Pot Luck

Driver Gloria Arsenault, 58, taking a busload of 50 children to their junior high school in Peabody, Mass., thought she smelled something odd. Her nose told her it was marijuana smoke. Her mouth told the kids to stop. "But these kids weren't stopping," said Arsenault later.

So Arsenault drove her passengers to the local police station. There officers poked through the bus and found two joints and two hashish pipes. Who were the smokers? None of the students would say. That would be squealing. Town officials and police promptly decided on a punishment: they suspended service on the bus for three days.

Some of the children live as far as six miles from school, but none had to walk. Their parents, who complained loudly about the suspension, drove the youngsters to class. Said Ninth-Grader Michelle Penkul, 15: "They shouldn't be making this much hassle over pot." Bus Driver Arsenault had a different view: "I did it because I am a mother and grandmother and concerned for these kids." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.