Nine-year-old boys caught smoking drugs

It's not just in the U.S......


Nine-year-old boys caught smoking drugs
5:00AM Sunday June 29, 2008
Photo / Glenn Jeffrey
Five 9-year-old boys have been caught doing drugs during lunchtime at a Rotorua school.
Owhata Primary stood down the pupils after they were caught "taking puffs" of a joint and arranged drug education for them.
Principals have described the incident as unusual because the children were so young.
Owhata school staff said the matter had been dealt with and was unlikely to be the start of an alarming trend.
But the grandmother of one of the boys is concerned cannabis is being distributed in primary school playgrounds.
The woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Rotorua's Daily Post newspaper that her grandson was among the five, who were stood down for three days.
She said one of the other boys had brought the joint to school.
She feared that if children as young as her grandson were smoking drugs at Owhata, then it could be happening elsewhere.
"It was terrible," she said. "I'm very concerned. I was shocked it was at a primary school."
The woman said she had spoken to her grandson about what happened but she did not think he realised the severity of his actions.
She thought the school could have used other penalties rather than standing down her grandson, arguing he would have enjoyed three days off school.
"Maybe clean up the school grounds or that type of thing, something he doesn't like to do."
Owhata principal Bob Stiles said it was the first time drugs had been found on the school premises this year.
"It is something that does happen and it happens in every school."
He said the incident was dealt with promptly and efficiently.
"All the parents came in and were very supportive."
Stiles was positive the drugs did not come from any of the pupils' homes and said the boy who brought the joint said he had found it on the way to school.
All five were given drug education and the whole school was warned about the dangers of drugs.
Rotorua Principals Association president Colin Watkins said cases of drugs being found in primary schools were extremely rare.
"Even the instances of cigarettes coming into school is practically zero."
Auckland Primary Principals Association president Owen Alexander also said the case was rare.
"It's one out of the box. I'm sure most principals would be disappointed if this were a new trend.
"If 9-year-olds are bringing it to school, what sort of environment are they bringing it from?
"How are they getting hold of it?" asked Alexander, who is also principal of Takapuna Normal Intermediate School.
Figures previously released to the Herald on Sunday showed that in 2004, at least 3116 students were stood down or suspended for bringing drugs and alcohol to school. Up to 135 were aged between 5 and 10.
One was a 10-year-old boy stood down from Kerikeri Primary after handing out cannabis in the playground.
The school's principal said the boy got it from his older brother and brought it to school to show off.
Drug abuse was the third most common cause of student suspensions last year (20.1 per cent), behind continual disobedience (27.5 per cent) and physical assault on other students or staff (23.8 per cent).
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ROTORUA DAILY POST

4 teens arrested in Brooklyn hate crime

Police: 4 teens arrested in Brooklyn hate crime
Posted: Jun. 27, 2008
NEW YORK — Police say four teenagers have been arrested on hate crime charges for throwing rocks at a school bus full of Jewish toddlers.
Police say the three girls and one boy yelled epithets last month as they broke windows on the bus in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. The children weren't hurt.
The case is part of a string of incidents that have stirred tensions between black and Jewish residents in Crown Heights. The teens are all 14 and are black.
The flash points have included an assault on a black college student and an attack on an Orthodox Jewish teen.
A race riot erupted in 1991 after a Jewish driver hit and killed a 7-year-old black boy. A 29-year-old Hasidic scholar was stabbed to death in the chaos.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Newington school attack plan gets teen prison time

Newington school attack plan gets teen prison time
June 24, 2008
NEW BRITAIN, Conn.—A Newington teenager has been sentenced to three years in prison for planning what authorities said would have been a Columbine-style massacre at his high school.
Frank Fechteler, 18, told Judge Joan K. Alexander that he would not commit another crime during his sentencing hearing at New Britain Superior Court on Monday.
Police charged Fechteler with making bombs in February 2007. Investigators said he had detailed attack plans that included a list of targets, a map of Newington High School, a timeline for shooting people and a strategy for overpowering school security officials.
Authorities were tipped off to videos he posted on Youtube.com that showed him shooting long rifles and a friend detonating pipe bombs.
Alexander said she based the prison sentence on the need to deter others from doing the same thing. But she also noted that Fechteler had made good use of the time he was detained. Officials said he earned a general equivalency diploma with honors and was the top-ranked member of his class at Manson Youth Institution in Cheshire.
"I do believe you are an excellent candidate for rehabilitation," the judge said. "You are an extraordinarily talented individual who immersed themselves in a negative track."
Fechteler will serve five years' probation after the prison time and will be prohibited from consuming alcohol and drugs, having contact with people on the "hit list" and going on the high school grounds.
He pleaded guilty to the bomb-making charges last November.
Fechteler had faced up to four years in prison under the plea deal. His lawyer, Raul Davila, asked for an 18-month sentence and probation.
"I think Frank has learned his lesson," Davila told the judge.
Fechteler's family appeared relieved after the sentencing.
"It's over," said his father, William Fechteler, while his wife cried nearby.
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Information: The Herald of New Britain, http://www.newbritainherald.com, and The Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com

Girl reports assault on school playground

Girl reports sex assault on school playground
Posted: Jun. 3, 2008
Franklinton, N.C. — Police on Monday continued to investigate a report that an 11-year-old girl who says she was sexually assaulted on the playground of Franklinton Elementary School.
The girl told police she was playing with two friends on Saturday, May 17 when a man she didn't know tripped her, held her to the ground and fondled her.
The other two friends didn't see the alleged assailant, police said.
Copyright 2008 by WRAL.com. All rights reserved.