NEW PRAGUE, Minn. -- It's not easy being green.
|  | | Rocky Sonkowsky, 10, allegedly was banned from a school class pizza party with the Minnesota Vikings because he refused to take off his Packers jersey. |
Ten-year-old Rocky Sonkowsky found that out when he was
allegedly banned from a class pizza party with the Minnesota
Vikings because he repeatedly refused to take off his Green Bay
Packers jersey.
Two days before the rival teams meet for a second time this
season, the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union on Friday announced a
lawsuit in federal court against the school district, two teachers
and the school principal for violating Rocky's right to free speech.
Call it Packers persecution.
The mess started in fall of 1999 when New Prague Intermediate
School, 40 miles southwest of Minneapolis, entered a statewide
geography contest. A visit to the Vikings facility in Eden Prairie
to meet star receiver Cris Carter was the top prize.
But, according to Rocky's attorneys, school officials made the
boy cover his cherished Packers jersey in a photo for the
contest.
When he wouldn't back down from showing the team's green and
gold, they also kept him out of a parade the rest of the class got
to be in and refused to post his Packer-centric art work. Then,
after the class won the trip, they refused to let him go along,
attorneys said.
"They were afraid that his being a Packer fan would embarrass
the Vikings and Cris Carter," said Charles Samuelson, executive
director of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union.
"I'll bet if Cris Carter had known about this, he would have
talked to the kid and jerked his chain and probably given him a
Vikings jersey. I can't imagine he would have been offended."
In fact, Sonkowsky and his father, Roy, may meet the Vikings
anyway. After hearing about the mess, the team offered the two
tickets and a chance to meet players on Sunday.
In an interview on Friday from his room -- packed with Packer
gear -- Rocky said he loves the team, especially quarterback Brett
Favre.
"All the people in my family like them," he said.
Rocky, who could pass for Harry Potter, said he wears Packer
clothes most days, but not all.
His father, a burly man with his son's name tattooed on his arm,
is an even bigger Packers fan, telling his son, "The three things
most important in the world are God, your family and the Green Bay
Packers."
District Superintendent Frankie Poplau confirmed that the child
in question was not allowed to make the field trip. But she
wouldn't say why, noting that the district plans to dispute the
facts of case -- in court.
"It is not our practice to discriminate against students based
on their sports team allegiance. I have great respect for the
professionals in this district," Poplau said.
The district has 20 days to respond to the lawsuit, filed
Wednesday.
Joni Thome, the attorney for the family, said Rocky was
disciplined for some playground scrapes and foul language while the
jersey debate was going on. But she said the discipline wouldn't
have been required if school officials hadn't forced the issue.
The school never should have expected the boy to hide his team
allegiance, she said.
"They are Packer fans, as we all know Packer fans to be,"
Thome said. "They will die Packer fans."
She also swears the timing of the case has nothing to do with
the game, calling it merely an attempt to beat a one-year statute
of limitations on the case.
Thome said Rocky and his dad are seeking unspecified
compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys fees.
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