STUDENTS GET SUPREME LESSON IN JUSTICE FROM BONG-HITS CASE

Hey there, everybody, bong hits 4 Jesus!

I thought that might get your attention.

When a high school senior in Juneau, Alaska, was busted for holding up
a 14-foot sign reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" at a parade, he undoubtedly
never dreamed his actions would be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Not to mention debated by the kids in Tim Nyenhuis' government class
at D.C. Everest Junior High School in Weston.

"I would take it as a drug sign" and therefore contrary to the
policies of the school, Jeff Howdeshell argued to his fellow
ninth-graders who were portraying Supreme Court justices as a class
project.

"It's not a drug-related issue. It's more about freedom of speech,"
said Cari Kemp, who took the opposing side in support of student
Joseph Frederick.

In 2002, young Mr. Frederick was standing across the street from his
high school in Juneau when he unfurled the banner. Classes had been
let out so students could go outside to see the Olympic torch go by.

Principal Deborah Morse suspended Frederick from school. She did not
appreciate the druggie sound of his sign.

The Supreme Court heard arguments on the case last month, and the
Wisconsin students who were in Washington on a field trip listened to
some of it.

The high court is expected to issue a decision by July.

But the Everest Junior High supreme court has already ruled in favor
of the student. It was unanimous, which isn't surprising since these
justices are teens themselves and not stodgy old adults.

The school wasn't sponsoring the parade, the kid court found. The
student made the sign with his own materials from home and was not
displaying it on school property. The sign did not cause any
disruption. Even if it had, that's something for the police to handle,
not the principal.

"The school had no right," the decision concludes, "to infringe upon
Frederick's rights to freedom of speech and expression."

That's right, power to the people. I would add, though, that most of
us parents would be darn glad to know it wasn't our kid holding up a
sign making drugs sound so appealing that even Jesus might inhale.

Frederick reportedly said he did it for attention and as a joke, not
to push pot.

The Weston students got an interesting lesson in competing rights and
in how the court operates.

Even though his argument didn't carry the day, Howdeshell still thinks
the principal did the right thing to spare people from having to look
at such a sign. A provocative message like that could have incited a
disturbance, he said.

His classmate Logan Goetsch and some other Weston students got an
additional lesson from this experience: how to protest.

As TV cameras pressed in close, a group called Students for Sensible
Drug Policy was staging a rally outside the Supreme Court. Goetsch
still remembers the chant he joined in on: "Teachers should teach, not
limit free speech."

"It was fun," Goetsch said. And what did his parents say when he told
them their 15-year-old was protesting in our nation's capital? "They
chuckled," he said. "They said, 'That fits you.' "

No harm done. He was just exercising his precious freedom of
speech.

The Supreme Court has to be careful about messing with
that.