Girl Disciplined For Wearing Dam T-Shirt
Student Sent Home 2 Days In Row
A souvenir T-shirt from a national landmark has a Needville, Texas student fighting for her rights and a school defending its dress code policy, Houston television station KPRC reported Friday.
The T-shirt says, "Somebody went to the Hoover Dam and all I got was this 'Dam' t-shirt."
When Heather Mercer, 12, wore the shirt Thursday, she was told to change or be disciplined. She refused, claiming it's her First Amendment right to wear it, and was sent home.
Her parents support her decision to fight.
"I love it. It's my constitutional right ... talking about the dam," Mercer said.
But the Needville Independent School District superintendent, Gary Gazaway, said it is not about rights.
"We feel it didn't fit the dress code," Gazaway said.
The school district's policy prohibits pictures, emblems or writing on clothing that is lewd, offensive, vulgar or obscene.
Gazaway said he and the school principal feel Mercer's T-shirt falls in that category.
"Our dress code reflects community values, so we make decisions based on that," Gazaway said.
Mercer said she would be back at school Monday wearing the controversial T-shirt again. She and her family have agreed to fight it all the way, even if they have to home-school Heather.
The T-shirt says, "Somebody went to the Hoover Dam and all I got was this 'Dam' t-shirt."
When Heather Mercer, 12, wore the shirt Thursday, she was told to change or be disciplined. She refused, claiming it's her First Amendment right to wear it, and was sent home.
Her parents support her decision to fight.
"I love it. It's my constitutional right ... talking about the dam," Mercer said.
But the Needville Independent School District superintendent, Gary Gazaway, said it is not about rights.
"We feel it didn't fit the dress code," Gazaway said.
The school district's policy prohibits pictures, emblems or writing on clothing that is lewd, offensive, vulgar or obscene.
Gazaway said he and the school principal feel Mercer's T-shirt falls in that category.
"Our dress code reflects community values, so we make decisions based on that," Gazaway said.
Mercer said she would be back at school Monday wearing the controversial T-shirt again. She and her family have agreed to fight it all the way, even if they have to home-school Heather.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Authorities release a chilling 911 call from a 19-year-old woman who hid in the back bedroom of a Central Florida home while four men attempted to break into the house.
An ex-wife of the man who found the remains of Caylee Anthony says that she thought her ex-husband was responsible for or involved in the girl's death.
Five people are dead after a mobile home fire broke out in Central Florida.
Officials question the credibility of a female deputy who called 911 in September to report a masked man had attacked her.
Dashcam video shows a Florida woman offering an officer sex instead of getting a ticket.
South Carolina police say an obese man died after not moving from his recliner for the past eight months. Police say the man's body was physically stuck to the chair and firefighters had to cut him out. He died a few hours later at the hospital.
A 3-year-old boy was left stranded at a commuter train platform when a door on the train malfunctioned, separating the toddler from his dad. A good Samaritan stayed with the child until the father could return. (Nov. 20)
A woman tired of hearing her son say he lost another sock has come up with an idea to prevent it from happening again.
A Nebraska man says romance turned to revenge when he was victimized by his girlfriend and then exposed on Facebook. 
Thirty Victoria's Secret supermodels take over New York's Times Square this week.
Take a quick look at the flicks headed to your multiplex. Check out the trailer, too.
A man who passed a teller at a Central Florida credit union a note announcing a robbery turned around and walked away without any money, deputies say.
Email Alerts
RSS News Feeds
Mobile
Live Streams
Slideshows
Video
Search
