www.wnbc.com/education/3805113/detail.html

Teen Civil War Buff Busted For Having Musket In Trunk

POSTED: 8:11 am EDT October 13, 2004

PINE BUSH, N.Y. -- A teenage Civil War buff has been suspended from school and faces serious charges after his replica musket was found in his car trunk at school in the Orange County community of Pine Bush.

Joshua Phelps had been at a reenactment with his Civil War costume, including a musket last week. He threw the uniform and equipment into his truck and forgot about it. Tuesday a security guard at the Pine Bush High School saw it and called police.

Phelps was sitting in study hall when the security guard told him to go to the assistant principal. When he was told they saw the rifle he wasn't concerned, thinking they would understand it was part of his costume.

But it didn't happen that way. Town of Crawford Police were called and Phelps was cuffed and charged with a misdemeanor charge of criminal possession of a weapon.

His mother, Valerie Michaels, is outraged, saying the school has blown this thing way out of proportion. She also says in the trunk was a costume, shoes, leather belt, powder keg, and a leather cartridge box.

Phelps used the costume when taking part of the reenactment of the Battle of Chancellorville which was staged by the 124th New York State Volunteers. The reenactors say they are models of the unit that came from Orange County and fought in the Civil War. High school students were recruited to take part in the reenactors club. Phelps' mother questions why the students are given fake guns if they can be arrested for having them.

Pine Bush School Superintendent Rose Marie Stark called the incident a student discipline matter and declined to comment further.

dupe

good work school ninja!

unfukinbelievable

You know that those muskets can spray down babies with uber big bullets, right?

Its all about the thrust-per-squeeze.

"Zero Tolerance" actually means "Zero Thinking" on the part of the school administrators.

Great. They busted one of the few people in their school system who actually has some intellectual curiosity about American history. Way to go!

Man that is bs