Young Writers Society

Teacher Jim Piculas does a magic trick where a toothpick disappears and then reappears.

Piculas recently did the 30-second trick in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land 'O Lakes.

Piculas said he then got a call from the supervisor of teachers, saying he'd been accused of wizardry.

"I get a call the middle of the day from head of supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, 'Jim, we have a huge issue, you can't take any more assignments you need to come in right away,'" he said.

Piculas said he did not know of any other accusations that would have led to the action.

The teacher said he is concerned that the incident may prevent him from getting future jobs.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

Vernon wrote:Well, I'm sorry, all I meant was that if people get out of hand again. We may have the old supersitions and fears back. That's what scares me most.

Nate wrote:

Vernon wrote:Well, I'm sorry, all I meant was that if people get out of hand again. We may have the old supersitions and fears back. That's what scares me most.

Really? That's what scares you most? Not that the death toll in Burma may now reach over 1,000,000, or that the Chinese government will do whatever it takes to ensure a successful Olympics, or that Darfur continues to suffer? No, a hypothetical situation based on an incident that happened several thousands of miles away that cannot possibly affect you is what scares you the most?

A sense of proportionality is of the utmost importance.

Like I said, laugh at this. But to take it seriously? Life is too ludicrous for that.

Nate wrote:Vernon, you're quite seriously defending this? This is an incident that happened thousands of miles away in a town you've never even heard of; tell me, how does this affect you? This is a trifling incident. Nothing more. Of course, if you want to keep on making a much ado about nothing, then go on ahead. I'll get morally outraged out of stuff that deserves moral outrage, such as genocide and starvation. You can get morally outraged about a false accusation involving one person whose life is probably fine right now in a city thousands of miles away that you can't even point out on a map.