Re: funniest mistake/act of disobedience


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Posted by Anthony Labelle on July 01, 2001 at 04:44:58:

In Reply to: funniest mistake/act of disobedience posted by James McNeil on June 29, 2001 at 13:29:56:

When I was in high school, one of my other interests was skating. I kept my valve oil in a tuba applicator that resmbled a seringe(had a long pointy tip, for oiling skate bearings without having to take the wheels out). I also kept baby powder in my tuba case, in test tubes so I could take a tube with me on road trips(for the prevention of foot odour).

Well, one evening during my junior year, some young tuba player decided to open my case in search of a mouthpiece, and found what he thought to be a seringe filled with heroin, and a half dozen test tubes full of cocaine... I guess he told the band director, who decided he'd "make an example of me", and told the whole band what had been found in my instrument case(anyone who's ever been in a band setting knows how rumours travel through students to their parents, and through the parents to the community). One of my friends called me that night and told me what had happened, so I went to the principal's office first thing in the morning with the intention of "straightening it out".

The principal was already waiting for me, and had two police officers with him. They brought me into a conference room, and spent 4 hours "interogating" me, and using scare tactics to try and break me. They threatened to prosecute me for "posession of a look-alike substance", as well as "attempting to sell a look-alike substance", which carries the same penalties for possession or distribution of an "actual" substance. Being a cocky teenager(which is easy to do, even unintentionally, when you have an IQ of 160 and attend a backwoods Tennessee high school), I attempted to 'play it cool', and just expected the whole thing to blow over. After all, *I* hadn't done anything wrong.

Well, after lunch they came back, and informed me that a student had been arrested at one of the county middle schools for having some sort of substance in a test tube, and they informed me that they could link it to me, and I could spend the next five years in prison. Terrefied at the prospect, I broke down and cried like a schoolgirl... which I guess is what they wanted all along, because they then just smiled at each other and left afterwards.

Was that the end of it, though? Of course not. Though I had assumably gotten past the "legal" phase of it, the school felt the need to punish me. I had to spend every school day(about 9, total) in that conference room for the whole day, until they received the test results back on my talcum powder and valve oil. 9 days for rumours to spread. And of course, what hurt the most, I had to spend that first day at the school until about 8:30... normally no big deal, since I spent the whole time reading, except that this particular day was the day that the Canadian Brass were in Nashville, and I had front row seats(a HUGE event for a 17 year old tuba player, and something I had looked forward to for over a year before hand).

I was never really compensated, nor did I receive any sort of apology. I guess my only consollation is that I consider myself a better person than the idiots whom fate somehow put in charge of my highschool education.(After I graduated and moved on to college, that same band director told everyone that I had been arrested for stealing money from my employer, and was serving a 5 year sentence. A real shame, because I always did consider him a good musician, and great director.) Oh well, life goes on!


Anthony "talcum free for 4 years!" Labelle


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