MISTAKES BY TEENAGERS REQUIRE CONSEQUENCES

When young people make mistakes, they should learn to take
responsibility for them. Adults in authority should insist on it.

A couple of recent stories show that doesn't always
happen.

Doug Cobb, the father of former UNCG student Stephen Cobb, contacted
the News & Record last week to complain that his son wasn't treated
fairly.

No one can deny that life took a sharp turn for the worse for the
younger Cobb, a 19-year-old freshman from Raleigh, on March 24.

He was shot in the back during an alleged robbery attempt in his
residence hall on the UNCG campus. While recovering, he was charged
with possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana and felony
possession of marijuana. Next, he was expelled by the university.

Stephen Cobb didn't deserve to be shot, and the alleged assailant
faces serious criminal charges. But he also exposed himself and other
dorm residents to potential harm if, as alleged, he had a substantial
amount of marijuana in his room. UNCG was within its rights to send
him packing.

But not according to Doug Cobb, who said the drug issue was no big
deal: "Sales are being made and trades being made constantly on
university campuses," he told reporter Eric J.S. Townsend. "If it was
such a danger, would kids like my son trade in it? No."

No? What's more dangerous than gunfire in a residence hall? Rather
than talking about suing UNCG for reinstatement of his son, Doug Cobb
should be trying to instill a sense of responsibility in the young
man.

At Southeast Guilford High School, meanwhile, the state baseball
playoffs took on paramount importance last week. So much so,
apparently, that two 17-year-old team members who had been cited for
possession of alcohol the previous weekend were still allowed to
participate.

They were safe on a technicality. School policies prohibit the "use"
of alcohol but say nothing about possession. A sheriff's deputy found
the young athletes with beer in their vehicle before they'd had a
chance to drink it.

At least in this case the mother of one of the boys said, "They made a
mistake and we, their parents, are taking care of this."

But the school should have acted, too. A common-sense interpretation
of its policy would infer from the students' illegal possession of
alcohol that they intended to use it -- and would have if they hadn't
been prevented by an alert officer. An appropriate response was
required. Teaching a lesson about responsibility was more important
than the outcomes of a couple of baseball games, which Southeast lost
anyway.