Some people are too stupid to be in charge of kids.


Classmates rally around Princeton student who left gun in car
May 1, 2013 11:59 p.m.


Princeton, N.C.—The Princeton High School community is rallying around a student who was arrested and expelled for having an unloaded shotgun in his car in the school's parking lot.

David Cole Winthrow, 16, was charged Monday with bringing a weapon on educational property, which is a felony. He was expelled from school and won't be allowed to graduate with his class later this month.

Family friend Kim Boykin said Winthrow, an Eagle Scout and honors student, accidentally left his gun in the car after skeet shooting over the weekend. When he realized, he went inside to ask school officials if he could leave campus to take the gun home, but an administrator reported the weapon to police.

"To have him arrested and expelled from school is excessive," she said. "He locks his vehicle, goes inside and tries to do the right thing."

Others in the Princeton High community agree that Winthrow's punishment is too harsh, especially after charges weren't filed when a loaded gun was found in an assistant principal's car two years ago. The assistant principal and a school resource officer were each suspended for three days without pay in that incident.

Johnston County schools spokeswoman Tracey Peedin Jones said the school system has to follow state law regarding weapons on campus.

"Please know that with student and personnel issues, we carefully balance all factors to arrive at a fair and just outcome," she said in a statement Wednesday. "Certain items are mandated and we have no choice but to follow the law."

Boykin said Winthow's family isn't upset with school administrators, but believes the law is too strict.

"With no areas for mistakes or human error or gray area in there, that just can't apply to everything," she said.

Students have been painting "Free Cole" on their cars and a local printer even designed a "Free Cole for Doing the Right Thing" bumper sticker.

"I believe he did the right thing by being truthful and being honest," said Joseph Canzaniello of Express Signs. "His integrity will be held intact no matter what happens to him."

[Edited on May 2, 2013 at 7:35 AM. Reason : .]

5/2/2013 7:34:46 AM

Yeah I saw this during the news.

To be honest, he should have just left campus and went home and then came back, no one would have probably noticed. He should know how reactionary school officials are nowadays about guns.

5/2/2013 8:03:11 AM

Quote :

"To be honest, he should have just left campus and went home and then came back, no one would have probably noticed. He should know how reactionary school officials are nowadays about guns."

That's the first thing I thought too, but this kid was trying to do the right thing and immediately brought his mistake to the administrations attention. It's a shame they didn't see it that way and help him return the weapon to home. If they were worried they could have had an officer come secure the weapon and transport it home for him.

5/2/2013 8:11:50 AM

sweet fuck this is actually something that happened


it's like all the "There's no evidence this rule will lead to that!"s in the last ten years are all piling up on top of each other

fuck that school and SUPER DUPER fuck that piece of shit who rang the mothefucking cops and the entire system that fucking requires this bullshit to ruin people's lives



Got a link? This sorta sounds too stupid to be true. I actually need verification that bureaucracy has buttfucked us to this level already


[Edited on May 2, 2013 at 8:24 AM. Reason : asfd]

5/2/2013 8:21:55 AM

WE MUST FOLLOW STATE LAW IN THIS CASE.

Assistant principal not charged when he did the same thing.

^This isn't the first case of this happening.

[Edited on May 2, 2013 at 8:24 AM. Reason : .]

5/2/2013 8:24:20 AM

Yup. Home schooling is for nutjobs i tells ya. NUTJOBS

[Edited on May 2, 2013 at 8:27 AM. Reason : s]

5/2/2013 8:26:55 AM

Quote :

"Got a link?"

http://www.wral.com/classmates-rally-around-princeton-student-expelled-for-gun-in-car/12401713/

5/2/2013 8:32:56 AM

<3

5/2/2013 8:42:43 AM

Let him live!

5/2/2013 9:05:57 AM

herp de derp. gotta love GFSZA and its cousins.

[Edited on May 2, 2013 at 9:11 AM. Reason : whoops]

5/2/2013 9:11:17 AM

One difference in the two gun cases. The article I read said the ass. Principal's gun was loaded, Cole's was not.

5/2/2013 9:29:15 AM

ass != asst

so the principal's infraction was actually "worse"?

5/2/2013 9:34:55 AM

Asst Principal story
http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/9278548/

Quote :

"PRINCETON, N.C. — An assistant principal at Princeton High School and a school resource officer were each suspended for two days after a gun was found on campus two weeks ago, authorities said Wednesday. Assistant Principal Catherine Bennett allowed the school's auto mechanics class to work on her car, not knowing that she had left a gun in the glove box, said Tammy Amaon, spokeswoman for the Johnston County Sheriff's Office. Bennett asked Deputy Andy Worley, the school resource office at Princeton High, to search the car on March 4, saying she had misplaced her gun and hadn't been able to find it. Worley found the gun in the car's glove box but didn't remove it, Amaon said. Students in the class later found the weapon and showed it to classmates, Amaon said. Johnston County prosecutors have decided not to file any charges in the case, she said."

5/2/2013 9:38:32 AM

Quote :

"That's the first thing I thought too, but this kid was trying to do the right thing and immediately brought his mistake to the administrations attention."

That'll teach the high schooler to tell the truth!

5/2/2013 9:41:00 AM

some admin is trying to make an example of this kid... sounds politically motivated.

5/2/2013 9:41:11 AM

the interesting thing is just about any untrained good sized shlub with a balled up fist and a button down shirt with a sticker reading "TEechor" written in crayon on it would have an incredibly high chance of causing mass casualties if he really wanted to.

ruining people's lives to uphold the illusion of safety and dehumanization thats become our trademark is not the way to handle this.

Fuck it. I'm not reading the news ever again outside the pages of game informer

5/2/2013 9:43:10 AM

Convict Assistant Principal Catherine Bennett on felony charges!

5/2/2013 9:51:46 AM

my cousin was suspended once for leaving a shotgun shell in his pocket by accident. we have morons in charge of education

5/2/2013 9:54:43 AM

I graduated from Princeton in '09. This is, of course, a rural area and we all fish and hunt all the time. This type of mistake is bound to happen at some point, and it has happened here before. Another student had the same thing happen to him way back before the Asst. Principal case. However, something that isn't elaborated on enough is that not only was the Asst. Principal's gun loaded, but she had left it in her car which was parked at the auto shop. When she couldn't find her gun one morning at home, once she got to school she asked the school officer, a Johnston County deputy, to check for the gun in her car. He found it there, alright, but he actually put in back in her glove box, locked the car, and left to go tell her. Later on, the shop students started working on the car, found the gun, and several students played with the gun until the instructor came in a while later (and I know those teachers in the shop do not get around fast at all), so who knows how long that lasted. The gun also had three clips with it, and one was in the chamber. Guys, these school teachers and principals at Princeton have a history of trying to protect their own and there's a bunch of junk that goes on that no one will ever know about. Until 2008 it was a K-12 school, and I went there my whole life, but as much as I love that school and Johnston County, I'm sick of their pampering and compromising to everything but what's right. We need some new officials that can make simple common-sense decisions. I mean, it's not that hard to do.

5/2/2013 12:49:54 PM

I wouldn't be surprised if this happened monthly, if not weekly, at rural schools. The difference? The student either (1) never realizes it (2) realizes it and doesn't do anything about it (3) leaves the grounds to return it; all 3 cases never being reported. The reality is, is that this is not a problem; it's a common "mistake", but almost always victimless; up until a kid gets charged with a felony.

5/2/2013 12:58:19 PM

i too attended johnston county schools.

this story is ridiculous. it'd be different if it was a loaded gun. and it'd be different if he didn't report the gun himself. but the gun was not loaded. and he reported it to administration in an effort to rectify the situation (he knew he made a mistake and wanted to fix it)...and the asst principal story just makes this even more ridiculous.

5/2/2013 1:11:34 PM

loaded vs unloaded doesn't matter

except in the case that they pretty much let an admin with a loaded firearm walk, but a student with an unloaded firearm gets a felony charge.

[Edited on May 2, 2013 at 1:15 PM. Reason : .]

5/2/2013 1:15:05 PM

5/2/2013 1:18:15 PM

In my opinion, it shouldn't take too much brain power to differentiate between someone who is a threat versus someone who isn't. It's really cut and dry. Dragging this out is just an embarrassment to the community, giving the impression it's some sort of liberal fantasy world where even mentioning the word 'gun' scares everyone like nothing else. That's not the people we voted for and supported, but now I'm beginning to wonder about them...

5/2/2013 1:24:04 PM

Free Cole!

5/2/2013 1:29:32 PM

I, for one, would like to welcome bonekrushur to the TWW community.

5/2/2013 1:35:19 PM

Quote :

"some sort of liberal fantasy world where even mentioning the word 'gun' scares everyone like nothing else"

how is this a fantasy world?

5/2/2013 1:36:29 PM

Quote :

"JUST IN: DAVID COLE WINTHROW, A PRINCETON HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR WHO SAYS HE INADVERTENTLY BROUGHT AN UNLOADED SHOTGUN ONTO SCHOOL PROPERTY, WILL BE ALLOWED TO GRADUATE, AN ATTORNEY FOR JOHNSTON COUNTY SCHOOLS SAYS."

5/2/2013 1:52:05 PM

well at least someone is braining in johnston county.

5/2/2013 1:53:53 PM

Quote :

"the provisions require Winthrow – an honors student and Eagle Scout – to attend an alternative school. The family, she said, isn't satisfied, because he will not be allowed to graduate with his class."

welp; they only partially brained.

5/2/2013 2:16:28 PM

http://www.liberty.edu/news/index.cfm?PID=18495&MID=90766#.UYLPsmhOXlw.facebook

So Liberty has offered this guy a scholarship...LOL

If he is an honor student and Eagle Scout then I guess its sort of justifiable but seems like something you wouldn't want to involve yourself in with guns being such a contentious issue. Even for a school with conservative dynamic like Liberty.

5/2/2013 5:00:16 PM

I had forgotten that HB650 (passed last year) added "knowingly" to the prohibition of bringing firearms onto educational campuses. This means if you don't do so knowingly, you cannot be charged as a felon. JoCo gonna have a tough time getting those charges to stick.

[Edited on May 3, 2013 at 4:06 PM. Reason : .]

5/3/2013 4:05:59 PM

Quote :

"COLE WITHROW, THE JOHNSTON COUNTY TEEN WHO WAS ARRESTED AND SUSPENDED FOR BRINGING TWO UNLOADED SHOTGUNS TO SCHOOL, SAID THURSDAY THAT HE LIED TO THE PRINCIPAL WHEN HE SAID HE DIDN'T REALIZE THE GUNS WERE IN THE VEHICLE. HE PLEADED GUILTY TO A MISDEMEANOR WEAPONS CHARGE AND RECEIVED A SUSPENDED SENTENCE."

interesting turn. fucked himself.

5/16/2013 3:40:18 PM

5/16/2013 3:46:04 PM

I don't get it.... He told the principal that he had guns in his car that he forgot about.... but then admitted he really didn't forget about them. Therefore, he essentially brought them to school purposefully? ? ?

5/16/2013 3:51:24 PM

^me neither. I don't think things are perfectly clear. Maybe he realized it before getting to school, but after leaving home? Maybe he just didn't care? In either case, why in the hell would you go admit that? Something sounds fishy... or this cat is just that dumb.

http://www.wral.com/Cole-Withrow-hearing-on-gun-charge/12453823/

5/16/2013 3:54:10 PM