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http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2006/02/23/news/...8625711e0007bbd9.txt

Teen's now 'poster boy' for better conduct
Punishment is advertising his misdeed for hours

BY CHRISTINE KRALY
ckraly@nwitimes.com
219.762.1397

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Thursday, February 23, 2006 12:55 AM CST

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PORTAGE | Jamal Wooten loves sunrises, and until Wednesday, he hadn't seen one in a long time.

But the 16-year-old Portage resident didn't catch the sunrise over the Kwik-Mart on Willowcreek Road for fun.

At nearly 7 a.m., he was paying the price for using the "F word."

Wearing a homemade sandwich board of yellow cardboard attached with duct and electrical tape, Wooten stood at the intersection of Willowcreek and Lute roads as a family-induced punishment for being suspended from Portage High School last week.

He was picketing against his own behavior.

Wooten, a sophomore, said last week, one of his teachers sent him and other students home with letters giving parents a kind of progress report on the students' grades and behavior. Wooten said his letter notified his guardians of his failing grade in English, and said he was disruptive in class.

When Wooten approached his teacher to discuss the letter the following day, a fellow student made a joke, and Wooten swore back at him. That's when the teacher sent him to the principal, and he was suspended for five days, Wooten said.

Neither Portage Superintendent Michael Berta nor Portage Principal Richard Kirchner could be reached for comment.

Wooten's family was less than pleased.

So his aunt, Julia Santana, took marker to cardboard and literally inked out Wooten's punishment.

Four about four hours -- split into morning and afternoon shifts to maximize the view for passing traffic -- Wooten stood in front of his townhouse complex. He got a lot of honks and visitors. Several parents came up to him and were so impressed by his punishment, they said they were going to use it with their kids.

A Portage police officer even took the time to talk and bought him a cup of hot chocolate.

Wooten himself said that "making a fool out of myself" was a fitting penance. "I hate to say I agree with it, but I do," he said.

Fellow Willow Creek Estates resident Ron Myers drove up to Wooten near the end of his day of punishment.

"You still out here?" asked Myers, who had seen Wooten during his morning shift.

Myers said the boy's punishment was a good way of teaching kids a lesson. "Something like this, they won't do it again," Myers said.

"We're trying to get him to understand the importance of authority," Santana said. She said she hopes he remembers to "think before you speak."

Wooten said he spent the first two days of his suspension this week hard at work. He spent at least two hours Monday performing a military-like regime of sit-ups and push-ups, per his family's demands. Tuesday, the member of a "very religious family" studied the Bible.

"And today, I'm 'poster boy,' " he said.

The current suspension is Wooten's second offense, and Santana said if he is suspended a third time, he could be expelled.

"There won't be a third time," Wooten said. "Hopefully I'll put a positive message out there."
 
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