By Joe Johnson
Two University of Georgia students were arrested last week after a half-dozen knives reportedly were found in their dorm room.
The knives were found by UGA police officers as they conducted an investigation of an exit sign that had been stolen from a Russell Hall corridor early the morning of Feb.4, according to a UGPD field case report.
The investigation identified 19-year-old Wesley Joseph Shackelford as the alleged thief, and during a subsequent search of his room in Russell Hall, police found the stolen sign and six knives, only one of which belonged to Shackelford, according to the report.
The other five knives belonged to 19-year-old Crew Alexander Phillips.
On Feb. 14, arrest warrants were obtained charging Shackelford with misdemeanor theft by taking and criminal trespass/damage to property and one felony count of possession of a weapon on school property, according to a police supplemental report; Phillips was charged with five felony counts of possession of a weapon on school property.
The students were notified by phone about the warrants that same day, and they surrendered at the Clarke County Jail on Feb. 18.
According to the jail, Shackelford was released on a $5,000 own-recognizance bond and Phillips was released on a $3,000 OR bond.
They would have been arrested for guns, too. Weapons (of all kinds) are banned in dorms, and campus carry wouldn't apply anyway since both men are under 21 and therefore ineligible for a concealed carry license.
I personally agree that banning knives is silly; I'm not sure whether they even make exceptions for cooking knives.
So, students can carry guns on campus, but not pocket knives?