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Student may be expelled over Nerf gun

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- An Ohio high school student said his principal told him he may be expelled after he was caught firing a Nerf dart gun inside the school.

Devon Smith, 14, of Columbus, Ohio, said he was taken to the Northland High School principal's office after firing the Nerf gun, which had been taken to school by a classmate and told that he would be suspended and may be expelled after a hearing scheduled for Thursday, WBNS-TV, Columbus, reported Wednesday.

District spokesman Michael Straughter said he couldn't discuss the case directly but said officials follow the state's zero tolerance policy, as well as the Gun-Free School Act, which states that students who bring or possess dangerous weapons or lookalikes at school will be expelled for at least one year.

Sean Smith Sr., the student's father, said expulsion would be an overreaction.

"I understand the rules and we follow all rules to the best of our ability, but I believe the crime should fit the punishment," he said.

Devon Smith said the incident has been a learning experience.

"Everything happens for a reason and God has everything planned out," he told WBNS. "I think his lesson for me in this situation is to stop playing around with people you shouldn't be messing around with."

Boys find snake inside sofa cushion

NEW YORK, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A New York boy said he and a friend were shocked when a 4-foot boa constrictor slithered from the couch while they were coloring.

Jay Jhomar, 7, said he and friend Danny Yunstella, also 7, were coloring on his family's sofa when the snake began emerging from a half-zipped couch cushion, the New York Post reported Wednesday.

"I felt something on my back," Jay said. "I was excited. I thought I found a toy in the couch. It felt like a ball."

However, the boys then found themselves face to face with the snake.

"It was staring and waiting for someone to eat," Jay said. "I was a little scared, and we were screaming. I called my mom, who was in the kitchen. I like snakes, but not crazy snakes."

Animal Care and Control officers who took the snake into custody said it was likely an escaped pet that entered the home to escape the cold.

Richard Gentles, an Animal Care and Control spokesman, told the New York Daily News that the boa was healthy and would receive "specialized care" before moving to its new home at a reptile sanctuary.

WWII headline creates flap at VA hospital

INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The director of a VA hospital in Indiana has offended some veterans by removing a framed newspaper with the headline "Japs Surrender."

The framed front page of the Indianapolis Times had been hanging at the Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center for more than 60 years. Director Tom Mattice said he decided to take it down after a new employee complained about the display of an ethnic slur from World War II, the Indianapolis Star reported Wednesday.

Ronald "Bud" Albright, who commands a Marine Corps League chapter, has launched a campaign to get the newspaper back on the wall. He hopes veterans from around the country will write to complain.

"We feel it's a slap in the face of the U.S. military," he said. "That newspaper is history, part of United States history."

Mattice said he has asked the VA's national ethics office for guidance. He has also assigned a member of his staff to look for an alternate newspaper front page -- "Something like 'Victory in the Pacific' or 'Japanese Surrender.' "

That would go up next to the newspaper from three months earlier that proclaims "GERMANY QUITS."

Gator may be 'in love' with garbage truck

SARASOTA , Fla., Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Caretakers at a Florida park say they are unsure whether a resident female alligator is excited or threatened by the presence of a garbage truck.

Sarasota Jungle Gardens keepers said Attitude, a 25-year-old American alligator, lets out a loud bellow whenever she hears a city garbage truck making its twice-weekly pickup at the park but caretakers are unsure whether Attitude is sounding a mating call or warning the truck to keep away as a potential rival, The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune reported Wednesday.

"It's one or the other," said Chris Costanzo, marketing director of the park. "But the way she's carrying on, we're pretty sure it's a mating thing."

Keepers said the gator's odd behavior began two or three weeks ago.

"We just figured out that it was the garbage truck that was making her in love," Costanzo said to the newspaper.

Frank Mazzotti, wildlife ecology and conservation professor at the University of Florida's Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, said he was unsurprised by Attitude's behavior toward the truck.

"I've been at Gatorland when semis roll by," he said, "and that sets off a chorus of bellowing like you wouldn't believe; same for jet airplanes going overhead; or an airboat engine. It's all about the noise and subsonic vibrations. They trigger a response. They're not all that different from humans."