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[sanrico AT highdesert.com]

How sad. My mother-in-law, bless her (1898-1982), was responsible - at age 9 -
for cooking the evening meal each day for a family of 11. Those older than she
were working the mining claim, and those younger were in her care. Idle hands,
etc. ...turn tools into weapons (although the potential's always there)? 
Survival
vs. recreation? What? Thoughts, anyone?
It upsets me that this youngster - odds are - probably had a valid 
reason...if it
was creative, or constructive in any way, it's been turned into a scar.
Sandy

The Associated Press
December 12th, 2004 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PHILADELPHIA -- A 10-year-old girl was placed in handcuffs and taken to a 
police
station because she took a pair of scissors to her elementary school. 

School district officials said the fourth-grade student did not threaten 
anyone
with the 8-inch shears, but violated a rule that considers scissors to be
potential weapons. 

Administrators said they were following state law when they called police
Thursday, and police said they were following department rules when they
handcuffed Porsche Brown and took her away in a patrol wagon. 

"My daughter cried and cried," said her mother, Rose Jackson. "She had no idea
what she did was wrong." 

Police officers decided the girl hadn’t committed a crime and let her go.
However, school officials suspended her for five days. Administrators will 
decide
at a hearing whether she may return to class or be expelled to a special
disciplinary school. 

The scissors were discovered while students’ belongings were being searched 
for
property missing from a teacher’s desk. 

School district officials have promised a crackdown on unruly students this 
year,
and new policies give administrators the power to expel students for 
infractions
as minor as violating the dress code, chronic tardiness or habitual swearing. 

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