LAWYER DUBS HAMMOCK ACTION 'A TRAGIC MISTAKE'

Exercise common sense and let Gulf Shores High School's homecoming queen and
contender for valedictorian return to school, her attorney pleaded with the
Baldwin County school board Wednesday night.

Acting under a "zero tolerance" policy, officials expelled Virginia "Jenny"
Hammock in February after drug dogs sniffed small amounts of marijuana in
the Toyota 4-Runner she parked at school. Hammock denied knowing what the
marijuana was and came up clean on a drug test.

In a brief speech during which he was prohibited from using Hammock's name,
Foley attorney James May urged the superintendent and board members to undo
"a tragic mistake" by letting her return to Gulf Shores High before the
school year ends.

Her parents filed a suit in federal court asking that Hammock receive the
right to return to school. But a federal judge denied the injunction her
attorney sought. School officials, the judge ruled, did not violate her
rights to due process and offered her the chance to attend an alternative
school.

Hammock's family now plans to take the case to trial.

Throughout the case attorneys from both sides have disputed the amount of
drugs involved. The school board's attorney Bob Campbell said that police
found three joints of marijuana in the car. But officials with Mobile's
Department of Forensic Sciences said that they were provided with a specimen
that weighed less than one-tenth of a gram. And her parents were told by
police officers that they found an amount less than the size of a
fingernail.

While Hammock's case proceeds through the federal court, May asked to speak
before the school board during its monthly meeting to try to persuade them
to grant Hammock her diploma. School board rules prohibited May from using
Hammock's name and let him speak for no more than three minutes.

"You have the power to check what is a tragic mistake," May told the board
members. He described Hammock as "industrious, resourceful and imaginative."
He asked the members to "show the student that there is a reason, that there
is common sense" for her expulsion.

"She's asked for reason," May said. "She's been answered by zero tolerance."

The school board prefaced May's speech by saying that it does not take
action on such presentations at the meeting.

"They will either review the information that's shared or they direct staff
to follow up," said Denise D'Oliveira, a spokesperson for the Baldwin County
School Board.

Dr. Roy Hammock, Jenny's father, attended the meeting and appeared pleased
with May's comments.

"He couldn't have said it better," Hammock said.

Jenny, he said, was out of town at a volleyball tournament.

Hammock said that his daughter is deciding whether to attend Spring Hill
College instead of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta where she planned to
attend. He said that this experience has made her want to remain closer to
family. But because of this recent incident, he said that Spring Hill
College said they would accept her only on a conduct probation status.