Horsing Around, Kids Face Drug Rap Telling Friend Manure Was Pot, Joke’s Now On 2 ‘Honest Students’

Everyone agrees it was just a prank that backfired, but the class clown and a friend at Westview Junior High may be facing felony charges for it.

Who could guess that Montana has a law forbidding you to sell horse manure to a friend and tell him it’s marijuana?

“We didn’t know it was illegal,” one boy told the stony-faced Hamilton School Board on Thursday.

“We thought it would be funny to play a joke,” the other added.

A third boy, the prospective customer, told Principal Bob Smith of the offer. Smith financed the $10 buy from his own pocket and brought along a janitor and a police officer to witness the transaction the next morning.

The officer issued citations ordering the two pranksters to appear next Tuesday before a juvenile probation officer, who will decide whether to recommend felony charges.

The 12-year-old have already been suspended from school for a week and will spend next semester under strict rules of behavior with suspension hanging over their heads. They went before the school board Thursday.

“Do you boys realize the seriousness of this?” board member Gail Lewis asked.

“We didn’t then, but we do now,” one boy replied.

They got the idea from a discussion at a recent birthday party at one boy’s home, they said.

The young pusher didn’t lie when Smith questioned him. The second boy later confirmed the story and said if he hadn’t been late for school that morning he would have been the seller.

They planned to return the $10 when the buyer came back mad, they said.

Smith described both boys as “good, honest students” and said one has a reputation for being a “clown and a joker.” They were not identified at the school board hearing, and their names will not be public records unless they are charged.

The Montana law prohibits the sale or distribution of imitation dangerous drugs.