Middle-Schoolers Suspended for Oregano Possession

Four Virginia middle-school boys have been suspended for passing around a plastic bag of oregano that looked like marijuana. "Maybe it was pizza day," chortled Gawker. The school called it an "imitation controlled substance," which is prohibited. But one of the boys' dads, the appropriately named Patrick Grass, is seeking legal help. "I know times have changed, and you can't do just anything in schools anymore," he said. "But there needs to be a certain amount of common sense applied to policies."

His seventh-grade son, Adam, has been suspended for 10 days, and he may be expelled. The four boys passed around the oregano that one of them had brought for "a joke," reports the Virginian-Pilot. The punishments are being appealed by parents. "Anything can happen in an appeal," said a spokesman for the schools system. (More crime stories.)