A student at Grayson High School, in Gwinnett County, was stopped by a school administrator when he was spotted wearing the shirt that read "Hempstead, NY 516", a reference to the Long Island town, and its area code. But the administrator only saw the first four letters of the town's name, and believed it to be a drug reference.

"It was ridiculous," says Caron Jones, mother of Terrell Jones. "They were labeling him that he was advertising marijuana," she says. The family moved to Gwinnett from Hempstead, and never considered that the hemp in Hempstead might cause any problems at the boy's school. "I had no idea that hemp stands for marijuana until I looked it up in the dictionary," Mrs. Jones says. "But, his T-shirt says Hempstead, not hemp."

After being questioned by school officials, Terrell finally convinced them to do a search on the internet and see that there is, in fact, a Hempstead. After determining the existence of the town, the boy was allowed to return to class. The boy's father is still furious.

"I will fight it until we get a real apology and something is done about the situation," says James Jones. "Because today it was Terrell. Tomorrow it might be another young man or another young lady."

"It raised a red flag, the administrator checked it out, and that's what he's supposed to do," said Gwinnett schools spokeswoman Sloan Roach.

"We will remain vigilant in addressing references to drugs because we feel that it's very important to maintain a safe learning environment," she said.

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