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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

School reduces phone suspension

Compiled from wire reports The Spokesman-Review

Columbus, Ga. Following hundreds of angry phone calls and e-mails, school officials in this Army base city have reduced a suspension imposed on a student who wouldn’t give up his cell phone while talking to his mom – a sergeant on duty in Iraq.

The angry calls about the boy’s suspension got so bad at one point that secretaries had to take their phones off the hook, assistant principal Alfred Parham said.

Kevin Francois, a 17-year-old junior at Spencer High School, was suspended for 10 days for disorderly conduct Wednesday after a teacher told him to give up his cell phone outside the school during his lunch break and he refused, the teen said.

The boy said he had not expected the call from his mother, Sgt. 1st Class Monique Bates, who left in January for a one-year tour.

The teacher says the confrontation happened in a hallway, not outside, and that Francois never said the call was with his mother.

The punishment for violating the school cell phone policy is that the phone is confiscated until the end of the day. But Francois was suspended for cursing and being defiant, said Parham. That was extended to 10 because “he did not want to accept the three-day suspension and to agree that he would not use the cell phone openly or curse.”

“We are empathetic to all students whose parents serve in the armed forces … (but) we do have behavior standards which we uphold,” said Superintendent John A. Phillips Jr.

On Friday, the school district reduced the suspension to three days, which will allow Francois to return to school Monday, after officials met with him, the guardian who cares for him while his mother is out of the country, and a representative of her unit.

“People are fussing at us, calling us names,” said assistant principal Wendell Turner.

Volunteers restore Virgin Mary image

Chicago A stain on the wall of an expressway underpass that some believe resembles the Virgin Mary is again attracting visitors after two car wash employees cleaned graffiti and brown paint off the image.

Rosa Diaz and Anna Reczek used a degreaser to clean the wall Friday on their lunch break.

Onlookers said they again could see the Virgin Mary. The Illinois Department of Transportation has said the stain was likely the result of salt runoff on the emergency turnoff area under the Kennedy Expressway.

A man had scrawled the words “Big Lie” in shoe polish on the image Thursday night, and authorities charged Victor Gonzalez of Chicago with criminal damage to state-supported property, a misdemeanor.

Gonzalez, 37, told relatives he believed visitors were worshipping a graven image in violation of the Second Commandment, said Mandy Gonzalez, who identified herself as Gonzalez’s niece.

On Friday, Chicago police directed transportation workers to paint over the image with brown paint for safety reasons.

‘Fishing Hat Bandit’ delivers guilty pleas

St., Paul, Minn. John Whitrock, the bank robber dubbed the “Fishing Hat Bandit” for the floppy hat he sometimes wore during heists, pleaded guilty Friday to 21 robberies and one attempted robbery in the Twin Cities.

Whitrock, 57, could get up to 20 years in prison on each count, but federal guidelines recommend a sentence between seven and nine years.

No sentencing date has been set.

Investigators said Whitrock was the holdup man in a floppy hat who stole more than $87,000 in a rash of robberies in the Twin Cities area from 2003 to 2005.

His attorney, Andrea George, said Whitrock was never violent.

“Remember, this is a guy who went into the bank and asked for the money and they just gave it to him,” George said. “It wasn’t like he had a gun and just pointed it at them.”