cannabisnews.com: Bong, not Bomb, Cause Evacuation of 1,000 Students





Bong, not Bomb, Cause Evacuation of 1,000 Students
Posted by FoM on April 21, 2000 at 11:03:52 PT
The Associated Press 
Source: Nando Times
A group of New Hanover County high school students trying to get high caused an evacuation of 1,000 students when their furtive actions were misunderstood on the anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting. "What we have is a B-O-N-G, not a B-O-M-B," said Capt. David Smithey of the New Hanover County Sheriff's Department. 
The events began about 11 a.m. Thursday when seven teens were spotted walking along the woods behind Roland-Grise Middle School. The seven ran when approached by the deputy assigned to the school, but eventually were located. A search turned up a cardboard fireworks tube in a drainpipe. Because the seven wouldn't tell police what they were doing, about 1,000 middle school students were evacuated to the park across the street. Alarmed parents flocked to the school to pick up their children. Police blocked off streets around the school while officers searched the area. A "boom" echoed from behind the school when the bomb squad destroyed the cardboard fireworks tube that had been used to carry the bong. Found among the cardboard shards was a scattering of small change. "The bottom held about 80 cents, which we thought could have been some sort of shrapnel," Smithey said. Only after the bomb squad obliterated the black cardboard tube did detectives learn that it was a bong case, not a bomb case. A bong is a smoking device in which a pipe is inserted into a tube, and the inside is filled partially with water. The water cools the smoke and allows the smoker to take large amounts into his lungs. It typically is used to smoke marijuana. Even though the teens were caught well before the evacuation and detonation, police couldn't find out from them what they had stashed in the drainpipe, Smithey said. After hours of questioning, the bong was found in nearby woods. Two students were released without charges. One 15-year-old Hoggard student was charged as a juvenile with possession of drug paraphernalia. The other four were charged as adults and released on $1,000 bonds. The schools were on heightened security because it was the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, said Norm Shearin, deputy superintendent of the New Hanover County Schools. "They picked a bad day," Smithey said. From Time to Time: Nando's in-depth look at the 20th century. Wilmington:Published: April 21, 2000Copyright © 2000 Nando Media
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Comment #3 posted by Frustrated on April 21, 2000 at 22:10:40 PT
sadly they took away a nice pipe...
when i saw this on the local news, it just made me mad. they have been persecuting the (granted) foolish students who have done bomb threats in the last year...one kid who made a bomb threat last November 1999 is STILL in jail because his parents can't raise the money on his $500,000 bond (local murderers frequently have bonds of anyway the cops took away a nice green alien pipe---too bad they freaked out on these kids...
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Comment #2 posted by freedom fighter on April 21, 2000 at 14:48:59 PT
I remembered
the day it happened since it happened in my town, One of the cops said," those two kids must be on drugs or something."It turned out that these stooopid kids were straight and squared when they started shooting up!!Peace
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Comment #1 posted by legalizeit on April 21, 2000 at 12:23:40 PT
stupid columbine shooters...
...why did they have to pick 4/20, of all days, to shoot up the school? Now for the next 10+ years any possibility of something positive on the media about cannabis on 4/20 will be choked out by endless rehashing of the Columbine anniversary.Like an LA radio talk show host said yesterday, why does the rest of the country care about Columbine? Remembering its anniversary might help residents of Littleton cope, but for the rest of the country it just causes undue tension at other schools and results in nonsense like this.Of course, if it had been a tobacco pipe instead of a bong, no big deal!
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