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Well, I'm probably dealing with an urban legend, but I saw this in the Wahington post, the AP wire, and CNN, so it probably is true. What has happened to the common sense in our society?

An 11 year old honor-roll girl was SUSPENDED for drawing a doodle stick figure of the teacher with an arrow through the head. She did not turn it in, it was in her binder - just a doodle! This is bad behavior, and the teacher should have scolded, given detention, called the parents, or had her write "I will not . . " 1000 times or something, but what did the school do? Called it "TERRORIST ACTIVITY" and suspended the little girl from school. What??

The only thing I have to add to the obvious stupidity of this, if we do have all the facts, is that I found the details on the superintendent who defended this as standard procedure, no big deal, he said, in effect.

Glenn Smartschan, Superintendent
Mount Lebanon School District,
7 Horsman Drive,
Pittsburgh, Pa. 15228-1107.
E-mail: gfs@bbs.mtlebanon.k12.pa.us

An e-mail or two might show our opinion.

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HERE IS THE NEWS CLIP:

Girl Suspended in Doodle of Teacher

MOUNT LEBANON, Pa. (AP) - A school suspended an 11-year-old girl for drawing two teachers with arrows through their heads, saying the stick figures were more death threat than doodle.

Becca Johnson, an honor-roll sixth-grader at Mellon Middle School, drew the picture on the back of a vocabulary test on which she had gotten a D.

"That's my way of saying I'm angry," Becca said, adding she meant no harm to the teachers.

The stick figures, on a crudely drawn gallows with arrows in their heads, had the names of Becca's teacher and a substitute teacher written underneath. Another teacher spotted the doodle in the girl's binder Tuesday and reported it, prompting the three-day suspension.

Becca's parents, Philip and Barbara Johnson, denied the school's contention the drawings were "terrorist threats."

"She had done poorly on a test that was handed back to her. We've always told her that you can't take your feelings out on your teacher, so write about it or draw it, as a catharsis," Barbara Johnson said.

She accused the school of applying a zero-tolerance policy that "does away with due process and inflicts a penalty without a hearing or investigation."

The district said its zero-tolerance policy applies only to gun or drug possession, and denied that no investigation was done.

"All I can say is that when we have taken action related to the activities of students in the schools, we have done so after a thorough investigation," Mount Lebanon School District Superintendent Glenn Smartschan said.

2002-05-02 14:48:35 GMT

I feel terrible. I sent nasty e-mails (well at least rude, in retrospect) to two bidders who sniped (I learned that is what they call it) at the last moment and beat me at eBay auctions. They both were great when they responded, explaining in so many words in e-mail that they were just trying to bid and it wasn't personal. One was from Canada, and actually offered to let me have the item, and called the seller to see if they had another one! Of course I said it was not necessary, but it put me in my place. RGB

I am really upset with bidding on Ebay right now. I bid on a stupid part to fix an old banjo, just A $12 thing, and it was no big deal, but I had the high bid for like the last two days, and in the last 30 seconds some jackass outbid me. Out of the blue! And I didn't even know about it.

It has become too common a practice for bidders to steal bids like this. I have even heard that software can be used to automate this stealing process. I don't think that is in the spirit of the fair auction.

I'm not talking about the automatic bidding, if someone bids higher than necessary, and that automatically is entered for him. That is O.K. because he is willing to bid to that point. I'm talking about when one would be perfectly willing to bid another few bucks, but they don't get the chance! This is bad for the seller, too, since it stops the bidding at a lower price.

Now I have to admit, I have tried to do this last minute bidding myself in self defense, but I have realized that this is really not fun, and has sort of ruined Ebay for me. I have been selling and buying things on Ebay for years. Even before Ebay even started, I bought my Bach Trombone off the internet from a guy in the Midwest. I have had a lot of good experiences on Ebay, and funny ones as well, as have my relatives, but I think something has to change to make things fair and enjoyable again.

In an HONEST auction, the high bidder wins, not the scheming, fastest finger bidder. Right? The common good guys that made Ebay are not the ones who have the time to hover over the keyboards to steal bids in the last 30 seconds. If someone outbids me, or gets too high for my budget, FINE they get the item. But I have a bad taste in my mouth when auctions come down to robotic bidding, without my ability to bid higher even on lower priced items.

SO I HAVE A PROPOSAL that I will send to Ebay. The auctions should end ONLY after the highest bid has been uncontested for say 10 minutes. 10 minutes is not much to ask for in a 7 day auction! If somebody beats my bid, the auction is automatically extended another 10 minutes to see if I want to bid again. And if I do bid higher, they have 10 minutes to respond, etc. This way, it will go back to being an auction to the highest bidder, not the best timed schemer or luck of the fastest finger.

This would end the bid stealing, and you will not have to micro-manage your bid to the last second.

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I've always been groaned at a little when I start with the puns, which of course is music to the ears of punsters. There is a branch of paranomasia (how 'bout that 25 cent word) that proposes names for people that may have a not-so-hidden meaning. Car Talk and Prarie Home Companion both have used pseudo-names in their credits, for example. Here are a few to say out loud:

Horrace Trader
Howie Doodat
Hugh Jankles
Ida Donemore
Iona dePlace
Isabel Ringing
Isaiah Prayer
Jerry Atrix
Jim Nazium
Joaquin DeDogg
Justin Tyme
Juliet Buggs (Julie, I told you not to)
Justin Tyme
Kay Sabere (not just a six pack)
Layne Downe
Linus Upp
Lou Dact
Luke N. Good
Lynn C. Doyle
Orson Buggy
Reba derchi (Audie Ohs?) (Cy Onara?)
Rhoda Dendron
Rocko Gibraltar .
Roland DeHay
Sid E. Lights
Mike Easter
Noah Count
Noah Vail
Trudy Votion
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