This kid is NOT a criminal

[scott9050]

16 year old honor student and Eagle scout and graduating early forgets to remove his unloaded shotgun from his car and tries to do the right thing. The Liberals in charge decide to destroy his life:

http://www.wral.com/classmates-rally-ar ... /12401713/

Princeton, N.C. — The Princeton High School community is rallying around a student who was arrested and expelled for having an unloaded shotgun in his car in the school's parking lot.

David Cole Winthrow, 16, was charged Monday with bringing a weapon on educational property, which is a felony. He was expelled from school and won't be allowed to graduate with his class later this month.

Family friend Kim Boykin said Winthrow, an Eagle Scout and honors student, accidentally left his gun in the car after skeet shooting over the weekend. When he realized, he went inside to ask school officials if he could leave campus to take the gun home, but an administrator reported the weapon to police.

"To have him arrested and expelled from school is excessive," she said. "He locks his vehicle, goes inside and tries to do the right thing."

Others in the Princeton High community agree that Winthrow's punishment is too harsh, especially after charges weren't filed when a loaded gun was found in an assistant principal's car two years ago. The assistant principal and a school resource officer were each suspended for three days without pay in that incident.

Johnston County schools spokeswoman Tracey Peedin Jones said the school system has to follow state law regarding weapons on campus.

"Please know that with student and personnel issues, we carefully balance all factors to arrive at a fair and just outcome," she said in a statement Wednesday. "Certain items are mandated and we have no choice but to follow the law."

Boykin said Winthow's family isn't upset with school administrators, but believes the law is too strict.

"With no areas for mistakes or human error or gray area in there, that just can't apply to everything," she said.

Students have been painting "Free Cole" on their cars and a local printer even designed a "Free Cole for Doing the Right Thing" bumper sticker.

"I believe he did the right thing by being truthful and being honest," said Joseph Canzaniello of Express Signs. "His integrity will be held intact no matter what happens to him."

[GeneFrenkle]

A day of detention for violation? ahight (but begrudgingly, it was wrong, but was being corrected)... but a felony, no way - there was no intent. That boy shows uncommon valor, honor, and integrity. Leave it to the schools to make felony of a non-issue.

[scott9050]

This will affect this kid for the rest of his life if convicted. Hopefully some cooler heads prevail.

[scott9050]

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/to ... harge.html

Eagle Scout Cole Withrow was just a few weeks from graduating with honors from his North Carolina high school, but now the active church member is facing a felony weapons charge and a precarious future after accidentally leaving a shotgun in his pickup truck in the school parking lot.

Most members of the Johnston County community, just southeast of Raleigh believe the 18-year-old is paying far too big a price for an honest mistake. Withrow had been skeet shooting with friends a day before, and only noticed he had left his shotgun in his truck on Monday morning as he reached to grab his book bag, said family friend Kimberly Boykin. When he realized his mistake, rather than leave school grounds, he went to the front office to call his mother for help.

“He didn’t know what to do,” Boykin, whose son is friends with Withrow, told Fox News. “If you jump in the truck and leave, then they get you for skipping school. Once you are there you have to say.

“I think it’s an injustice for this young man,” she added. “He’s a good guy. He’s loved by his classmates and his teachers. You don’t become an Eagle Scout by being a bad seed.”

She said the school district is sending a very bad message to students.

“You teach your kids if you’re in trouble or if you see you’ve done something wrong, go ahead and admit it,” she said. “Be a man and it’ll be fixed. In this case, that’s what he did and he’s being punished for it. That’s not the lesson we need to teach our kids.”

Withrow, who did his senior class project on gun safety, locked the gun in his truck before going to call his mother. But when he asked her to come and take the gun, the trouble started.

“He was overheard in a private conversation with his mother explaining what happened,” Boykin said. “He could have told a story, but he told the truth.”

A spokesperson for Johnston County Schools confirmed to Fox News that they found the shotgun in Withrow’s locked vehicle.

“The law is very clear when a person knowingly and willingly brings a weapon onto educational property,” spokesperson Tracey Peedin Jones said. “The situation was turned over to law enforcement immediately.”

Boykin said he was also expelled for 365 days – meaning that he will not be able to graduate from high school.

“He cannot go back on the campus,” Boykin said. “If that happens he won’t get a diploma. He won’t get to walk across the stage with the kids he’s known since birth. He won’t get to start college in the fall.”

Withrow’s arrest has sparked outrage across this small town, southeast of Raleigh. A Facebook page has been launched to generate support for the boy – and students have launched a Twitter hash-tag “#FREECOLE.”

“He is very honest and respectable and would never intentionally try to hurt anyone,” said classmate Kelcie Thomas. “It was an honest mistake and my whole school is backing him up and supporting him fully.”

The Withrow family is not talking to the media on the advice of their attorney – but Boykin said the family is just heartbroken.

“It’s almost like they are in a fog – something so innocent has turned into this big to-do,” she said. “When you try to do the right thing, you get in trouble.”

The school system is standing by their decision.

“Administration reacted promptly and the proper procedures and protocol were followed,” Jones said. “The situation was turned over to law enforcement immediately. As a result of our investigation, it is our best determination that students and staff were safe at all times.”

Boykin said the problem is that the laws are black and white.

“There’s no room for gray area,” she said. “There’s no room for discretion for human error.”

While his future remains unclear, Boykin said an encounter last week sums up the character of Cole Withrow.

“The kids got their caps and gowns on Friday and after school a group of them went to a local Mexican restaurant,” she recounted.

“They were being loud teenagers and carrying on – but when the waiter brought their food – the table got quiet. They all bowed their heads and they said the blessing. Cole was one of those kids.”

Boykin said she cried when another mom told her that story.

“They don’t always make the right decisions,” she said. “But I don’t know what other kind of decision he could have made at that point.”

Like many in this town of 1,000 residents, Boykin is dumbfounded.

“Honestly, my heart just broke,” she said. “I know that it was just an honest mistake.”

[WRW]

“The law is very clear when a person knowingly and willingly brings a weapon onto educational property,” spokesperson Tracey Peedin Jones said. “The situation was turned over to law enforcement immediately.”

Sounds more like a mere oversight to me.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[GeneFrenkle]

“The law is very clear when a person knowingly and willingly brings a weapon onto educational property,” spokesperson Tracey Peedin Jones said. “The situation was turned over to law enforcement immediately.”

Sounds more like a mere oversight to me.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

+1 - clearly it wasn't known or willingly done otherwise there wouldn't have been any attempt to correct it. This is clearly a case where the law is manufacturing criminals.

[dorminWS]

BULLSH!T. TWO THINGS about that story say it all for me:

THING #1:
“The law is very clear when a person knowingly and willingly brings a weapon onto educational property,” spokesperson Tracey Peedin Jones said. “The situation was turned over to law enforcement immediately.”
............................................
THING #2:
Boykin said the problem is that the laws are black and white.

“There’s no room for gray area,” she said. “There’s no room for discretion for human error.”
.............................................

Doesn't sound to me like it was "knowingly and willingly". Not only have the school administrators been a bunch of asshats, but so have the local law enforcement folks, it looks to me like. OF COURSE there's room for discretion and human error. But you have to understand plain English and have at least as much sense a God gave a jackass. Obviously, the powers that be in Johnston County, NC cannot bring the requisite resources to bear. I'd like to be the judge that heard this case. I'd find the boy not guilty, order the school board to issue the kid his diploma, purge his record, and order the prosecutor to charge the school officials and police officers with malicious prosecution, and sanction the prosecutor for not dropping frivolous charges.

[WRW]

Amen, dormin.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[GeneFrenkle]

last paragraph from http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?secti ... id=9085197

"Some in the community wonder how a senior with just days left of school can be expelled when two years ago, the school's assistant principal accidentally brought a loaded gun to school in her car and was only suspended for three days."

Clearly they are people of conviction and equality. But in the administrator's case, I'm sure it was clearly accidental (by decree?) and therefore handled differently.

I was trying to find their phone number to voice support for the lad. Lookie what I found at http://wtsbradio.com/wp-content/uploads ... aries1.pdf

Peedin Jones, Tracey Executive Director - Public Information $74,232.00

[scott9050]

Just got this alert:

Just In: David Cole Winthrow, a Princeton High School senior who says he inadvertently brought an unloaded shotgun onto school property, will be allowed to graduate, an attorney for Johnston County Schools says.

Sounds like public pressure is getting to them

[GeneFrenkle]

and the felony charges???

[VBshooter]

He should have just kept quiet about it and took it home at the end of the day,,, Sometimes being a "Boy Scout" doesn't work

[j1mmyd]

Hopefully some "jury nullification" can be applied if it makes it that far.

[gunderwood]

He should have just kept quiet about it and took it home at the end of the day,,, Sometimes being a "Boy Scout" doesn't work

+1

It's a hard lesson to learn. Hopefully the felony is dropped. Everyone is mad at the administration, and they should be, but the LEO who arrested him had no common sense either.

[dusterdude]

Bet he never opens his mouth again

[Kreutz]

Good intentions lead to Hell and apparently sodomy in prison.

Well, someone learned a lesson about honesty and how rules do not apply equally. No three days without pay for you young man!

[dmharvey]

Here's another student who recently fell victim to mindless "zero tolerance" policies.

Teen Girl Expelled, Charged With a Felony After Science Experiment Goes Awry
http://news.yahoo.com/teen-girl-expelle ... 06336.html

[Kreutz]

Here's another student who recently fell victim to mindless "zero tolerance" policies.

Teen Girl Expelled, Charged With a Felony After Science Experiment Goes Awry
http://news.yahoo.com/teen-girl-expelle ... 06336.html

You know, something didn't sound right (a water bottle?)

And lo and behold:

The aluminum foil and drain cleaner reaction is a go-to science experiment. The problem seems to be that she wasn't doing the experiment under controlled safety conditions, as in class or with her teachers. In the police report, Wilmot claimed it was in preparation for the science fair, but supposedly the science teachers said there was no upcoming science fair, according to ABC Action News. And the experiment was also done on school grounds (it was outdoors).

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/kiera-wi ... z2SEDZ9Bkv

Basically she and her friend were fckin around behind the school. The charges are draconian but there was some mischievous idiocy at play here, this wasn't in the school science lab or anything.

[scott9050]

Two colleges are offering him scholarships:

http://www.wral.com/attention-after-gun ... /12404125/

[mfm16]

No he isn't a criminal. The liberal machine is attempting to eradicate their threat, die hard americans, one person at a time.