Over in Westport …
Sarah Friedson, 17, walked her chocolate-colored pony, Cocoa, to Staples High School to celebrate her last day of school, holding a sign that read “Save Gas” on one side, “Staples 2008″ on the other. Her father, Ronald Friedson, drove behind in the rain, his vehicle’s blinkers flashing.
When they reached the high school parking lot, Friedson’s friends flocked to the pony to pet him. School administrators, citing concern for the students’ safety, called police.
Both father and daughter were charged with breach of peace, a misdemeanor. In a statement released hours after the pair’s arrest, Westport police said both had ignored a security guard’s warning to keep the pony off school grounds, along with an earlier warning from school administrators.
Ronald Friedson, 50, said the 20-year-old pony, blind in one eye from a cataract, is incapable of harming anyone. “It’s a fat old pony,” he said. “He looks like something out of a cartoon. The only danger is if you’re a carrot.”
For many years, Friedson sold riding helmets and saddles at the Tack Room in town but has since moved his business online. Cocoa lives with the family on a four-acre former riding school.
The elder Friedson accused the school of overreacting. “I said to the kids, ‘Watch out for the bureaucrats shutting down your right to free speech.’”
Apparently school officials were overly influenced by Chaucer back in the day.
source: Courant, Westport Teen, Dad Charged Following Pony Prank, By KIM MARTINEAU, June 7, 2008
