Not an earth shattering October 8th in 1996, unless you were a devout Pope watcher.
Surgeons who removed Pope John Paul II’s troublesome appendix sidestepped questions Tuesday about hand tremors and other health problems but predicted the 76-year-old pontiff would be “sitting in an armchair tomorrow.” The doctors did say they saw no signs that a benign colon tumor removed in 1992 had returned. The pope’s vital signs held up well during surgery at Gemelli Polyclinic, and he came through it successfully, they said. John Paul quickly regained consciousness after general anesthesia, greeting and thanking everyone. “He should be sitting in an armchair tomorrow,” said Dr. Corrado Manni, chief anesthesiologist for the 50-minute surgery.
“The appendix that was the cause of the pope’s ills doesn’t exist any more,” said Manni.
And everyone are Vatican City were breathing easy.
In other news – The parents of a 6-year-old boy punished for kissing a girl were unimpressed with the school board’s vote to revise its sexual harassment policy and threatened to sue. “No, I’m not satisfied,”* said an irate Jackie Prevette, mother of Johnathan Prevette, after the ninemember • Lexington school board without discussion voted unanimously Monday night to give school officials more leeway in implementing the policy. Her next move? “Legal action,” she replied. Johnathan, a first -grader, was separated from his class at Southwest Elementary School for a day and banned from an ice cream party after kissing a classmate last month.
“You need to change this policy so that it is ageappropriate and so that the punishment fits the crime,’ Mrs. Prevette told board members before the vote. **I do not think to this day that a kiss on the check, whether the girl wanted it or not, had anything to do with sex. I think it was a friendly kiss,” Mrs. Prevette said.
“I’ve asked Johnathan several times why he did it, and his answer was, ‘She is my friend.’ I think to this day that they are friends.” The board approved a new subsection, titled Appropriate Behavior in the Elementary Grades,”* in the student handbook. It states: “*Student-to-student sexual harassment policy shall not be applied in the case of young students unless it clearly appears that there is an intent on the part of the students to engage in harassment of a sexual nature. “In the absence of such intent, rules which forbid other forms of personal contact or interference should be considered and applied if appropriate.” The policy on ” student-to-student sexual harassment” also was amended to consider the student’s age, maturity, past behavior and circumstances of the incident. “I think it’s time to put this matter behind us and move forward, ” said board chairman Craig Koontz. “*Our whole school system will be better off.”
And finally – A 14- year-old expelled from school for giving a Midol tablet to a classmate claimed Monday in a federal lawsuit that she was punished because she is black. “You should not treat students this way for something as minute and as small as a Midol tablet,” said Carl Lewis, the lawyer for Kimberly Smartt, an eighth-grader at Baker Junior High School. Smartt was expelled until February after she gave a Midol tablet to classmate Erica Taylor, who is white. Taylor was suspended for nine days and was allowed to return to classes last week; only three days’ suspension were reflected on her record because she agreed to undergo drug counseling. Lewis said there have been instances in the school district in which white students who distributed drugs were not expelled, and alleged that Smartt was never given the chance to reduce her penalty, as was Taylor.
Fairborn Superintendent Steve Clifton has denied that the expulsion had anything to do with race, and explained that the district’s penalties are more severe for distributing drugs than for possessing them. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Dayton against Clifton, the Fairborn Board of Education and Edward Gibbons, principal of Baker Junior High School. Clifton and Gibbons did not return calls seeking comment. The school board was meeting in private Monday night to hear Smartt’s appeal of her expulsion. On her way into court Monday, Angela Smartt said her daughter did nothing wrong. Her daughter said only that she wants to go back to school.
Judge Walter Rice scheduled a hearing for today to hear Lewis’ request to allow Smartt to return to class immediately and be allowed to make up all assignments. The lawsuit also asks for unspecified damages.
And that’s just a little of what happened, this October 8, 1996 as reported by The CBS World News Roundup.
