Left in the midst of Super Tuesday and the Giants ticker tape parade local news coverage is an intriguing story about a 14-year-old Long Island boy's suspension. Last November, Ethan Mirenberg was suspended after, per Newsday, "a former teacher accused him of putting her in a chokehold and grinding his knuckles into her scalp." In other words, a noogie from hell. Which is probably why the WNBC graphics department went the "Nightmare Noogie" route.
In an interview with WNBC (video), Mirenberg, wearing a "Free Ethan" t-shirt, explained that he was just being affectionate. His dad said he was told his son just "patted" teacher Sharon Cantate on the head and thinks the Lynbrook schools district is punishing his son too severely (sure, his son shouldn't have been touching a teacher, but a 7-month suspension?). However, the head of the school system added Mirenberg approached Cantate "from behind, doubled her over" and put her in a chokehold before adminstering the noogie.
Mirenberg's father plans to appeal the suspension all the way to the state commissioner of education. For us, the cherry on the top of the story was a photograph of the teacher getting actually receiving a noogie (from another student, it seems) with a smile.
