Discouraging Excellence: 9-yr-old reading champ’s success depresses other kids, told he should “step aside”

Tyler Weaver of Hudson Falls, NY, is the five-time consecutive winner of his local library’s reading contest. In this age of increased video-game skills and decreased reading skills, most would agree that such a story should be celebrated. Which is probably why Tyler’s mom contacted the local paper.

And that’s when it all went bad.

The paper called Hudson Falls Public Library Director Marie Gandron for a comment on 9-year-old Tyler’s success, and they got a doozy:

(The Hudson Post-Star) – During a phone call Tuesday to Gandron, the library director said Tyler “hogs” the contest every year and he should “step aside.”

“Other kids quit because they can’t keep up,” Gandron said.

Congratulations! You lost.

This is just confusing.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:

SEARCY, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas woman who cashed a $1 million lottery ticket may have to give up the winnings to a woman who threw away the ticket after she bought it, according to a judge’s ruling Tuesday.

The judge decided that Sharon Duncan was entitled to the prize money, not Sharon Jones, who claimed the prize money after she took the ticket from a trash can of discarded lottery tickets at a convenience store in Beebe, a city about 40 miles northeast of Little Rock.

Jones’ attorney, James Simpson, said he plans to appeal.

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Simpson noted that Duncan testified she threw away the ticket after the read-out on a ticket scanner said, “Sorry. Not a winner.” The attorney argued that people shouldn’t be allowed to throw items away and then say, “‘ooh, I want to un-abandon it.'”

“We’d have garage-sale law all over the place,” he said. “It became trash when someone threw it away.”

So, one the one hand, Duncan DID throw it away. However, she wouldn’t have done so had the ticket shown up as a winner.

I don’t know. I feel for both of the “Sharons”. Either way, one of these ladies is gonna feel ripped off.

Question: Since this is going to be appealed, does the next judge order the prize money split?