Posted: May 22, 2004

1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

A Texas student was immediately suspended after a small wooden baseball bat was seen through his car window and seized by school officials as an illegal 'weapon.'

Sophomore Cory Henson of Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School in Forth Worth, Texas, was called out of class Monday by the officials to have his car searched, the Forth Worth Star-Telegram reported.

The bat, no longer than 8 inches, broke off a trophy, according to Henson, who suspects someone was playing with it and left it in the back seat.

Ironically, Henson, a baseball player, had regulation-size aluminum bats in his trunk.

"First I was stunned," his mother, Sheila Henson, told the paper. "I thought, I'll go up there and investigate this a little further."

According to district policy, a student must be suspended if a prohibited or hazardous item is found in his vehicle.

Henson, a member of the junior varsity baseball team, had to miss the year-end sports banquet this week because of the suspension.

Official were to meet to decide whether the bat should be a weapon meriting punishment.

Henson could be placed in an alternative school or expelled for up to a year.

"Why did it have to go to that level?" his mother asked, according to the Star-Telegram.

Sgt. Daniel Garcia of the Fort Worth Police Department School Initiative Unit said he was unaware of the bats in Henson's trunk. He indicated if the student is a ballplayer, common sense would prevail.

But he said the smaller bat could be "constituted as an illegal club," because it was in the driver's access area and had a hole in its center.

LoEster Posey, Fort Worth schools director of student affairs, told the paper there have been 27 conferences at the district level as a result of confiscated weapons. Two of those students were allowed back in school after situations involving clubs that did not fall under penal code standard, the Star-Telegram said.

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