---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: 25 Mar 1998 13:21:37 -0500 From: FringeWare News Network <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent from: jamie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Coke Day Prank Fizzles for Student [ mod's note: forwarded from the Abrupt Digest... ] > EVANS, Ga. (AP) -- It's the real thing all right -- suspension. > > High school senior Mike Cameron is serving a one-day suspension today > for wearing a Pepsi shirt on Coke Day, an event school officials crafted > in an attempt to win a $500 contest run by the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. > > The boy was showing disrespect to guests -- the Coke executives who had > flown in for the day Friday, Greenbrier High School's principal said. > > ``I know it sounds bad -- `Child suspended for wearing Pepsi shirt on > Coke Day,''' principal Gloria Hamilton said. ``It really would have been > acceptable ... if it had just been in-house, but we had the regional > president here and people flew in from Atlanta to do us the honor of > being resource speakers. These students knew we had guests.'' > > Cameron, 19, said he wore the Pepsi logo as a joke. ``That's my > personality,'' he said. ``I don't like to follow the trend of everyone > else.'' > > Mrs. Hamilton said Cameron also ruined a school picture, a violation > that has drawn six-day suspensions in the past. Cameron said he didn't > know a picture was planned. > > The Coke-themed day was part of an effort to win the contest. The award > will go to the school that comes up with the best method of distributing > promotional discount cards to students. > School officials also integrated Coke into class instruction for the > day, invited Coke executives from Atlanta headquarters 100 miles away as > speakers and gathered students outside to spell ``Coke'' for the > photograph. > > Cameron said no one asked him to remove the Pepsi shirt, and he changed > into the Coke shirt later in the day. After he changed, he said, > assistant principal Michael Kennedy took him out of class and asked if > he'd been wearing a Pepsi shirt. > > When Cameron said he had, he was taken to the principal's office and > given a one-day suspension.
