Costume gets kid cuffed
Pine Bush senior had replica of Civil War musket for re-enactment

excerpts:

Last weekend, Joshua Phelps was fighting Confederate soldiers with a Civil War-era musket in his arms, re-enacting the epic 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville. When the Pine Bush High School senior was done charging around the grassy fields behind Montgomery's Brick House Museum, he tossed his musket, a bayonet and Union soldier's blue uniform in his car and forgot about it. Yesterday, a security guard at the high school saw the butt of the musket.

Minutes later, he was arrested by Town of Crawford police, handcuffed, and charged with fourth-degree criminal possession.

"the high school had recruited students to become involved in the Civil War re-enactors club...After joining, the Orange Blossoms, who are affiliated with the club, gave him a uniform, the replica musket that shoots blanks, a powder keg and a Union soldier's uniform.

"If they [the school district] were really so afraid that a replica musket could be used to shoot someone, then why are they giving them out to 17-year-olds?" Michaels asked.