The Region - News from Jan. 28, 1986

Billy Russell claimed in court that a San Bernardino County school district violated his free-speech rights by suspending him for wearing a cap to class. But the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the suspension, ruling that the cap was more fashion statement than political statement. The lawyer representing Russell, a junior high school student in the Victor Valley Joint Union High School District, had cited a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that high school students could wear black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. But the U.S. District Court dismissed the suit, saying that the cap carried no message and assumed no political significance in the eyes of onlookers and the appeals court agreed.