Atlanta

Its no surprise for many of my readers that I am a big fan of the State of Georiga. In fact I will probably find myself living there sooner or later, once I get tired and all of D.C. (which is happening pretty fast). The Wife and I have talked at length about a move to Hotlanta, but concerns about the need to pay for private school have weighed high. Turns out, we are right to be concerned.

Terrell Jones, a student in Gwinnett County's Grayson High School, was weeded out of a classroom by a school administrator because he wore a shirt that read: ''Hempstead, NY 516,'' a reference to the Long Island town and its telephone area code.

According to Jones' family, which moved from Hempstead to the Atlanta suburb, the school thought the shirt referred to marijuana. Jones wasn't allowed to return to class until he persuaded school officials to search the Internet for the town name.

Aaah, the wonders of our zero tolerance society mixed with the inevitable brain dead nincompoops that pass for public educators these days.

Of course, the school hasn't even apologized yet, instead circling the wagons to defend its own incompetance.

''It's important to remember that the vigilance of our administrators is important. The administrator saw a phrase on the T-shirt that raised a red flag,'' said Sloan Roach, spokeswoman for Gwinnett County schools.

Hempstead officials had an appropriate response

In any case, ''before they would jump to any conclusions, they should be sure of what they're talking about,'' town spokeswoman Susie Trenkle said of the Georgia officials.

Considering that

Hempstead is the nation's largest township, with 759,000 residents spread across 22 villages and more than 142 square miles

, it shouldn't have been too difficult to do.

Of course, this all reminds me of the Andorra episode when I was a student at Rockaway Valley School in Boonton Twp. New Jersey. It appears that same asshole teacher, Mr. LaPlaca, is still there.

BTW - A Tip of the Hat to Bruce at mAss Backwards for asking the tough questions - should ALL shirts (and I would add signs) mentioning Grayson High be banned under this ridiculous policy?