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No grad ceremony for chalk pranksters

HARTLAND, Wis., June 9 (UPI) -- Nine Wisconsin high school seniors barred from walking in their graduation for using sidewalk chalk outside the school say the punishment doesn't fit the crime.

James Clark, one of the seniors suspended from Hartland's Arrowhead High School, said he and his co-conspirators used chalk to write "Class of 09" and other small messages and designs on the school Thursday night, WISN-TV in Milwaukee reported.

"In some ways I thought it was a pretty lame prank, you know, it looked more like a decoration," Clark said. "It just said 'Class of '09.' And it had some pictures. Someone drew like a 'Tweety' bird or something."

Clark said the designs were only up for about two hours before officials made the group clean it up. His parents appealed district Superintendent Craig Jefson's decision, but Jefson sent them a letter explaining why the appeal was denied.

"James and the other students were aware that their behavior at this time could prompt their suspension from school and resulting loss of privilege to participate in the graduation ceremony, yet they participated in the disruption anyway. ... I needed to consider the message to current and future students that disruption of the school environment cannot be acceptable in some situations and not others."

Wash. family to keep endangered turtle

RIDGEFIELD, Wash., June 9 (UPI) -- Washington state officials say a family will be allowed to keep their pet, a rare western pond turtle, but the animal will be owned by the state of California.

Barry Mason of Ridgefield and his wife Chae Yon said the family adopted the turtle when they encountered it as a baby 21 years ago while camping in Northern California. They said the turtle apparently was taken from their home during a birthday party for their son, Shon, in April, The (Vancouver, Wash.) Columbian reported.

The reptile turned up in May at a pet store in Hazel Dell, Wash., but the family ran into an obstacle while reclaiming their beloved Mr. Turtle -- his species is endangered.

Washington wildlife officials wrote Mason that it has decided to allow the family to keep the turtle under a few strict conditions: The animal will belong to the state of California, it cannot be transferred to another family without the department's approval, and its final resting spot after its death will be determined by California and Washington wildlife officials.

Officials said they took into account the amount of time Mr. Turtle has spent in captivity, as well as its special connection to Mason's son, Chol, who died of complications from a transfusion of HIV-positive blood a few years after he and his brother discovered him.

"We are making this exception due to the circumstances regarding the captive history and care for this turtle since 1988," the department said in a letter to Mason.

Prisoners resurrect 500-year-old slang

ROCHDALE, England, June 9 (UPI) -- The British Ministry of Justice is warning the country's prisons that prisoners have taken to using 16th-century slang to hide talk about drug deals.

The 500-year-old dialect, which is known as thieves' cant or rogues' cant, was believed to have been developed by medieval gypsies and adopted by a handful of scoundrels across England. Officials at Buckley Hall Prison in Rochdale said the dialect has resurfaced as a code for drug trafficking, the Daily Mail reported.

Officials said they determined that "chat" and "onick" are being used as code for heroin, while "cawbe" denotes crack cocaine and "inick" is code for a cell phone or a SIM card.

"This is the most ingenious use of a secret code we have ever come across," an official at the 381-prisoner facility said. "Elizabethan cant was only used by a tiny number of people and it is quite amazing that is has been resurrected in order to buy drugs. Some inmates will try anything to get contraband into jail."

The Ministry of Justice sent a security alert to officials at prisons in England and Wales warning them to be aware of the code.

Poll: Britons want to talk to Jesus, Diana

LONDON, June 9 (UPI) -- A survey suggests Jesus Christ is the person Britons would most like to communicate with from beyond the grave, closely followed by Princess Di and Shakespeare.

The survey, carried out to promote the DVD release of the third-season of ITV sci-fi show "Primeval," found one third of the 3,000 respondents picked Jesus as the dead person they would most like to communicate with, closely followed by Princess Diana, who was killed in a 1997 car crash, and celebrated poet and playwright William Shakespeare.

"These results show that Jesus Christ will always be the British Public's 'Superstar,'" a spokesman for the DVD release said. "But we were fully expecting Princess Diana to top the poll as she won the hearts of the nation and no-one has ever really forgotten her place within the Royal family or the impact she made on ordinary people."