- CLOVIS, NM (AP) -
A call about a possible weapon at a middle school prompted police to put
armed officers on rooftops, close nearby streets and lock down the school.
All over a giant burrito.
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- Someone called authorities Thursday after seeing a boy
carrying something long and wrapped into Marshall Junior High.
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- The drama ended two hours later when the suspicious item
was identified as a 30-inch burrito filled with steak, guacamole, lettuce,
salsa and jalapeños and wrapped inside tin foil and a white T-shirt.
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- "I didn't know whether to laugh or cry," school
Principal Diana Russell said.
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- State police, Clovis police and the Curry County Sheriff's
Department arrived at the school shortly after 8:30 a.m. They searched
the premises and determined there was no immediate danger.
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- Worried parents gather at school
- In the meantime, more than 30 parents, alerted by a radio
report, descended on the school. Visibly shaken, they gathered around in
a semicircle, straining their necks, awaiting news.
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- "There needs to be security before the kids walk
through the door," said Heather Black, whose son attends the school.
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- After the lockdown was lifted but before the burrito
was identified as the culprit, parents pulled 75 students out of school,
Russell said.
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- Russell said the mystery was solved after she brought
everyone in the school together in the auditorium to explain what was going
on.
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- "The kid was sitting there as I'm describing this
(report of a student with a suspicious package) and he's thinking, 'Oh,
my gosh, they're talking about my burrito.'"
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- Afterward, eighth-grader Michael Morrissey approached
her.
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- I think I,m the person they saw,
- "He said, 'I think I'm the person they saw,'"
Russell said.
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- The burrito was part of Morrissey's extra-credit assignment
to create commercial advertising for a product.
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- "We had to make up a product and it could have been
anything. I made up a restaurant that specialized in oddly large burritos,"
Morrissey said.
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- After students heard the description of what police were
looking for, he and his friends began to make the connection. He then took
the burrito to the office.
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- "The police saw it and everyone just started laughing.
It was a laughter of relief," Morrissey said.
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- "Oh, and I have a new nickname now. It's Burrito
Boy."
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- © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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- © 2005 MSNBC.com
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- URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7683168/
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- THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A TIME ON THIS PLANET WHERE SO FEW
WILL DO SO MUCH FOR SO MANY
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- "The practice of discernment is part of higher consciousness.
Discernment is not just a step up from judgment. In life's curriculum,
it is the opposite of judgment. Through judgment a man reveals what he
needs to confront and learn. Through discernment, one reveals what he has
mastered." Quote from: Love Without End, by Glenda Green
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