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LUNCHROOM LUNACY: OFFICIALS CALL GENUINE $2 BILL FAKE
Here's how news bounces around the world these days. An ABC News affiliate in Houston, TX did a story about an eighth grade girl who
got in trouble for spending a supposed counterfeit bill at school. Across the pond the Daily Mail grabs screen captures from the
video, slaps on a sensational headline and publishes its own story. E-Sylum subscriber Dick Hanscom in Alaska sees the story and
forwards it to me. And now you guys are about to read it.
I generally avoid publishing counterfeiting stories because they're so common and all tell pretty much the same story. This one is different and deserves the sensational treatment to rebuke the incompetence of the local school officials. -Editor 
When you think of felony forgery your thoughts might turn to Al Capone or Bonnie and Clyde shooting it out with the Texas Rangers. Not for some local school cops. For one day, public enemy number one when it came to forgery was 13-year-old eighth grader Danesiah Neal at Fort Bend Independent School District's Christa McAuliffe Middle School. Now 14, Daneisha was hoping to eat that day's lunch of chicken tenders with her classmates using a $2 bill given to her by her grandmother when she was stopped by the long arm of the law. "I went to the lunch line and they said my $2 bill was fake," Danesiah told Ted Oberg Investigates. "They gave it to the police. Then they sent me to the police office. A police officer said I could be in big trouble." Not just big trouble. Third-degree felony trouble. School officials called Daneisha's grandmother Sharon Kay Joseph. The officials asked, "'Did you give Danesiah a $2 bill for lunch?' He told me it was fake," she said. Then the Fort Bend ISD police investigated the $2 bill with the vigor of an episode of Dragnet... Next stop -- and these are just the facts -- the cop went to a bank to examine the bill. Finally, the mystery was solved: The $2 bill wasn't a fake at all. It was real. The bill so old, dating back to 1953, the school's counterfeit pen didn't work on it. "He brought me my two dollar bill back," Joseph said. He didn't apologize. He should have and the school should have because they pulled Danesiah out of lunch and she didn't eat lunch that day because they took her money." Joseph said something needs to change so kids don't have felonies looming over their heads for minor crimes -- or actions that aren't even crimes at all. "It was very outrageous for them to do it," she said. "There was no need for police involvement. They're charging kids like they're adults now."
Amen. Now, as numismatists you and I all know what a two-dollar bill is and what they look like. And those school and police officials
are probably younger and had never seen one before. But calling the police seems bonkers. At least the cops did the right thing by first
confirming with a knowledgeable third party at a local bank. So why couldn't school officials do the same before causing such a
disruption? The poor girl didn't deserve that treatment; she deserves an apology. -Editor
To read the complete articles, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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