His Hometown Went to Pot?
Last week, about 3,500 students arrived for the first day of school at Grayson High School in Loganville, Georgia, not too far from Atlanta. (Here’s a map.) They probably did all of the normal things high schoolers do during those first weeks of school — meet their teachers, grouse about having homework, break up with boyfriends and girlfriends and find new ones, etc. And, for sure, a few of them have already been sent to the principal’s office for breaking a school rule or two.
In those cases, chances are those kids will be in trouble. But in a rare case in 2004, one Grayson High student walked out of the principal’s office with an apology. The problem: marijuana.
High school students shouldn’t be doing drugs — that should go without saying. But when it comes to pot (in particular), that’s often not the case. According to the National Institutes for Health, about three in ten high school seniors smoke pot at least once in a typical year. And school administrators aren’t a fan of that, so they do what they can to prevent drug culture from taking root within their halls.
So when, in August 2004, a Grayson High administrator pulled a student out of class because of potential drug issues, no one was surprised — no one, that is, except for the student himself. Terrell Jones was new to Grayson that year; his family moved to the Atlanta suburbs from the New York City suburbs that summer. And he decided to do something that probably shouldn’t have gotten him in trouble — he wore a shirt to his new school with the name of his hometown, state, and area code on it.
The problem? Jones was born in Hempstead, NY, area code 516, something like the mockup I made below.
If you’re familiar with the geography of the state of New York, you probably know that Hempstead is a pretty large town — it has a population of about 750,000 people. But if you’re not from around there, you can be forgiven for not having heard of it. Hempstead consists of dozens of villages and hamlets, and most people identify from being from one of those constituent municipalities as well as being from Hempstead itself. Hempstead, despite having more people than Seattle, Denver, Nashville, Boston, or Las Vegas, isn’t a place most people know about.
Unfortunately for Jones, the high school administrator was one of those ignorant many. The administrator, though, did know that “hemp” was a term related to marijuana, and made the assumption that Jones’ tee was promoting pot use. Per the New York Post, the school “ordered him to remove the shirt” because of the infringing word.
Jones stood his ground. According to the UPI, he refused to do so and instead “had to persuade school officials to look up his former hometown on the Internet before they would let him back in class.” Once they did, they realized that “516” wasn’t a reference to anything drug-related, but rather confirmation that the town of Hempstead really did exist, and had nothing to do with drugs. The administrator apologized and Jones was allowed to go back to class. And, as he told the Associated Press, “he will keep wearing the shirt to school.”
Bonus fact: If you’re trying to visit all 50 U.S. states, there’s a good chance you’ve still not visited North Dakota — with apologies to the state, there aren’t a ton of reasons to go there. In fact, the town of Fargo, North Dakota doesn’t want you to visit their state on your quest, at least, not until you’ve visited the other 49 states. Recognizing that most questers don’t have their state high on the list, the people of Fargo have created a Best for Last Club, “an official club, especially for people who are visiting all 50 states and managed to save the best state (North Dakota) for last,” according to the city’s website. Those who visit all 49 other states first and then go to Fargo get an official certificate from the city, a commemorative t-shirt (which you can see on their website), and an “occasional round of applause from staffers.” Since the club was established in 2013, the club has more than 7,000 members. (The tenth most populated city in North Dakota, Wahpeton, only has about 8,000 people, so that’s a lot by North Dakota standards!)
From the Archives: This T-Shirt Will Make You Feel Good About the World: A great story about a t-shirt.