News Briefs
April 15, 1998
San Diego, CA
San Diego police ended a three-month sting at Mira Mesa High School and arrested ten students on suspicion of selling drugs.
April 9, 1998
Pocatello, ID
A 14-year-old who took five classmates hostage surrendered in exchange for a carton of cigarettes and a pizza.
April 8, 1998
San Antonio, TX
Two high school girls were suspended and reassigned for getting tattoos above their ankles depicting a woman engaged in a "sex act."
April 7, 1998
Alexandria, VA
A federal district judge today rejected a government motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the use of blocking software in public libraries in Loudoun County, Virginia.
April 5, 1998
Albany, NY
The New York Supreme Court ruled that the parents of Heidi Reyer, a teen who threw a kegger while her parents where gone, can be held liable for injuries that a girl suffered when she got punched in the face by a drunken partygoer.
April 2, 1998
Thousand Oaks, CA
Joe Pawlick, Westlake High School assistant principal, came to school to find his office window broken by a brick and death threat scrawled on the sidewalk outside.
April 1, 1998
Fairfax, VA
A 13-year-old has been convicted of attempting to arrange sex-for-pay between girls and boys at his middle school.
April 1, 1998
Lille, France
An 18-year-old who brought a gun to school and asked a classmate to put it to his temple and pull the trigger, thinking the safety was on, is dead.
March 28, 1998
Santa Ana, CA
Attorneys for the parents of Chad MacDonald, a 17-year-old forced to become an undercover informant to clear his record and subsequently murdered because of it, have received the 97-page police report that includes eyewitness accounts of his beating death.
March 25, 1998
Jonesboro, AR
Two middle school boys pulled the school fire alarm, and ambushed teachers and students while they waited outside. Four girls and one teacher were murdered.
March 24, 1998
San Fransisco, CA
The California Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America can deny entrance to Michael and William Randall, two agnostic boys.
March 4, 1998
Jackson, MS
Verline Stiffic is accused of shooting a gun at her son in the Brinkley Middle School office. She was called in because he was found with marijuana, and apparently, their conversation didn’t go to well.
February 26, 1998
Concord, California
Keke Kaste and Jordan Stock are suing Concord High School after being sent home from a European band trip for drinking what chaperones said was an alcoholic Irish cream coffee.
February 17, 1998
Milpitas, CA
The Milpitas Unified School District is considering a plan to turn drug-sniffing dogs loose in classrooms, hallways and parking lots. Students and parents have vowed to fight it.
February 12, 1998
Olympia, WA
State legislators have introduced legislation to make it easier to commit minors to mental institutions. They've been trying it for years, the first attempt was overturned by the Supreme Court and the second attempt was vetoed by the governor.
February 12, 1998
Fullerton, CA
Nicolas Junior High administrators have changed their policy on hugging after Alicia Galvan and Katrina Weed , 14 and 15, complained about the policy at a school board meeting. Hugging and other displays of affection were initially banned but now the assistant superintendent said some hugs and gestures such as high-fives are allowed.
February 9, 1998
Collinsville, MO
Two students at North Junior High School have been expelled for carrying caffeine pills, Aleve and acne medication. Two other girls caught with the drugs were removed from school by their parents.
February 5, 1998
Olympia, WA
House Bill 1407, which would punish merchants who sell minors tape or CDs deemed to contain dirty lyrics, passed the House Law and Justice Committee. The proposal, which has died many times in previous years, probably won't make it to law.
February 3, 1998
Santa Ana, CA
The California Supreme Court rejected a request by the Boy Scouts of America to temporarily block any efforts by 16-year-old Michael and William Randall to become Eagle Scouts. The boys, who won't recite a religious oath, have been battling the organization since age 9.
February 3, 1998
Atlanta, GA
A 15-year-old boy charged with robbing six Atlanta banks told police he did it for ``the thrills'' and threw the money away. That's $50,000 in the garbage.
January 30, 1998
Palo Alto, CA
More than a dozen teenagers attended a Palo Alto party, but not one attempted to stop five young men from gang-raping a teenage girl in a back bedroom, police reports show. One partygoer said he thought the girl was a willing participant because the bedroom door was locked.
January 29, 1998
McMinnville, OR
Two women police officers searching for stolen makeup, jewelry and cash at a middle school strip-searched about 25 girls, some of whom say they were asked to lift their shirts, shake their bras and drop their panties. They found nothing.
January 29, 1998
Detroit, MI
Administrators of the state's standardized education tests apparently broke the law by requiring Michigan's 122,000 public school fifth-graders to submit their fingerprints in class without their parents' permission.
January 27, 1998
Johnstown, NY
The Johnstown School District has suspended its DARE program indefinitely and a teacher for two days after she wore the DARE officer's loaded holstered gun around Warren Street Elementary School.
January 24, 1998
Burbank, CA
Seven boys, ranging in ages from 12 to 16, were arrested on suspicion of vandalism after they were caught rolling down rails at the newly opened police and fire headquarters. The boys were released to their parents, but their skates were seized as evidence.
January 20, 1998
San Fransisco, CA
Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis proposed voluntary drug tests for California high school pupils if both they and their parents agree. Davis has already proposed that students be required to do a certain amount of homework each night, 15 minutes for Kindergartners, 2 1/2 hours for 12th graders.
January 20, 1998
Oakland, CA
A couple who paid two strangers to take their son from his bed in the middle of the night and exile him for a year at a Jamaican reform school were acting within their parental rights, a judge ruled Tuesday. David Van Blarigan, 16, will stay in the confines of the Caribbean camp -- out of touch with all friends and neighbors, and subject to strict rules and even a dose of pepper spray if he gets out of hand.
January 19, 1998
San Bernardino, CA
A 15-year-old boy fatally shot a 4-year-old because the little boy didn't fetch cigarettes fast enough, police said. The 15-year-old told police the shooting was an accident.
January 15, 1998
Miami, FL
Under threat of a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Miami-Dade County school district has watered down its drug testing program to allow high school students to refuse random checks.
January 14, 1998
Burbank, CA
Charges of sexual battery against Cory Kessinger, a former Burbank High School campus supervisor involve at least two female students who say they were fondled while on campus, police disclosed.
January 14, 1998
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco sought to reverse the declining sales of its brands by developing aggressive marketing proposals to reach adolescents as young as 14 years old, according to internal company documents.
January 13, 1998
Slupsk, Poland
Hundreds of teenagers clashed with police in rioting spurred by the police killing of a 13-year-old. About 460 riot police used tear gas against the young people. Przemek Czaja, 13, died after a police officer struck him with a nightstick Saturday after police responded to what they called reports of hooliganism.
January 13, 1998
Santa Ana, CA
An appeals court reversed an earlier decision that said 17-year-old Timothy Matlock was liable for a fire started by a cigarette he gave to a younger friend. Before the reversal, Matlock's father was ordered to pay $44,500 in damages.
January 12, 1998
Texarkana, AR
Teenagers who stole up to 100 pounds of mercury from the city's abandoned neon sign plant dipped cigarettes in the shiny, poisonous liquid and smoked them. At least one teen was hospitalized. US officials are struggling to recover all of the mercury.
January 9, 1998
Waynesville, MO
Joseph Stanley Burris has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for murdering a classmate at a boarding school for troubled youths. In a videotaped confession, Burris, 15 at the time of the murder, and Anthony Gene Rutherford, 17 at the time, described how they killed their classmate because they feared he would expose their plot to take over the campus, have their way with the female students, start a Branch Davidian-like cult and make it onto national television.
January 8, 1998
New York, NY
Raheem Dawkins, a 16-year-old who volunteers at his local police precinct, was shot by a police officer while trying to rescue the officer from a gang of attackers. For a week while he lay in the hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg, he received no official words of thanks. Finally, police said that he was no longer a "possible suspect."
January 8, 1998
Huntington Beach, CA
Under the new "Teen Driver Safety Act," minors will be required to hold a learner's permit for at least six months and have a minimum of 50 hours of supervised driving before taking the driver's test. During the first six months a driver has a provisional license, they can't have any passengers under 20 without special permission, or without being accompanied by a driver at least 25 years old. New teen drivers will also be prohibited from driving between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. during the first year of their provisional license.
January 7, 1998
Santa Clarita, CA
Michael Egan, 18, and Mark Clark, 23, are both running for City Council seats in April. Ryan Krell, an 18-year-old, has also picked up election paperwork.
January 3, 1998
Hamburg, Germany
Six of ten teenagers, aged 14 to 17, face charges of breaking and entering and property damage after breaking into a Boeing 757. The four other teens fled the scene and were being sought by authorities. An airport spokeswoman said the teens would never have been able to take the plane for a joyride because of a lack of mechanical know-how.
December 31, 1997
Mahlow, Germany
A gang of seven youths spray-painted a Nazi swasktika on the chest of a 14-year-old girl at a New Year's Eve party. The youths also punched and kicked the girl and shaved off her hair. Police were investigating two girls and five boys aged between 15 and 18 suspected of the crime.
December 22, 1997
Thousand Oaks, CA
Westlake High School wrestlers are under investigation for a hazing ritual that included pinning students down and prodding their buttocks with a broomstick dubbed "Pedro." The victims were fully clothed at the time.
December 20, 1997
Little Rock, AR
Joseph Colt Todd was charged as an adult with two counts of first degree battery for shooting two teenagers outside a rural Arkansas high school on December 15. Todd told officials he acted in retaliation but had not intended to shoot the students. He said he had been forced by some other classmates to pay money to avoid being beaten and it was humiliating.
December 20, 1997
Fairfield, IA
Two teenagers who killed 16 cats and maimed seven others in an attack on a shelter were sentenced to 23 days each in jail, one day for each of the animals they clubbed.
December 13, 1997
Oklahoma City, OK
Plainview High School made students pass a sobriety test to get into this year's Christmas dance. None of the 195 attendees failed the tests. Principal Stephen Matthews was so pleased that he plans to keep the tests in place for all of the school's future dances, including the prom. The school also required students leaving the dance to sign out, leaving a record of when they left to allow parents to track their children's evening.
December 7, 1997
Mountain Valley, CA
Last week, the Single Gender Academies, Southern California's first state-funded, single-sex schools, opened in a two-story office building with funding from a $500,000 state grant. Run by the Orange County Department of Education, it is the fourth campus of its kind in the state.
December 3, 1997
Doylestown, PA
Eight C.B. West High School students were arrested on drug charges resulting from a three month undercover drug sting in which a 26-year-old police officer posed as an 18-year-old senior and bought small quantities of marijuana and hashish.
December 1, 1997
West Paducah, KY
A 14-year-old boy shot eight students as a prayer meeting ended in a high school lobby, killing Kayce Steger, Jessica James and Nichole Hadley. The boy, who had three spare clips of ammunition and four other guns, surrendered when the leader of the prayer circle grabbed the teen after he stopped shooting. Afterward, the boy told Heath High School Principal Bill Bond, "I'm sorry."
December 1, 1997
Washington, DC
More than 90% of cities surveyed find curfews a useful tool for police officers, with several California cities reporting dramatic decreases in juvenile crime, according to a national survey of 347 cities. The report, from the U.S. Conference of Mayors did not include a statistical analysis of the effect curfews have had on crime. Rather, it canvassed opinions of city and police officials, and offered a largely anecdotal view.
November 22, 1997
Baltimore, MD
Two-thirds of the Northern High School student body was suspended for two days after defying orders from their principal to go to their homerooms for the last fifteen minutes of the day to pick up their report cards. The students complained that it would have forced them to miss their buses. Instead, the 1,200 students amassed at the doors and chanted "Hell no, we won't go!"
November 22, 1997
Princeton, NJ
The New Jersey School Boards Association voted to support giving school districts the power to conduct random drug testing for students. The 188 delegates decided not to vote on whether testing would be limited to high school students.
November 15, 1997
Pontiac, MI
A judge ordered an 11-year-old boy to stand trial as an adult on murder charges in the death of a teenager who was shot as he walked out of a liquor store last month.
November 15, 1997
Mount Vernon, WA
James E. Winkler, 21 pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of attempted third-degree child rape for having sex with a 15-year-old when he was 20. A year later, when the girl was 16, the age of consent in Washington, the two married.
November 14, 1997
Kent, WA
Mary Kay LeTourneau, 35, a teacher who had sex with a sixth-grade boy and gave birth to his child was sentenced to six months in jail and three years of outpatient treatment.
November 11, 1997
Collins, OH
At least 18 fifth-graders used the same needle to take their own blood during a science class experiment. The needle was disinfected with alcohol, but the Western Reserve School District later found out that may not have been enough to stop the possible spread of disease.
November 10, 1997
Washington, DC
Two Alabama girls who say they were forced to submit to strip searches after a second-grade classmate accused them of stealing $7 lost their Supreme Court appeal. Lower courts ruled that the teacher and guidance counselor who conducted the strip searches were immune from being sued because strip searching 8-year-old students was not clearly unconstitutional five years ago.
November 8, 1997
New York, NY
17-year-old Andre Burgess was shot in the leg after passing a car full of undercover law enforcement officers who were hunting for a drug dealer suspected of killing a Customs agent. One of the marshals apparently mistook the silver wrapper of the Three Musketeers bar in Burgess' hand for a pistol. Burgess complained that the marshal who shot him did not even apologize, and said he had been handcuffed on the ground for 10 minutes while bleeding.
October 28, 1997
Accidently Deleted, USA
A group of six boys, ages 9 to 14, were playing a game that involved pouring rubbing alcohol on the ground and setting it on fire with a candle. Two of the boys then poured the liquid on another player and set him on fire. The two were arrested and the victim suffered second degree burns.