Eagle Scout honor student expelled from school after forgetting gun locked in truck

[CaféAuLait]

Eagle Scout Facing Expulsion over Gun Charge

PRINCETON, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Johnston County high school student has been expelled for bringing a gun onto school property, but the school's student body is coming to his defense.

David "Cole" Withrow is a senior at Princeton High School. He was set to graduate in just a few weeks, until his arrest Monday for bringing a gun to school.

Cole, who is an Eagle Scout and an honors student, said he forgot to take his gun out of his truck after skeet shooting. When he got to school and realized the gun was in his car, he went into school to call his mom so he could leave and take the gun home.

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.

Students defend classmate expelled for gun | abc11.com

Withrow had spent the weekend camping with a group of his friends, including Boykin’s son. The boys went fishing for catfish on Saturday and skeet shooting on Sunday.

He realized he had left his shotgun in his truck on Monday morning as he reached to grab his book bag, said Boykin.

“He didn’t know what to do,” she 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.”

So the teenager, who did his senior class project on gun safety, locked his truck, walked to the front office and called his mother. That’s when the trouble started

.



Eagle Scout Facing Expulsion over Gun Charge | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes


So this kid was going to graduate with honors and now he can't. I also find it interesting that the vice principal made the same mistake and was only suspended for three days. I feel there should be a grey area and not so black and white. If the kid had not called his mother to do the right thing school adminstrators would have probably never know the gun was in his car.

 

[CaféAuLait]

FB page in support of Cole

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/246989748772461/

 

[CaféAuLait]

Wow, this gets better. The gun that was brought to school by the assistant principal was actually found and handled by students.

Auto mechanic students later found the gun and showed it among themselves, then hid it under the car when the instructor walked in, Amaon said.

Read more here: Johnston authorities: Assistant principal mistakenly brought gun to school | Johnston County | NewsObserver.com

 

[Little-Acorn]

A senior at Princeton High School near Raleigh, NC has been permanently expelled from school.

His crime: He went skeet shooting the day before with some friends, safely unloaded and locked up his shotgun in his truck afterward, and then forgot it was there the next day when he drove to school.

Then he made his BIG mistake. Upon remembering the gun was in his (locked) truck, he knew he couldn't legally leave the school to drive it home and come back. So he quietly called his mother and asked her to come and pick it up.

The mistake? His call was overheard by some zero-tolerance fanatic at the school.

Question: Who did the wrong thing? And who broke the law?

BTW, as a result of this incident, this Eagle Scout has also been charged with a felony.

---------------------------------------------

Honors Student & Eagle Scout Charged with Felony and Expelled After Accidentally Leaving Shotgun in Truck

Honors Student & Eagle Scout Charged with Felony and Expelled After Accidentally Leaving Shotgun in Truck

May 1 2013

According to Todd Starnes of Fox News, Cole Withrow, an Eagle Scout, honors student, and active church member has had his life turned upside down.

The trouble began when Withrow discovered he had accidentally left his shotgun in his truck once he arrived at school. He had been skeet shooting with some friends the day before.

Withrow tried to immediately call his mother to come and pick up the firearm, but he was overheard by a school official.

Withrow told officials the truth about what happened. Then he was arrested and immediately and permanently expelled from school.

According to Fox News,

“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 was just two weeks away from graduating with honors, but now he may not be able to graduate high school this year at all. He will have to wait 365 days in order to finish his last two weeks of high school. His life will be on pause – for trying to do the right thing.

Here is the phone number for the school: (919) 936-6431

Here is the phone number for the NC Governor’s office: (919) 733-5811

Follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #freecole

Link to full article on Fox News: Eagle Scout Facing Expulsion over Gun Charge | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes

 

[Little-Acorn]

BTW, guess what his school Senior Project was on?

Gun Safety.

The paranoid gun-haters have so twisted and warped our laws, that one of the best kids in the school, who treated his gun with perfect safety and secured it from any possible interlopers, has been expelled from school and charged with a felony.

It's clear to me who committed a crime here: The people who made the laws to cause him to be punished this way.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

His crime: He went skeet shooting the day before with some friends, safely unloaded and locked up his shotgun in his truck afterward, and then forgot it was there the next day when he drove to school.

Zero sympathy here – ‘forgot’ and ‘guns’ do not go together.

With gun ownership comes responsibility, and part of that responsibility is knowing gun laws, policies, rules, and regulations.

It’s better he learn a hard lesson at a young age.

Let’s hope this will compel him to never ‘forget’ about a gun again.

 

[aaronleland]

He should have received some form of punishment as a lesson, but expulsion is a bit much. Keeping a gun in his truck when he went to school definitely wasn't a bright idea for a kid who did a Senior Project on gun safety.

 

[Little-Acorn]

He should have received some form of punishment as a lesson, but expulsion is a bit much.

Probably his parents should take the gun away for a few weeks. His forgetting it was locked in his truck, warrants a punishment about that "bad".

Keeping a gun in his truck when he went to school definitely wasn't a bright idea for a kid who did a Senior Project on gun safety.

How do you figure?

What did he do that was unsafe?

 

[Wyatt earp]

With the felony thing, I was just stopped by a road block near work a week a go, I told the cop I had a gun on me and showed him my cwp and he told me you "know I could charge you with a felony"? I am like why? It was because the old owners of our factory had a no weapons sign on the property. I never knew that.

 

[Wyatt earp]

His crime: He went skeet shooting the day before with some friends, safely unloaded and locked up his shotgun in his truck afterward, and then forgot it was there the next day when he drove to school.

Zero sympathy here – ‘forgot’ and ‘guns’ do not go together.

With gun ownership comes responsibility, and part of that responsibility is knowing gun laws, policies, rules, and regulations.

It’s better he learn a hard lesson at a young age.

Let’s hope this will compel him to never ‘forget’ about a gun again.

But you have to understand rules varys so bad across the United states, they dont give you a rule book,.15 years ago it was illegal in Chicago to own a gun and god forbid you have any type of firework bigger then a smoke snake and here in South Carolina I can fire off sky rockets on the 4th of july.

 

[bripat9643]

His crime: He went skeet shooting the day before with some friends, safely unloaded and locked up his shotgun in his truck afterward, and then forgot it was there the next day when he drove to school.

Zero sympathy here – ‘forgot’ and ‘guns’ do not go together.

With gun ownership comes responsibility, and part of that responsibility is knowing gun laws, policies, rules, and regulations.

It’s better he learn a hard lesson at a young age.

Let’s hope this will compel him to never ‘forget’ about a gun again.

Horseshit. Intent is always a consideration when it comes to charging anyone with a violation.

This is just another example of the jihad the gun control fanatics are waging against the 2nd amendment. They want to make it understood to students that they are to be burned at the stake if they commit any heresies against the anti-gun religion.

 

[Lakhota]

His crime: He went skeet shooting the day before with some friends, safely unloaded and locked up his shotgun in his truck afterward, and then forgot it was there the next day when he drove to school.

Zero sympathy here – ‘forgot’ and ‘guns’ do not go together.

With gun ownership comes responsibility, and part of that responsibility is knowing gun laws, policies, rules, and regulations.

It’s better he learn a hard lesson at a young age.

Let’s hope this will compel him to never ‘forget’ about a gun again.

Amen!

 

[CaféAuLait]

I made a thread about this several hours ago. There is more information there.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/curre...e-scout-facing-expulsion-over-gun-charge.html


What kills me is the assistant principal, Catherine Bennett left a LOADED gun in her car which students found and then passed that gun around to one another showing it off. Anyone of those students in the auto mechanics class that found the gun could have been killed or wounded by playing with the gun the assistant principal accidently left in her car. She was suspended for a mere 3 days WITH PAY, the sherrifs employee who found the weapon in her car and RETURNED it to her car allowing students to find it later in the auto mechanics class was suspended for 2 days with pay.

One would think that such an egregious violation would have meant more than 3 days suspension given the punishment Cole faces. Cole tried to right his wrong immediately believing he was doing the right thing. Instead we have an assistant principal Catherine Bennett who actually put lives in immediate danger given 3 days paid suspension, while a boy trying to do the right thing is punished in a ridiculous manner. Next time will a child do the right thing knowing that they might face brutal consequences while adults seemingly walk scot-free? What does that teach our children?

 

[CaféAuLait]

FB page in support of Cole

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/246989748772461/

. On this page there are students who found the principals gun and amazingly they were facing disciplinary charges at some point. This issue is how the law was applied here, for one it is a felony but the other, an adult who is supposed to set an example she was let off the hook with a mere paid suspension after allowing students access to a loaded weapon but Cole faces 365 days suspension for trying to right his wrong immediatly. The principals gun was lost for 2 weeks! The double standard is ridiculous!

 

[Big Black Dog]

If the lad is smart enough to be an Eagle Scout he should be smart enough to not forget his gun was in the truck.

 

[Wyatt earp]

His crime: He went skeet shooting the day before with some friends, safely unloaded and locked up his shotgun in his truck afterward, and then forgot it was there the next day when he drove to school.

Zero sympathy here – ‘forgot’ and ‘guns’ do not go together.

With gun ownership comes responsibility, and part of that responsibility is knowing gun laws, policies, rules, and regulations.

It’s better he learn a hard lesson at a young age.

Let’s hope this will compel him to never ‘forget’ about a gun again.

Horseshit. Intent is always a consideration when it comes to charging anyone with a violation.

This is just another example of the jihad the gun control fanatics are waging against the 2nd amendment. They want to make it understood to students that they are to be burned at the stake if they commit any heresies against the anti-gun religion.

thanks dude for that, but you do know there is limitations on any amendment. but we cant let them go to far. we have to work on a compromise. and just let it be the law on the land. the 1968 gun bill has to go becuse its unfair.

 

[CaféAuLait]

If the lad is smart enough to be an Eagle Scout he should be smart enough to not forget his gun was in the truck.

Maybe, but he tried to correct the situation immediatly by calling his mother. What did the school district teach to its student body when it came to the assistant principal? It taught them that bringing a loaded weapon to school and virtually handing the loaded gun to kids to pass around was really no big deal. Why should the kids be worried if they leave an unloaded weapon in the car?

Don’t get me wrong I think that Cole made a mistake but instead of administrators seeing it as a mistake they are treating it as a black and white situation, while they allowed MANY shades of grey when it came to an assistant principal doing far worse.

 

[Mr. H.]

I hate, hate, hate schools.
Administrators, principals, supervisors.

 

[Connery]

If the lad is smart enough to be an Eagle Scout he should be smart enough to not forget his gun was in the truck.

I agree, nevertheless the punishment is onerous and does not serve society or the scout in any meaningful way.

 

[CaféAuLait]

I hate, hate, hate schools.
Administrators, principals, supervisors.

This whole thing is insane if you ask me. The kid made a mistake just like the principal did in 2011. They said she made a mistake, in fact they also said the Sherriff’s employee made a mistake in returning the loaded gun to the car where students found it since they were repairing her car in mechanics class and in turn played with a loaded weapon. So why is it a mistake for an adult and not the kid whose offence seems far less than the principal’s?


Then of course we have the little girl, 5 years old speaking about a bubble gun and she was suspeded.