Costume gets kid cuffed
Pine Bush senior had replica of Civil War musket for re-enactment
Pine Bush – Last weekend, Joshua Phelps was fighting Confederate soldiers with a Civil War-era musket in his arms, re-enacting the epic 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville.
When the Pine Bush High School senior was done charging around the grassy fields behind Montgomery's Brick House Museum, he tossed his musket, a bayonet and Union soldier's blue uniform in his car and forgot about it.
Yesterday, a security guard at the high school saw the butt of the musket.
He called the cops.
The discovery by the guard sparked a chain of events that got the B-average student arrested, suspended from school for five days and facing weapons charges. He could be expelled from school and even jailed.
Phelps, 17, was sitting in study hall when the security guard told him to come to Assistant Principal Aaron Hopmayer's office. When he got there he was told that a rifle had been spotted in his car.
He wasn't concerned. He knew they would understand.
"I actually thought it was kind of stupid, at first, when I heard it was about the musket," Joshua said. "I didn't think I'd get arrested over it."
He went with them to the parking lot and let them search his car. They pulled the musket from his back seat along with a uniform and Civil War-era accessories.
Minutes later, he was arrested by Town of Crawford police, handcuffed, and charged with fourth-degree criminal possession, a misdemeanor. The cops confiscated the gun.
His mother, Valerie Michaels, is outraged.
"They arrested my son for having a Civil War costume," she said yesterday. "The school district has blown this incident totally out of proportion. It's ludicrous."
The musket was part of the teenager's Civil War-era costume, which included his uniform – shoes, leather belt, jacket, hat, powder keg and a leather cartridge box.
Over the weekend, Phelps participated in the re-enactment of the May 1863 battle of Chancellorsville at the Brick House Museum, an annual event hosted by the 124th New York State Volunteers, the famed "Orange Blossoms."
The re-enactors model themselves after the original regiment, which was mustered into action from Orange County in the summer of 1862. The unit would take part in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg the following year – key conflicts in the war.
Michaels said she understands how school officials would be concerned, in the post-Columbine era, after discovering the musket on school grounds. But she said once they learned the musket was a replica, they should have given him a break.
"I don't understand why the school wants to push this so far," she said. "There are bigger problems at that high school than this. It just doesn't make any sense."
Town of Crawford police Chief Daniel McCann disagreed. Replica or not, he said, the musket could have been used to fire a projectile, such as a small rock.
He said officers found 14 to 15 rolled cartridges with black powder, and a bayonet.
"I know this might appear to be a minor thing, but it's not," McCann said. "The musket was found in his car on the high school grounds and could have been used."
Pine Bush Superintendent RoseMarie Stark called yesterday's incident a "student discipline matter" and declined comment.
School officials say bloody massacres like the April 20, 1999, one at Columbine High School, have prompted state and federal governments to enact laws about weapons in schools.
Many states have a zero-tolerance stance, meaning a fake musket that fires blanks carries the same penalty as a loaded AK-47 assault rifle. In New York, each case must take into account the weapon, the circumstances and the student's history.
"There is a concern among school districts, even with replicas or fake guns," said David Ernst, a spokesman for the state School Boards Association.
In Pine Bush, the high school had recruited students to become involved in the Civil War re-enactors club.
Phelps, who joined the Civil War Club a few months ago, said he was looking to get more involved in extra-curricular activities, hoping it would boost his standing on college applications. He found an ad for the club in the school district's annual catalog.
After joining, the Orange Blossoms, who are affiliated with the club, gave him a uniform, the replica musket that shoots blanks, a powder keg and a Union soldier's uniform.
"If they [the school district] were really so afraid that a replica musket could be used to shoot someone, then why are they giving them out to 17-year-olds?" Michaels asked.
