Pubdate: Tue, 01 Nov 2005
Source: Berkshire Eagle, The (Pittsfield, MA)
Copyright: 2005 New England Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.berkshireeagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/897
Author: Ellen G. Lahr, Berkshire Eagle Staff

STUDENTS MAY BE CHARGED

Hearings Set In Marijuana Cases

SHEFFIELD - Four students at Mount Everett Regional School will be 
summoned to court for hearings on whether they should be charged with 
marijuana possession following an Oct. 10 investigation by school officials.

Police Chief James McGarry said the students - all juveniles whose 
names have not been released - each had small quantities of 
marijuana, totaling a tenth of an ounce.

Police were notified by school officials, who discovered the students 
in possession of drugs. The school has taken disciplinary action 
against the students, McGarry said.

The summonses will require each student to attend a show-cause 
hearing with a magistrate, who will determine if there is probable 
cause to bring marijuana possession charges.

The hearings will be handled in Berkshire Juvenile Court in 
Pittsfield; no dates have been set.

None of the students is facing an allegation of distribution, which 
could result in a school-zone drug-violation charge. That charge 
carries a two-year minimum mandatory jail term.

McGarry said the "intent is to get them into the system, see what the 
courtroom looks like and get them to perform community service."

Mount Everett Principal Glenn DeVoti said yesterday that he could 
make no comment on disciplinary proceedings. Superintendent Valerie 
Spriggs did not return a phone message on the matter.
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