SOUTHWEST OHIO Dart wars game causes concerns

Officers had pulled guns on a teen who was holding a toy dart gun.
BLUE ASH, Ohio (AP) -- High school students dressed in military camouflage and smeared with paint ambush classmates with toy foam-rubber dart guns while outside their jobs, leaving sports practices and in their front yards.
Some residents say the dart wars game organized by Sycamore High School students annually since at least 1996 is harmless fun, but other residents, school officials and police say it could be dangerous and want it to stop.
Five-member teams aim to "kill" competitors and play for a grand prize that totals $1,600 in this year's competition for the last team with members who haven't been shot with the foam-rubber projectiles. Participants' $8 entry fees make up the prize money, student organizers said.
The six-week competition, which the school does not sanction, starts the day after spring break ends and annually involves about 200 students.
Confiscated items
Since this year's game began April 12, police in this Cincinnati suburb have confiscated about 15 of the Nerf toys and plastic pipe sections fashioned into blowguns for the foam-rubber projectiles, as well as a pair of walkie-talkies. The spring-loaded Nerf guns use compressed air to shoot soft foam darts or balls.
Three days into the competition, Blue Ash officers pulled guns on a student holding a Nerf toy in the parking lot of an apartment complex. A resident had called police about 6:30 a.m. to report that a man wearing military fatigues was crouched by a car with what appeared to be a rifle.
Lt. Dennis Boone, commander of the city police road patrol, said officers were justified in pulling out their guns and police will file charges against players who violate laws.
"We see our share of crazy stuff -- people with guns and people who are nuts -- and they leave it to us in a split second to decide who is crazy, what is a real gun and who is a high school kid with a fake gun playing dart wars in the dark wearing camo," Boone said.
Toymaker Hasbro Inc., the Pawtucket, R.I., company that makes Nerf products, is unfamiliar with the dart wars game, spokeswoman Audrey DeSimone said Thursday. The action toys are designed for children and are meant to be used in a safe, appropriate manner, DeSimone said.
Students at some other schools in southwest Ohio have periodically played similar games, but the suburban Cincinnati contest has become a highly organized annual event.
A motorist called Blue Ash police one morning to say that two students had fired from a driveway at an opponent in a garage. Police said they threatened to charge the three teens with inducing panic. Parents said the dispute was resolved when they promised the police that their sons were out of the game.
Ginger Shaver, who has had three sons play dart wars since 1998, said she thinks police are being too harsh.
"The kids are involved in what's considered a legal pastime in terms that it is an elaborate game of tag," she said. "I obviously don't feel it's anything to get really worked up about."
Her son, Andrew Shaver, 17, said he enjoys the game and hopes it is allowed to continue, despite efforts by the school administration to persuade the communities to end it.
"As long as there is no damage to property, it's not hurting anything. It's not illegal," he said. "I think it's something for kids to do instead of going out drinking or something like that. It's a good alternative."
One chief's view
Police in neighboring Montgomery, where Sycamore High School is located, don't confiscate dart guns and don't interfere unless players commit a crime, Chief Kirk Nordbloom said.
"Our stance is, if you abide by the law, you won't have a problem with it. Play your game," Nordbloom said. "But, if you break the law, you pay the price."
Sycamore High officials began cracking down on the game in the late 1990s. They banned any dart wars activity on school grounds and school-sponsored events in 1999.
Associate principal Jim Skoog polices the school parking lot and takes guns and darts that are visible in cars. The first day of the competition this year, he collected 25 guns.
Skoog has talked to police in both communities about calling for a halt to dart wars, but no official action has been taken.