There is a Paul Simon song that has the lyric ...
"all lies and jest
still man hears what he wants to hear
and disregards the rest"
I think it is quiet profound and true in many cases, and guides many issues.
Here are some things to think about.
** If someone were going to take a gun to school, or were planning to have a shootout at school, would they really announce it via a text message to everyone at the school? I know the text message went out ... but think about that.
** People i know of who are spreading tales of woe and fear do not actually go to the school, or are not teachers etc., ALL students and teachers I have talked to - some off the record - have said the incident is being over blown. Let's see. Those that were not there say one thing, those that were say something else. Hmmmm which one to believe?
** Security was increased. People were booted out of school. Yet people say nothing was done. They have an officer in the school, the SRO program, . they have bullying policies in place. Nothing is being done though ....
** What if students realized all they had to do was say "gang" or "gun" to get the school shut down for a day? If you were the average high school kid ... would that give you any ideas?
** Why do we say there is a terrible problem with violence, much worse than anywhere else, yet there is not a single victim or eye witness coming forward?
** Why is spreading gossip and rumors - which you know to be untrue or could not prove in a court of law - not considered terrorism?
** What if spreading gossip and rumors was a crime?
Of the stories you believe, or have told, how many of them do you absolutely know to be fact?
** Why is it that, when I have said a lot of people tell me it is being overblown - a lot of students who are there every day, say there were some fights but they are not afraid .. some say i am lying.
Kids off school grounds are not afraid to talk. Ive talked to kids in church, kids hanging out in walmart, skateboarders, and one with his parents at dillons.. All say the same thing.
Im still waiting for one person who is actually at the school every day to come to me and tell me they are afraid. Ill even meet you at a secret location and wear a blindfold so i can't see you, and you can disguise your voice so i cant recognize it.
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33 comments:
I just talked to my neighbor last night. She attends High School and is very scared. She said there was a fight Tuesday and Thursday at the school. She did not attend school Friday, but told me that at some time 2 guns were found and 2 students arrested. Now, she did not say she knew any of this first hand. I know her fingers have mutated to her cell phone, though. Do I believe this happened? Not sure, but I do believe SHE believes it and is scared.
What is threatening to one person may not be threatening to another, correct? So therefore you have some people saying it is not being over blown while some say it is. I think it is a matter of perception. Is this not why the stalking bill was not rewritten? Anyway I do believe teachers nor students will come out on the record even anonymously as they are afraid of retribution.
Some of the issues brought up on these forums is that kids are clearly out of control. This starts at home. Parents have to take care of their kids at home in order for them to be respectful in school or in public. How do you fix it??? I don't think anyone knows for sure. (Well I have ideas but probably wouldn't be too popular on here)
** If someone were going to take a gun to school, or were planning to have a shootout at school, would they really announce it via a text message to everyone at the school?
Certainly, the shooter would probably not send out a text. But isn't it possible that other students who might have had knowledge of something could send out a text?
Dillon Kliebold and Eric Harris openly bragged about their intentions on the internet. Certainly they were just bluffing. No sane person would do that...
Ark City is all about one person becoming scared and scaring the peewaddle out of other similarly influenced people. Eventually a slap turns into a punch, a bruise turns into a broken sternum, etc.
Ark City loves their stories and the passive-aggressive sticking-to-their-stories-no-matter-what. Don't bother them with the truth, "it's their story and they are stuck with it" even though deep inside they know it is fabricated BS based on a sliver of reality.
OK some kids acted up. I'll bet the teachers could have written their names on a piece of paper a week before it happened.
Maybe part of the problem is the schools might not have a disciplinary process outside of the police officer and are sloughing off the "crowd control" issues on the cop.
You might have better discipline with the cop off of campus, where it would be a clearer definition of responsibility to the school administrators.
I stand by my story that AC is having some signs of gang trouble. What I don't think, is the perceived notion of the big time stuff that is the local gossip right now. I just feel that it is time to start taking some precautions to head off some major problems. Yes, I do think we have some gang members here, but I am not stupid enough to go on record to say who is who. Do I expect James to believe me? NO! Because I choose to remain anonymous by choice. So I choose to not attack James because he has no way of verifying an anonymous source!
THanks
finally a reasonable voice.
Im sure any crime you could think of happens right here in Arkansas City at some time or other.
It just seems to me that people are really eager to throw up their hands in fear and attack anyone who does not agree.
I dont think people are denying things happen.
whatever they did wouldnt be enough
"Of the stories you believe, or have told, how many of them do you absolutely know to be fact?"
I can tell you what I absolutely know to be a fact: My kid was scared to go to school, and on the verge of tears when asking if she could stay home.
Different subject: on your breaking news this morning it mentions three teenagers busted for underage drinking. Why was this breaking news? it happens nearly every weekend. Was it just because the police chief's son was involved?
November 17, 2008 10:14 AM,
I was wondering about that too. Since when is 19 year olds drinking BREAKING NEWS?
Also on the subject of breaking news, why is it that the comment section of the breaking news link only allows comments from people with google email accounts?
I know it has always gone on, but the rash of underage drinking arrests, the drinking at football games, and the slap on the wrist by the administration, (members of the football team miss 1 game?)are just another indication of the inmates running the asylum.
why is it that the comment section of the breaking news link only allows comments from people with google email accounts?
>>>
Just part of the vast google conspiracy to rule the world.
They should have notified parents so that we would have trusted they were doing the best they could- you have no right to say otherwise James and I have losst major respect for you over your attitude on this topic to the point I am no longer value anything you say. WE HAVE RIGHTS AS PARENTS AND YOU HAVE OVERSTEPPED YOUR BOUNDARIES!!
You are reporting 19 years olds drinking as breaking news...wow!! you really are losing it!!
Well my theory is, is that some parties on here have griped about newscow getting the story first and probably to let people know that chiefs son is not getting any special treatment.
Your newspaper has continued to report inaccuracies regarding the situation at the high school last week. It was repeated again by a Traveler reporter in today's paper that the fight on Tuesday occurred in the cafeteria. That is not true. It occurred upstairs, in the hallway near the library entrance. Secondly, it is also not true that there were more teachers than students at the high school on Friday. Approximately 1/3 of the 850 high school students were present. All of this may sound trivial, but it demonstrates the fact that one cannot believe everything that is reported in the media. It would be nice if reporters would get their facts straight before giving out incorrect information, and certainly before repeating it again and again.
Yeah. If he had not reported it, someone would think he was biased. Oh, and doesn't FOX and CNN label everything "breaking news"?
You are comparing the Traveler with CNN and Fox News??
If the breaking news was tyhat the Chief's son was involved, how come it didn't say he was the chief's son in the story?
And is it fair to make a bigger deal out of him getting in trouble, labeling it BREAKING NEWS and all, instead of just putting it in the police notes where it belonged? I'm sure Wallace was thrilled to see it on the front page of the website with BREAKING NEWS all over it.
Just a caution - when and if the authorities identify the gang(s) responsible, do not identify the gang by name. Their self esteem is so low that this is considered free publicity and legitimization. Yes, wee towns can have gangs. Parents who move from Wichita to avoid them soon realize that their kids are only 45 away from their previous neighborhood.
Just a caution - when and if the authorities identify the gang(s) responsible, do not identify the gang by name. Their self esteem is so low that this is considered free publicity and legitimization. Yes, wee towns can have gangs. Parents who move from Wichita to avoid them soon realize that their kids are only 45 away from their previous neighborhood.
It would be nice if reporters would get their facts straight before giving out incorrect information, and certainly before repeating it again and again.
>>>.
All the reports we have say it was in the cafeteria.
All anyone can report is what we are told ..
Im still waiting for someone to come forward to give me the lowdown on just how bad it was/ is .. and im even getting criticized for asking for that.
hmmmm
James- you need to get your facts straight. That fight was on the upper floor during lunch time right outside the classroom. Ask someone else - the one person you interviewed is lying. My child was just inside the class and it is on the upper floor down the hall from the offices past the locker area.
When I was in school (looong ago), we used to have fights at school all the time. You were hauled to the Principal's office, got your butt swatted. (with the door open for the rest of the school to hear)
sounds funny, huh. But, you get the point.
My, my, how times have changed. Now the students are in charge and it's the teachers who are afraid.
Isn;t it pretty much the norm that any time a traumatic event happens in a populated area that several varying accounts of what happened emerge. It is not even unusual to hear that it occurred in tow completely different locations.
I recall during the 9/11 attacks receiving several phone calls with reports of additional planes headed towards targets. A report held that there were two planes unaccounted for (commercial airliners).
It is simply interesting to watch how different individuals process and retell a tragedy. This is so, in part, because people tend to put themselves into the story. We tell it from our vantage point.
In reading the comments, it sounds like everyone has a bit of the facts but not all the facts. When one asserts there were multiple fights, it lends that there could have been a fight in the lunchroom and one in the hall.
One may have been more severe and involved than another. It's a big building! Whether there is problematic gang activity in the building is somewhat suspect. Most ethnics appear to be gang members (or at least violent natured)to someone.
What makes a gang a gang? One group may, for example, be reported as underaged teens drinking while another might be labeled as gang related activity. Who makes that determination? Have you ever asked yourself, who is in charge of decising which young people we label as "gang members"?
Same is true with terrorists. Several reports of intimidating behavior have been aired since the conclusion of the historic election. Crosses burned, drive by shootings and the like. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081116/ap_on_re_us/obama_racial
Yet, we call them civil unrest. They are attempts to control or rule by "terrorizing" their targets.
Who makes these labels and who decides how they are used?
I think there is room for reasonable people to conclude that the facts AND the truth lie somewhere between the unofficial reports from students and anonymous teachers and the information being forwarded from USD470 offices.
The gang fight on tuesday. It was upstairs, on the office hall just down from the lockers- is that specific enough for you?
Sorry Charles, but I don't think they are talking about a gang of underage drinking kids here(i know you are using that as an example). The determination here is if they give themselves nicknames, do initiations and tell everyone they are in a gang, then what are they? If the police determine they are in a gang, even if its wannabes, they should keep documentation and punish them like they are gang members. These kids want to play with fire, its up to authorities to give them fire back.
Well I am sorry also. I was called by a parent (not the first time it has happened) who was distraught that their child was being identified as a gang member. I know the kid and have never seen anything to support such.
I also now some kids in the past who tired of fighting such castes and instead embraced the stereotype being assigned them.
I respect your concern and opinion. The question is, who is the authority capable of, without biases, identifying gang members.
Both as a minister and as the appointed chair of our human relations, I maintain that we are udnuly predisposed to reach such a conclusion more frequently with ethnics because they are excluded from mainstream presence.
Not an ethnic police officer. Not an ethnic teacher. Not an ethnic administrator. Not an ethnic advocate via the school board. It is still to tempting to label ethnics as trouble makers simply because their difference in appearance predisposes people to see them as different.
Now, I am sure there are those ready to take me to task for this statement.
A friend of mine came to me today asking if I "could believe" that the POTUS elect was planning to change the AMerican flag because it does not have enough color. Short response (if you can believe I had a short one) was, "No, I can't believe that."
Surprising is that some can believe that. Depsite all that the POTUS holds as responsibility, some can convince themselves that his priority would be to change the USA flag - there is a different American flag for Canada and Mexico.
Having experienced that sort of embracing of hyperbole and fear on 11/18/2008, I have no problem believing that ethnic HS kids who kust came to get an education and to be part of a social set called High School students might be unfairly labeled as gang members by non-ethnic School Resource officers.
That is what the parent was saying about their child.
Oops the post that began with this paragraph was offered by me. I guess I got in hurry and did not identify myself before posting.
Anonymous said...
Well I am sorry also. I was called by a parent (not the first time it has happened) who was distraught that their child was being identified as a gang member. I know the kid and have never seen anything to support such.
When those ethnic children are flashing gang signs and yelling gang names in a fight, this not a matter of a nonethnic sro jumping to conclusions.
Basketball player finds religious slurs on car
• An Arkansas City High School junior who had just finished the first night of basketball practice Monday returned to his parked car to find religious slurs written on the windshield and side windows.
The 16-year-old boy found the words "Muslim," "terrorist" and "raghead" and the statement "I have a bomb" written in chalk on his Mercedes-Benz. He is the American-born son of Arkansas City business people who are natives of India. The family is Christian.
Police said Wednesday that an investigation has revealed that the person who wrote the slurs was another high school student who is an acquaintance of the victim and that the incident was "a bad joke."
This is an example of a VERY VERY bad joke that gets people believing there are gangs and problems in the city. But it also gets people wondering...was the kid who wrote these thinggs on the car really trying to pull off a joke or deep down does he/she hold some type of resentfullness toward the particular victim?
I'm not trying to cause problems. But this bad joke is what could set off problems around the school and around the town as rumors get started.
true.
what does everyone think about that.
Anonymous said...
When those ethnic children are flashing gang signs and yelling gang names in a fight, this not a matter of a nonethnic sro jumping to conclusions.
How about le's hear it from the kids. The thing about always hosting extremist dialog on every issue that surfaces is that when there is some issue deserving of alarm, no one can tell whether it is a genuine concern versus just more Ark City hype.
Some things are just what they are. Sometimes, a fight is jyst a fight among teenagers. They happen all across the country and have for generations. They were not gang activity then or likely are not now.
I do know there were times in the 70's when I attended USD470 schools that groups (gangs) of kids wanted to meet up some where and have it out. There were some pretty serious ones also.
Those kids were not labeled and branded and they grew out of the age of settling things with their fists (and makeshift weapons a time or two) and most are now respectable adults in this community. Probably one or two of them post on this blog regularly.
I did not fight nor did I make a practice of finding out who fought or watcvhing them. I saw the evidence and that was enough for me.
Back then parents talked to kids. Police officers talked to (and not tasered) kids. Yes, they were able to paddle students then but Mr. Akers was good at talking to kids too. It was every bit as effective in reaching a kid who cared and had parents who cared.
Now we just embrace that ambulance chasing mentality that every thing is something BIG and must require some BIG remedy.
My intuition is that people on here will be discussing this "problem" long after the kids have moved on, unless we keep provoking things with our influence to our own kids.
Maybe the biggest thing is, a generation or two ago, parents knew how to keep small stuff small so that BIG stuff could be given the appropriate attention and resource. Today people want to make everything BIG.
So now we have a kid getting his car vandalized with racial remarks (police become involved). A school board member pulling his kids out of school due to violence. Question....now do you think people are over reacting?
The thing about always hosting extremist dialog on every issue that surfaces is that when there is some issue deserving of alarm, no one can tell whether it is a genuine concern versus just more Ark City hype.
>>>
Very true.
then everyone gets tired of it and moves on to the next subject and nothing is ever resolved.
its like the old joke.
.. man been married 50 years, says to a friend "my wife and i have a great relationship. We have had only one argument in 50 years.
Friend says, "thats great, how have you managed that"
First man says .. "well, we have it every day."
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