SCHOOL SUSPENDS STUDENT

A Deer Creek Middle School sixth-grader has been suspended after marijuana
seeds and a plant stem were found his backpack.

The boy was found with a small amount of the illegal drug last week after a
teacher noticed him trying to hide something behind his back, said Lt.
Rickey Barrow of the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department.

The boy was taken to the principal's office, where he told school officials
that the backpack the drug was found in belonged to his older brother,
Barrow said.

Barrow said the student was not arrested and the matter will be handled by
the school district.

Deer Creek Middle School principal Jan Seely declined to release the boy's
name or age. The backpack did belong to the student's brother, she said.

''The kid found it in his bag and he was scared. This was not a case of a
kid bringing drugs to sell. This was a really innocent sixth-grader. It
(the marijuana) wasn't even enough for them to test,'' she said.

The boy was disciplined because he had possession of the drug, she said.
She would not release the specifics of the suspension except to say that it
was lengthy.