are still demanding hundreds more in fines.
Killer Crossword
Venezuelan intelligence officers visited the offices of Ultima Noticias newspaper to gather information on Neptali Segovia, who writes the paper's crossword puzzles. One of his recent puzzles contained, among other answers, the first name of President Hugo Chavez's brother Adan, a Spanish word for to kill and a Spanish word that can mean either machine gun fire or a gust of wind. Chavez supporters say the puzzle was a threat to Adan Chavez.
Iron Fist, Cotton Glove
A code enforcement officer in Brynmawr, Wales, fined Valerie George £75 for littering after a strand of cotton fell from one of her gloves to the sidewalk. George says she didn't even see the strand fall and would have picked it up if asked. When contacted by media, local officials said they would drop the fine but George did break the law.
LMFAO
Officials at Sable Elementary School in Aurora, Colorado, suspended 6-year-old D'Avonte Meadows for three days for sexual harassment. Meadows allegedly sang the line "I'm sexy, and I know it" from the song "Sexy and I Know It" to another student.
Another One Rides the Bus
In Glynn County, Georgia, a school bus driver and an assistant have been suspended after leaving a 5-year-old special needs student strapped to a seat in an unattended bus for two hours. The student was supposed to have been taken to a pre-kindergarten program. But the bus returned to the depot without dropping the student off. The student wasn't discovered until another driver went to use the bus. School officials are refusing to release the names of the suspended employees.
Kiddy Porn
DeKalb County, Georgia, school system officials say they have opened an investigation into claims that an assistant principal at DeKalb Elementary School for the Arts showed an 11-year-old girl a nude photo of a male classmate. The principal was allegedly trying to find out who sent the photo to another student.
Sofa King Low
Sofa King, a British furniture store, has advertised that its prices are “Sofa King Low” for almost a decade now. But the Advertising Standards Authority has recently warned the store that phrase is “likely to cause serious or widespread offense.” The company's slogan was investigated by police in 2004, but the investigation did not result in any charges.
All Pumped Up
Transportation Security Administration officials have apologized for forcing a woman, who wasn't named in press reports, to demonstrate that her breast pump was real before allowing her to carry it on board a plane at Hawaii's Lihue Airport. “I had to stand in front of the mirrors and the sinks and pump my breast in front of every tourist that walked into that bathroom,” the woman told a local TV station.
You Got to Know When to Fold 'Em
Police in Cyprus raided the weekly card game of a group of elderly women and charged them with gambling. The women, including one 98-year-old, faced a fine of up to 750 euros or six months in jail. But after local and international media picked up the story, prosecutors dropped the charges.
Jesus
"Life is wasted without Jesus." William Swinimer, a 12th grader at Forest Heights Community School in Nova Scotia, wore a T-shirt with that slogan to school recently. It wasn't the first time he'd worn it, and officials had warned him that some teachers and some other students complained it was offensive. They told him not to wear it again. When he did, the school suspended him for five days.
Wrong Number
Police in Nottingham, England, knocked down the door to Robert Kerr's house and caused $793 in damage because the GPS on a stolen iPhone indicated that was the address the thief had taken it to. They eventually realized they had the wrong house. But police refused to pay for the damage to the house because they "reasonably believed" the person who took the phone was in the building.
Child Abuse
Police in Scott, Pennsylvania, have charged Govindaraj Narayanasamy with two counts of child endangerment for leaving his 9-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter alone at a local park for a couple of hours. Narayanasamy allegedly went shopping and took a shower at the YMCA while his kids played at the park.
Own Goal
Ukrainian officials have banned the movie “The Match” about a historic soccer game in 1942 between Ukrainian athletes and German soldiers occupying the country. They say the movie could spark tensions between the countries when their national teams play in the 2012 European Championships, which Ukraine is co-hosting. Officials also object to the movie’s depiction of many Kiev residents as Nazi collaborators.
Playground Hijinks
Parents of some students at California’s Albert Einstein Middle School are upset that Sacramento sheriff’s detectives pulled their children out of class and interviewed them and took DNA samples in a murder investigation without informing those parents.
Shop Class
Washington County, Tennessee, sheriff’s deputies have charged Manueal Ernest Dillow with 12 felony counts of brandishing a firearm on school property. Dillow, who teaches welding at the William H. Neff Center, gathered about 12 students in front of a garage door and pulled out a handgun that fired blanks, aimed it toward them and fired several times.
Big Scam
Victoria Baca called the New Mexico state police to report an Internet scam she had fallen victim to. Officials told her they couldn't immediately send an officer, so she asked them to call before coming. Instead, an officer came by without calling while she and her family were gone. The officer jumped a fence with a “Beware of Dog” sign and shot and killed one of the family's dogs. State police officials say the officer was acting in self defense and no action will be taken against him.
The French They Are a Funny Race
The French government has barred officials from using the word “mademoiselle” on official forms. They must now refer to all women as “madame.” Documents must also now request someone's “family name” and “name of usage” instead of “maiden name” and “spouse's name.” Feminists have complained that the banned terms were sexist.
Get Off the Bus
In West Virginia, Point Pleasant Intermediate School Principal Cameron C. Moffett has been charged with felony child abuse after being caught on video pushing an 11-year-old special-needs student off a bus. Moffett rolled the boy down the steps of the bus then allegedly pinned him to the ground with his knee. At least three adults saw the incident but did not respond. Students were preparing to go on a field trip when some other students allegedly pushed the boy out of his seat. When the boy refused to get up out of the aisle, a teacher sent for Moffett.
Control Your Temper
Police in Milledgeville, Georgia, handcuffed 6-year-old Salecia Johnson and hauled her off to a police station after she threw a temper tantrum at kindergarten. Johnson allegedly threw things, tore items off walls and knocked down a shelf, injuring the school's principal. She has been charged with simple assault and damage to property.
That's Inhuman
Officials in the Greenville County, South Carolina, school system gave Hannah Adams, 13, in-school suspension for dying her hair red. Official says she violated a school policy barring “non-human hair color.” But a photo of Adams with her hair died seems to show a shade of red that's within the norm for natural redheads.
British Pickers
A British judge has let Kathleen Woodward, 64, off with just an admonishment for having an unlicensed firearm. She a faced five years in prison after reporting that an antique pistol owned by her husband had been stolen from a safe in her home.
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