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.