GIRL PUNISHED FOR SHARING ASTHMA INHALER

MOUNT AIRY, Md. (AP) -- When 12-year-old Christine Rhodes saw a classmate
having a severe asthma attack, she shared her prescription inhaler, making
her a hero to the other girl's mother.

But according to officials of Mount Airy Middle School, where Christine is a
sixth-grader, that makes her a drug trafficker. That goes in her records for
three years.

``She went from feeling like she was on top of the world to feeling like she
had done something terribly wrong,'' said her mother, Laura Rhodes.

``I think she's a heroine,'' said Donna Cianci, the mother of Brandy Dyer,
13, whom Christine helped. ``Brandy is fine, thanks to Christine.''

Mount Airy Principal Virginia Ashmore said she could not comment on the case.