quote:Originally posted by Lainie: I would also point out that clothing made for females unfortunately tends to have fewer pockets than clothing made for males. Jeans generally have the same number of pockets, but not all girls wear jeans every day.
Also, womens' jeans usually have smaller pockets. Y'know, wince women carry purses to keep their stuff in. I can barely fit my own hand in some of my jeans' pockets, much less store anything useful in them.
A lot of my jeans don't have back pockets and some are so tight that the front pockets are useless anyway. I have one pair of jeans that only has one pocket and if I try *really* hard I can fit a chapstick in there. I can't imagine what I would do if I was on my period and couldn't have my purse, especially since I use pads, not tampons.
-------------------- Get used to his bad habits and decide whether you can put up with them...the rest of your life. 'Cause if you don't, then one day, you find yourself in the shed, sharpening the axe and idly wondering how thick the human skull really is. -ChickyBee Posts: 64 | From: Bristol, Rhode Island/Columbia, Maryland | Registered: Dec 2006
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My senior year they were beginning renovations to the high school so the powers that be decided since seniors often have cars, they should be the ones to lose their lockers. Never mind that we weren't supposed to be going out to our cars between classes- the ones who had cars, anyway. Some of our classes were in an old elementary school over on the next block and we weren't supposed to drive between the schools either though we did anyway. Have to love logic.
I don't know how they expect girls to get by without some kind of a small purse for those necessary personal items. Mine generally held not only my tampons and such, but my birth control pills... I'm having a very difficult time understanding this policy.
-------------------- "There is a race between mankind and the universe. Mankind is trying to build bigger, better, faster, and more foolproof machines. The universe is trying to build bigger, better, and faster fools. So far the universe is winning." -Albert Einstein Posts: 1058 | From: Yakima, WA | Registered: Dec 2005
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quote:"We allow students, both female and male, to carry a small bag," Assistant Principal Tindyl Rund says. "It can hold pencils, a calculator, ChapStick - we showed the students several examples. We have termed them "hand-size.'"
IMO, that doesn't change the fact that the rule is silly and unlikely to have any real positive effect.
It's simply not logical to assume that a person who wanted to bring a weapon to school would be stopped by a ban on purses. There's already a ban on weapons (not to mention a ban on shooting people), and there are other ways to hide a weapon. Has there been a school shooting where a weapon was hidden in a purse?
-------------------- How homophobic do you have to be to have penguin gaydar? - Lewis Black Posts: 8322 | From: Columbus, OH | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Spamamander in a pear tree: I don't know how they expect girls to get by without some kind of a small purse for those necessary personal items. Mine generally held not only my tampons and such, but my birth control pills... I'm having a very difficult time understanding this policy.
I have to ask...why would it be necessary to carry birth control pills from class to class?
I think a lot of people are confusing "necessary" with "I really like to have these things with me".
-------------------- "The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." - G.K. Chesterton Posts: 1514 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Spamamander in a pear tree: I don't know how they expect girls to get by without some kind of a small purse for those necessary personal items. Mine generally held not only my tampons and such, but my birth control pills... I'm having a very difficult time understanding this policy.
Not that I agree with this policy either, but...
Why would you need your birth control pills at school?
Nonny
-------------------- When there isn't anything else worth analyzing, we examine our collective navel. I found thirty-six cents in change in mine the other day. Let no one say that there is no profit in philosophy. -- Silas Sparkhammer Posts: 10141 | From: Toronto, Ontario | Registered: Apr 2000
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My school allowed purses, but there were rules about what you could and couldn't have in them (backpacks too). They were randomly searched, and non-permitted items were confiscated. (What were they usually searching for? Tylenol. Apparently, too many girls were carrying around "in-case-of-cramps" Tylenol in their purses, and thanks to the no-tolerance policy, that got you suspended. So, in my senior year, when they really came down hard on it, there was a huge fad for poison rings. If you wore one poison ring on each hand, you could carry a single dose of emergency Tylenol, search free. They've relaxed the rule significantly since I graduated. And you're also now allowed to call your parents and ask for pain reliever if you need it.)
Most people in the area thought the search rules at my school were way too harsh. I'm having a hard time seeing how anyone can be behind banning purses outright. It seems pointless and pretty ridiculous.
-------------------- "In perfume, as in underwear, the scantiest of applications provides the greatest of returns." -Silas Sparkhammer Posts: 858 | From: Arlington, Texas | Registered: Aug 2005
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A "hand size" bag can hold plenty of drugs, a small gun, certainly a switchblade, all sorts of other things. This ban is useless and I agree that it is just being suggested to pacify the complainers - like Johnny T suggested - see, we're doing something.
It's beyond stupid that you can't carry a single Tylenol. There's "no tolerance" and then there's just plain "no brains."
To quote a great movie, "If we don't start trusting our children, how will they ever learn to become trustworthy?"
-------------------- HA! That's so funny I forgot to laugh...excluding that first Ha. -Stewie Griffin Posts: 112 | From: Albuquerque, NM | Registered: Oct 2006
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Buckleupp, I was thinking the same thing. If it can fit pencils, a calculator and/or chapstick, it can fit drugs and some kind of weapon. I don't understand what the difference between a purse and a "hand-size" bad is supposed to be. Many of my purses (yes, I have more than three) would be considered that size.
-------------------- Get used to his bad habits and decide whether you can put up with them...the rest of your life. 'Cause if you don't, then one day, you find yourself in the shed, sharpening the axe and idly wondering how thick the human skull really is. -ChickyBee Posts: 64 | From: Bristol, Rhode Island/Columbia, Maryland | Registered: Dec 2006
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Yes, it's pointless and moronic. But in their minds, they're heroes! Because they're DOING something.
Idiots.
-------------------- "We've got a fifth member of the band round here, and he's DEFINITELY out of tune!" -- Keith Moon
"If I had a thousand quid for every time I've introduced this song --- oh, I do!" -- John Entwistle Posts: 584 | From: Ohio | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Nonny Mouse, on Santa's laptop: Not that I agree with this policy either, but...
Why would you need your birth control pills at school?
Nonny
Well... mostly because I was uncomfy with mom finding 'em. My purse was the most personal space I had, and it was always on me.
-------------------- "There is a race between mankind and the universe. Mankind is trying to build bigger, better, faster, and more foolproof machines. The universe is trying to build bigger, better, and faster fools. So far the universe is winning." -Albert Einstein Posts: 1058 | From: Yakima, WA | Registered: Dec 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Nonny Mouse, on Santa's laptop:
quote:Originally posted by Spamamander in a pear tree: I don't know how they expect girls to get by without some kind of a small purse for those necessary personal items. Mine generally held not only my tampons and such, but my birth control pills... I'm having a very difficult time understanding this policy.
Not that I agree with this policy either, but...
Why would you need your birth control pills at school?
Nonny
I'm assuming she meant that because it has to be taken at the same time every day, if you choose to take your pill in the middle of the day during school you keep the whole pill pack on your person. I take mine at noon, so if I had a class at the time, I'd take the pills with me and take one at the closest possible time right before or after class. It really is important to be consistent about time. (Though I picked noon because that's when I usually eat lunch, and I have time to go to my room and take a pill. Living on campus at college is pretty useful.) I went a high school that didn't have lockers- I don't get what the fuss is, because I didn't miss not having one. Then again, since teachers knew this, they didn't make us bring textbooks back and forth all day long or require a giant binder for every class either.
-------------------- Kevin: Pink Bunkadoo? Randall: Yeah. Beautiful tree that was. Og designed it. 600 feet high, bright red, and smelled terrible. Posts: 71 | From: Portland, Oregon | Registered: Nov 2006
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It is also quite possible to carry drugs, drug paraphernalia (i.e. a small pipe), and/or knives in one's shoes or bra. Or to carry drugs in jewelry, such as a large locket. Or strapped to one's thigh. Or, as in the case of someone at my middle school, dried pot leaves and rolling papers stuck between the pages of his textbooks.
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
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Or in pants pockets. Or in mouths. Or in hair.
Perhaps we should just lock children up in quasi-concentration camps until they graduate, since we can't seem to protect them from themselves without all manner of ridiculous "zero-tolerance" laws.
Holy crap, how did any child ever survive into adulthood before this generation?
-------------------- "When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty."--George Bernard Shaw Posts: 19266 | From: Nashville, TN | Registered: Jun 2002
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My school never had this policy, although they did do random bag checks and locker checks. The funny thing is that if you were buddies with administrators, you could get away with murder (I was acquaintences with both the principal and 2 vice principals by my sophomore year of high school- on GOOD terms!).
I just remember when I brought a guide dog in training to school for a period my freshman year. The principal asked me to walk with her through the major halls with lockers, and she was holding a small notepad (the spiral-bound kind) and a pen. I was surprised when some people heard the "clack clack clack" of dog nails on linoleum, along with the jingling of the leash, and quickly closing their locker doors. A couple of days later, we had a lock down.
And why can't the girls just carry a small wallet purse or clutch like this (or for those that MUST be fashionable, this one). Then they may be able to get around some policies by saying it's their wallet.
-------------------- My mom, about my nervousness with Jeopardy!: "Don't worry about it. Just get drunk and you'll do fine." Blog Just call me Mickey 2 Posts: 3295 | From: Radford, VA/Herndon, VA/Orlando, FL | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Clarity: I went a high school that didn't have lockers- I don't get what the fuss is, because I didn't miss not having one.
What was the climate like where you went to high school? In a cold-winter climate, lockers come in handy for heavy coats, hats, gloves, scarves, etc.
-------------------- How homophobic do you have to be to have penguin gaydar? - Lewis Black Posts: 8322 | From: Columbus, OH | Registered: Aug 2005
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Like Lainie said, I had a locker here since 6th grade, when we started "rotating" classrooms - before that each class had a designated "cloak room" for coats and bags. School policy was that you couldn't wear your coat in class (and in elementary school, no boots), though no rules about bags or purses - though if you did carry a large bag with all your books, you were branded as a "nerd". Strangely, backpacks had not yet come into fashion. The breaks between classes were 15 minutes, and generally long enough to go back to your locker.
-------------------- "The fate of *billions* depends on you! Hahahahaha....sorry." Lord Raiden - Mortal Kombat Posts: 1587 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Apr 2005
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If a school has already banned bookbags, I'd say they should go ahead and ban bookbag-sized purses. I'd also guess that the majority of high school girls have more than one purse anyways, and that it's likely they have a smaller one to fit an intelligent limit on bag size.
Re: lockers - when I was in sixth grade (10 years ago), most people (including me) would set our lockers so all we had to do was walk up and pull up on the latch. That stopped one day when we all came back from lunch and the principal had gone through and opened everyone's locker that was set. We got a lecture on not doing it, but I'd never heard of anyone getting anything stolen. Of course, when I was in junior high, the most high-tech thing someone was liable to have was a Tamagotchi, not an iPod.
-------------------- "My artist statement is incomprehensible and therefore full of deep significance." - Calvin Posts: 36 | From: Indiana | Registered: Nov 2006
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With lockers: the high school I went to for freshman year was three stories tall. My locker was on the second floor. First semester, I had one class on the second floor and the rest were on the first and third. Second semester all four of my classes were either on the first or third floors. With only ten minutes between classes and the idiots on the stairs, it's a good thing we were allowed to have our bookbags. I used that locker all of once when I realized that it wasn't going to work out.
-------------------- Get used to his bad habits and decide whether you can put up with them...the rest of your life. 'Cause if you don't, then one day, you find yourself in the shed, sharpening the axe and idly wondering how thick the human skull really is. -ChickyBee Posts: 64 | From: Bristol, Rhode Island/Columbia, Maryland | Registered: Dec 2006
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A baggie of pot is very small. You could hide it in any purse that could hold chapstick, or indeed inside a book (my usual hiding place incidentally), inside gloves, in your underpants. It's virtually impossible to find unless you have something to lock onto the smell, ie. a trained dog. Having drug sniffer dogs on every school seems like an over-reaction to what must be a tiny problem.
Chapstick is exceedingly useful, when I get a cold I get nasty chapped lips.
Gum is also exceedingly useful during breaks and so on, but I could understand a ban on that.
Lockers at my school could easily be popped open using a screwdriver and a bit of force. I'd not want to keep anything in them.
A ban on Tylenol? WTF? I carry around painkillers and cold relief tablets and have done for several years. What possible reason could there be to ban that? If I was going to take an overdose, my prescribed Prozac would be quite good enough for that.
This school would do far better strengthening regulations for using items in a disruptive way rather than instituting blanket bans. There are already laws against drug possession and weapons possession. Use them.
-------------------- Vox populi vox canem Posts: 1985 | From: Reading, England | Registered: Dec 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Archie2K: A ban on Tylenol? WTF? I carry around painkillers and cold relief tablets and have done for several years. What possible reason could there be to ban that? If I was going to take an overdose, my prescribed Prozac would be quite good enough for that.
Ahh, you've missed out on the joys of American schools. They're so crazed over medication that in most places all medication, even OTC painkillers, must be dispensed with by the office or nurse.
There have been multiple cases of students suspended/expelled for bringing such deadly drugs as Midol, Tylenol, and Advil, and one I recall where a student was expelled under a ban on dealing drugs on campus for giving a friend a glucose tablet (sugar pill). I think that one was rescinded due to public outcry, but unfortunately hysterical overreaction seems to be the norm anymore.
-------------------- This has been yet another... USELESS POST. Posts: 6105 | From: Mississippi | Registered: Sep 2001
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I've heard hearsay reports of school districts trying to prevent asthmatic kids from carrying their inhalers with them -- DD's district has sometimes discouraged it. Luckily, there's a state law protecting their right to do so.
-------------------- How homophobic do you have to be to have penguin gaydar? - Lewis Black Posts: 8322 | From: Columbus, OH | Registered: Aug 2005
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I think that the crackdown on OTC non-prescription drugs has to do with liability more than the "war on illegal drugs". Should a student get the wrong medication from a fellow student, the liability would be just as bad if they got it from a teacher. Not all students, especially younger ones, are aware of their medical conditions, and not everyone may know what they have. I often carry medication in its non-native container because they are more convenient, so if someone took the bottle from my pocket they would find allergy pills, rather than Tylenol. It isn't my intention to deceive, but I can't go through the airport security scanner with a foil pack of Claritin.
-------------------- "The fate of *billions* depends on you! Hahahahaha....sorry." Lord Raiden - Mortal Kombat Posts: 1587 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Hero_Mike: I think that the crackdown on OTC non-prescription drugs has to do with liability more than the "war on illegal drugs". Should a student get the wrong medication from a fellow student, the liability would be just as bad if they got it from a teacher. Not all students, especially younger ones, are aware of their medical conditions, and not everyone may know what they have. I often carry medication in its non-native container because they are more convenient, so if someone took the bottle from my pocket they would find allergy pills, rather than Tylenol. It isn't my intention to deceive, but I can't go through the airport security scanner with a foil pack of Claritin.
The cases I saw locally were all chalked up to zero-tolerance drug-free campus rules. While I agree liability is also an issue, most of the justification for punishing students was strictly anti-drug (as in dealing/abuse) in nature.
-------------------- This has been yet another... USELESS POST. Posts: 6105 | From: Mississippi | Registered: Sep 2001
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Our Tylenol ban was also because of zero-tolerance drug-free campus rules. And anyone caught with Tylenol had to meet with the school's head of Drug Enforcement twice a week.
Yeah, he thought it was stupid too.
-------------------- "In perfume, as in underwear, the scantiest of applications provides the greatest of returns." -Silas Sparkhammer Posts: 858 | From: Arlington, Texas | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Astra: I think that one was rescinded due to public outcry, but unfortunately hysterical overreaction seems to be the norm anymore.
[hijack]
Sadly, the irritating misuse of the word "anymore" also seems to be the norm.
[/hijack]
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Hero_Mike: I think that the crackdown on OTC non-prescription drugs has to do with liability more than the "war on illegal drugs".
At least in my kids' schools, it IS "the war on drugs" thing. That was also why they banned cell phones (only drug dealers carry cells phones, so we will stop drug dealers by banning cell phones, logical, ain't it?). The "logic" behind the total ban on ANY pills in the school was that a drug dealer would hide their illegal drugs in a Tylenol tablet. So, to be safe, they just banned all pills. That is also why they banned kids bringing in their own drinks/milk for lunch. You don't know if that box of milk just might be spiked with JD.
Yes, I think each of those rules are stupid.
-------------------- And now for something completely different... Posts: 4164 | From: Alabama | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Astra: I think that one was rescinded due to public outcry, but unfortunately hysterical overreaction seems to be the norm anymore.
Sadly, the irritating misuse of the word "anymore" also seems to be the norm.
But she didn't misuse it, she just used a form that isn't the most common. "Any more" dates to the 1300s to mean either "any longer" or "nowadays" interchangeably, and Astra used it correctly to mean "nowadays."
Just because it's most commonly used in the negative sense you're used to doesn't mean that using in the positive sense is incorrect. At worst, it's a bit archaic. In some areas of the United States and Northern Ireland using it in the positive sense is very common and perfectly correct.
-------------------- "You're the opposite of troll. It's a compliment!" Posts: 12086 | From: Alberta | Registered: Feb 2000
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When I worked at a summer camp some years ago, a 13-year-old smuggled pot on the property by hiding it in her makeup-compact. Putting bans on random items because of the possiblity that it might happen is just stupid.
Posts: 5 | From: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: Oct 2006
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quote:Originally posted by StuckatDeadend: When I worked at a summer camp some years ago, a 13-year-old smuggled pot on the property by hiding it in her makeup-compact. Putting bans on random items because of the possiblity that it might happen is just stupid.
Using the examples people have posted here, the only way to make sure kids don't bring any of the banned items is require them to come to school nude. And even then, a cavity search might be required .
-------------------- And now for something completely different... Posts: 4164 | From: Alabama | Registered: Oct 2005
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My sister (senior in high school) is deathly allergic to peanuts. She has to have an epi-pen on her at all times.
So, of course, when she's at school she has to surrender it to the school nurse....It's a drug, after all.
-------------------- "We've got a fifth member of the band round here, and he's DEFINITELY out of tune!" -- Keith Moon
"If I had a thousand quid for every time I've introduced this song --- oh, I do!" -- John Entwistle Posts: 584 | From: Ohio | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Lady Moon: My sister (senior in high school) is deathly allergic to peanuts. She has to have an epi-pen on her at all times.
So, of course, when she's at school she has to surrender it to the school nurse....It's a drug, after all.
Sooner or later, a school with this policy is going to have an allergic student die on them, and be hit with a massive lawsuit.
Nonny
-------------------- When there isn't anything else worth analyzing, we examine our collective navel. I found thirty-six cents in change in mine the other day. Let no one say that there is no profit in philosophy. -- Silas Sparkhammer Posts: 10141 | From: Toronto, Ontario | Registered: Apr 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Lady Moon: My sister (senior in high school) is deathly allergic to peanuts. She has to have an epi-pen on her at all times.
So, of course, when she's at school she has to surrender it to the school nurse....It's a drug, after all.
You might check state law on that. In Ohio, at least, kids with asthma are legally allowed to carry their inhaler, but school districts will discourage them from doing so if they're not challenged. Might be the same with epipens, which are at least as urgent a need as an inhaler.
-------------------- How homophobic do you have to be to have penguin gaydar? - Lewis Black Posts: 8322 | From: Columbus, OH | Registered: Aug 2005
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Nonny, I'm concerned that the student that dies on them will be my sister.
But i'm 300 miles away. Not a whole hell of a lot I can do.
-------------------- "We've got a fifth member of the band round here, and he's DEFINITELY out of tune!" -- Keith Moon
"If I had a thousand quid for every time I've introduced this song --- oh, I do!" -- John Entwistle Posts: 584 | From: Ohio | Registered: Sep 2005
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When I was in school we did not have this policy my first taste of this was when I started to work for Busch Gardens no bags were allowed in that were not see through even the performs had to have see through bags and the one with instruments had to stop going in and out of the employee entrance to be searched to make sure nothing was being smuggled in or anything being stolen out of the shops at the end of the day.
Posts: 21 | From: Leland, NC | Registered: Dec 2006
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In my kid's school district: Elementary, my son could not carry his inhaler. Luckily I was a SAHM at the time, and when he was sick I took his neb in. Of course he needed the neb really badly by the time I was able to get there.
Middle school: he could carry it, ditto in high school. When any of the kids have been sick and needed their meds prescription and non it's been easier for me to go to school and give it to them, than to go through the hassle the school puts me through. In fact, the school will not administer OTC meds at all. Even with a doctor filling out their stupid form. I have to take it in and give it to my kid because a high school student isn't capable of taking antibiotics on her own. Hey she might sell it or something. You guessed it zero tolerance.
P&LL, Syl
-------------------- Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. — Voltaire Posts: 1944 | From: Michigan | Registered: Jun 2001
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