E-mail topic: Letters and news that couldn't be published in the local newspaper
This topic is for letters that were rejected for publication or letters you'd like to write but fear publishing under your name. Think of it as basically a whole blog under one subject with no subject boundaries...
posted by J. Kendrick McPeters | 10:29 PM
235 Comments:
I would like to comment on the County's search for a courthouse annex. Find a building site and build a new building. If a lot is available on the square then build a new office building and use a old store front like the ones already on the square. This would enhance the downtown area. Yes, it will cost money, but the county commission has already spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a project that was ill concieved from the start. Where is their shame.
Is there not a law that requires minutes be taken at all government meetings?
I have not heard of this until now but I do know the collection of fees related to court cases is the responsibility of the Circuit, General Sessions and Chancery Court Clerks and not the County Executive. The Court Clerks would turn the money over each month to the County Trustee who would deposit the funds in the County's General Fund. The spending of the money falls under the annual operating budget of the county.
I just looked at the statutes and AG opinion sited. I dont see the continuance fee in the statute or AG opinion.
It does, thank you. Your article is dated 12/29/05 - with a start date of January 1, 2006. So it has only been collected for about 10 months by the Clerks of Court.
You usually make very good points, however you are wrong about who collects the fee and how long it has been collected - you state since Jan 1, 2005. I dont believe Janet Vanzant deserves what you said about her in your post. She is not to blame for everything that goes wrong in Giles County Govt.
A two dollar fee of this type will not equate to alot of money in 10 months time. Check the June 30, 2006 Giles County CAFR when it is released, I believe you will see this fee reserved as part of the fund balance for the General Fund.
Thank you Mr. Barrett for all the time and effort you spend on behalf of the taxpayers of this county.
Though I disagree with you on some points, I have to agree that County business should take place in public meetings, and not on the telephone or in private offices.
Public meetings would run much longer than they currently do if elected officials discuss county business in public.
Being paid $30 for a meeting that lasts an hour or less is pretty good pay around here. Regardless of time it takes to conduct a meeting, the law states all meetings MUST be held in public, be audible, and adequate notice given in newspaper as to when meeting is to be held. Law is currently not being complied with.
I don't understand an elected official, by the people, would want to hold secret meetings,all that does is bring on questions & distrust.
You make it sound as if you think that it is okay for our gov. officials to talk in private because it saves the time of people who attend the meetings.
6:36:22 AM whom are you directing your comment to?
Public meetings would run much longer than they currently do if elected officials discuss county business in public.
Monday, November 06, 2006 11:37:51 AM
It seems pretty clear to those of us who do attend most of these meetings that if Janet Vanzant would only answer the questions that are asked of her by people such as Mr. Barrett (who I believe has forgotten more about County Government than she will ever know), people would have no reason to question her every move. I sometimes wonder if she might have a split personality. She can be so nice when speaking to you one on one, but when you address her in the public meetings on the same subject she goes off on her power trip and tries to belittle and humiliate you. I have been a witness to this on many occasions in the past months. She is so intimidated by those who have chosen to educate themselves on these matters. It is exactly the same scenario at the school board meetings with Kathy Norman and Tee Jackson. It is in fact rather entertaining to see the looks on their faces when Mr. Barrett asks to speak. Keep up the good work Mr. Barrett. God knows someone has to snap them back to reality every once in a while.
Don't worry, the great "snapper" and champion of humanity will always be in there exposing and demanding to be heard. What a joke.
Eleven years ago tonight, the Giles Free Press trumpeted to the world the story of Jamie Rouse's murderous assault on Richland High School.
But they didn't quite tell the whole story. I know this, because a few months later I discovered a very pertinent piece of information-- one that made the whole Rouse puzzle a bit less puzzling.
So I went, in person, to the paper office, and disclosed this information to the editrix of the time, Dana Keeton. As the information I had to share was easily confirmed, without dragging me into the story, I requested that my identity as a "source" be kept confidential. (This sort of arrangement is routine in the world of journalism.)
Alas, Ms. Keeton refused to grant me the status of "confidential informer," and the story was never made public. Mind you, I went ahead and revealed my story, and the manner in which I came across it, to Ms. Keeton-- but she apparently didn't believe the public had the right to hear ALL the facts. So she simply spiked it.
A few years later, I brought the matter up with the current editor, Scott Stewart, but, the passage of so many years had rendered my bit of information less than newsworthy-- and so the matter has, till now, remained a secret from the public.
Tomorrow, I will post what Dana Keeton didn't think the people of Giles County deserved to hear. In the meantime, I'd like to see those of you out in readerland to try and guess what the secret is.
So, if you've heard something about the Rouse shooting that you never read in the newspaper, post it-- and then we'll see how many people know the whole story.
The county should be very glad we have Mr. Barrett here to help us.What have the ones who critize him so got to hide?
My guess is, Mr. Rouse received a test grade he didn't consider was right and was very upset about it?
He told someone in the school the day before that he was going to do it?
Something that I would like to see in the paper is a study on the water in Richland Creek and the effect that Denbo's or Tennessee Valley Recycling, LLC has on the water. I wish that we could force that operation to relocate. There is so much cancer, so many brain tumors, etc. in the area and I can't help but think that the runoff from the scrap place is a problem. Maybe we could start a new topic on this topic. ??
"Upset over a test grade?"
Perhaps he was, but what I'm thinking of is a whole lot more earth-shaking than that.
"Told someone the day before?"
Nope...I'm thinking of something entirely different.
Keep the guesses coming... and I'll reveal the truth (at long last) later this evening.
He was having an affair with a teacher at the school?
"He was having an affair with a teacher at the school?"
Nope. Imaginative, but, not to my knowledge anything that happened.
Try again.
Here's a hint: if the truth had come out in a timely manner, the victim's families would probably have sued Giles County for megabucks.
Sued the Giles Co. School system?
"Sued the Giles Co. School system?"
Sure. Considering that the Giles County School system took action against Rouse which he apparently considered "the last straw," I figure that any competent lawyer could have made a case against them.
I'm sure the families of the victims would've at least wanted the option to sue... but with the newspaper stonewalling the public's "right to know" the truth, that option was pretty much stolen from them. Too bad.
One thing I do know, is that the school officials were well aware of their "contribution" to Rouse's murder spree, and were very much afraid of the truth getting out, lest there be a massive lawsuit. My guess is that the local newspaper people knew the truth months before I did, but chose to spike the story, lest it reflect poorly on the bureaucrats at West Hill.
Kendrick!!!
Tell it!!
O.K. --- he had a "hit list" which the school knew about ... and the central office knew about??? (my guess)
Anonymous,
I'm about ready to tell the story.
One last hint... it was an act of "commission," and not an act of ommission, as you speculate above.
So.............someone hired him to kill certain people. ??????????
Ding, ding, ding. Time's up!
[drum roll]
What the world does not know about Jamie Rouse, is that he peacefully dropped out of RHS several days before the shooting took place.
However, as nothing is more important to the bureaucrats than continued funding levels-- and seeing how Rouse successfully dropping out would've cut back the school's yearly funding by about $6,000-- Foster Harlow, the truant officer at the time, was dispatched to see Rouse, and coerce him into returning to school.
Harlow used the "nuclear option" on Rouse -- he promised to strip Rouse of his driver's license, unless he returned to school. (This despicable arm twisting was possible because of a stupid law passed by Gov. Ned McWherter, if I recall correctly.)
So, Rouse, who (not entirely without justification) considered RHS to be a prison, returned...
And the rest is history.
Why do I know this? Because my sister, Annelle Guthrie, was close friends at the time with Foster Harlow's wife, and she confided to Annelle what had happened, and told her of Foster's great sorrow and regret over his role in the incident, and the school's fear that the victim families would find out, and sue.
At the time, Foster Harlow had enough problems that I didn't want to break the story in public, although I did my best to goad the newspaper to run with it. Specifically, in addition to the remorse he felt regarding the (easily preventable) Rouse shooting, he was deeply sad over the fact that his wife was in the late stages of terminal cancer. So, I decided to just sit on the story, even though I regard "truant officer" as being an occupation on par with "Nazi prison camp guard."
It's been eleven years now, and I'm sure that Mr. Harlow has recovered from his grief and remorse, sufficiently that he can stand the truth coming out. Nothing can bring back the dead, but I'm hoping that widespread knowledge of the "rest of the story" will lead to less militant enforcement of what is surely one of the stupidest laws on the books. And if "mandatory attendance" is allowed to go the way of the buggy whip, perhaps fewer young adults like Rouse will get "fed up" and go to the school they hate, packing guns.
Is keeping money in the school's coffers really more important than keeping the schools free of potentially violent malcontents, who may choose to shoot up the place at a moment's notice? I think not. If you're old enough to drive, and are sick and tired of school, you should be allowed to drop out, without a lot of harassment. It's not only pragmatic to allow malcontents to leave, but it's the American way, as well. Remember that little thing called freedom? We'd have a good deal more of it, if high school attendance was voluntary.
I think even less (I didn't think it was possible) of you now that you have the audacity to publish this garbage.
Isn't this a pure shame? But remember, the malcontents here in this county never stop. Maybe we need to start digging up dirt on them? What's fair is fair.
What is so shameful about Mr. McPeters revealing the information?
Anonymous # 1---
What garbage? Jamie Rouse really did try to quit school, and was forced back against his will. Not a bright idea to do to anyone -- ever hear of "fight or flight?" -- but Jamie Rouse was an obvious whack-job, and you'd think that the school administrators would've breathed a sigh of relief at his departure, rather than twisting his arm to make him stay, getting ever more angry and antisocial.
But noooooo... if they let Rouse leave, then others might follow his example, and before you know it, the Average Daily Attendance (and hence, state funding) would be down. Can't have that, now, can we? The unofficial motto of school bureaucrats is "money comes first."
I know that the idea of caging young adults against their will, till they turn eighteen is a popular one, but that doesn't make it right. Mandatory attendance is a profoundly unAmerican idea, and a stupid one to boot, having unintended consequences such as forcing troublemakers to stay in class to the detriment of other students, and providing a motivation for school shootings.
If we want to have safe schools, and care more about the kids, than we do maximizing revenue streams to the school bureaucracy, then we ought to do everything possible to abolish mandatory attendance. Not just because it's the pragmatic thing to do, but because it's the right thing to do, as well.
Anonymous # 2--
What's a pure shame?
The fact that the Lake Media Monopoly filters the news they report, in order to shield you from information they don't think you need to know?
Or is it simply a shame that I waited nearly eleven years to break this story to the public?
Well, I say, better late than never. I kept the story to myself because I didn't want to bring undue extra distress to a man who had a dying wife, and to protect my sister's relationship with the Harlow family. What excuse, pray tell, could the Lake Media have for refusing to report it, when I tipped them to the story while the Rouse shooting was still current news? They had a duty to the community to report the whole truth -- a duty that is especially pressing since they've monopolized all the news media in Giles County -- but they failed in that duty. Miserably. And this is far from being an isolated occurrence, I'm afraid. (The way that the local press has dealt with the zoning issue displays less than a full committment to objectivity and truthtelling, to put it fairly mildly.)
Anyway, I'm only the messenger. If the truthful message I deliver happens to be unpleasant, please don't shoot me.
Anonymous # 3--
What's shameful, is that this bit of information brings shame upon the school bureaucrats, who, in their infinite wisdom, looked at a black garbed, troublesome timebomb like Jamie Rouse and said "he wants to quit, but we have the power to force him to stay... so let's keep him at RHS!"
I'm not saying that I blame the idiots who used the mandatory attendance law against Rouse for 100% of the blame. Rouse was clearly a sociopath, and it was his finger that pulled the trigger.
On the other hand, he wouldn't have even been at RHS that fateful day, had the truant officer not been sicced on him. So it looks like whoever made that nitwit decision deserves some of the blame. If they'd simply respected Rouse's rights as a human being to make his own decisions, Rouse would've dropped out from RHS and stayed out... and today, he'd probably be a productive member of society, rather than an incarcerated parasite living at the taxpayer's expense.
Will we as a society learn from our past mistakes? Not if they are covered up and buried, as the local media did with this important story...
Kendrick...
You are absolutely correct on the issue of mandatory school attendance for the troublesome student who should be allowed to quit and pursue other interests such as vocational training, agriculture, etc. Those students very often interfere with the education of others who truly want to learn. I agree with you and believe it an issue that should be addressed politically.
However (and here comes the bomb), I just do not understand the timeliness of your breaking this story.
He might have gone to the school anyway - even if he had dropped out. Who knows what he would have done. And...Foster was just doing his job. I have mixed feelings about the drop-out situation.
I wonder if the encounter group will call for a full and immediate investigation into the personal and private life of Mr. Harlow? We shall see.
With all the tension among the students and teachers that work/attend RHS, I fully understand the timing of Kendrick revealing the story. God forbid, another Jamie Rouse can along and harmed someone again, how do you think he would have felt, by sitting on the story? I totally grasp the timing of it.
I don't. And I have no dog in this race.
For your information, I have a student attending RHS. Maybe you don't understand because you don't have a "dog" in the race.
What's shameful? People using a tragedy such as this to further their own agenda. Mandatory attendance, as well as the license issue, are not school board policies designed to "keep money" in the system. They are the law, which the board is required to follow. Look it up. To blame a man just doing the job he is required to do for a sociopath's crime is beyond shameful.
Look, it's just as dangerous for kids to attend any schools these days, and we ALL know that. We can blame it on such things as poor role modeling, music and video games, peer pressures, and on and on. If there be any impropriety on the part of the school system with regard to RHS, it ought to be dealt with. We would all agree with that.
Yet, why the "expose" now?
The school system should not be to blame for what happened on that awful day.
EXACTLY!
Shame, shame! Someone has to take the blame many times for what others do. And we have plenty of people around here who love to point fingers or throw rocks at the perceived villain. Mr. Harlow was doing his job for goodness sakes!
Anonymous 8:29:29 AM--
I'm glad at least ONE person agrees with me about mandatory attendance! As to the "timeliness" of the revelation, check out the topic this is posted under -- "Letters and news that couldn't be published in the local newspaper."
Remember that I TRIED to get the story out over ten years ago, while the story was still "warm." And yes, as another blogger has suggested, the apparent problems going on at RHS helped goad me into making this story public.
Anyway, better late than never-- right?
Anonymous 9:21:03 AM--
"And...Foster was just doing his job."
Yes, that's true. However, that's the exact same excuse that was offered by the prison guards at the Nazi death camps. So, the REAL question is, should this "job" be carried out by anyone? Or is the "job" of caging young adults till they turn eighteen, incompatible with life in a free society?
I say it isn't, on fundamental moral grounds. But it's obviously rather stupid -- forcing troublemakers to remain in class, disrupting the education of good students -- even on grounds of pure pragmatism.
Anonymous 4:34:31 PM --
"What's shameful? People using a tragedy such as this to further their own agenda."
You mean like how the school board ramrodded through the SRO program, over the objections of the County Commission? I guess you're right.
"Mandatory attendance, as well as the license issue, are not school board policies designed to "keep money" in the system."
You're living in a dream world. The teacher's union is the most powerful force in the state of Tennessee, and it solidly favors the mandatory attendance BS. In fact, they are so supportive of the idea, that they want to outlaw homeschooling. All of this is about keeping money in the system. The teacher's union doesn't care a whit about actual children-- it sees them as means to a financial end, and that is all. (For the record, I don't think the teacher's union is actually representative of how the rank and file teachers feel. But the scum rises to the top, as it does in most bureaucratic situations.)
"They are the law, which the board is required to follow. Look it up."
The FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW was the law, too. In fact, it was embedded in the US Constitution. Look it up. The fugitive slave law, like today's mandatory attendance law, required that anyone who escaped the chains that bound them, be forcibly caught and returned to the bondage they hated.
It was the law; it was in the Constitution---- but it was WRONG. Likewise with today's "fugitive student law." The law, as most everyone knows, is an ass. It is composed by a despicable class of people (professional politicians) and inflicted on the public, whether it has any merit, or not.
The law is a mountain of special interest favors ossified into what would be regarded as pure tyranny, if fully enforced on everyone to the letter. There are so many laws, and so many laws that actually conflict with each other, that it is impossible for anyone to actually obey them all. Ergo, the law enforcers have to "pick and choose" which laws get enforced. And if the local school board WANTED to instruct the local slave catcher, whoops, I mean truant officer, to be less than dedicated to his job-- especially when it involved black clad, satan worshipping, whack jobs who were clearly disturbed -- then they could do it.
"To blame a man just doing the job he is required to do for a sociopath's crime is beyond shameful."
Firet, where have I blamed Mr. Harlow for anything? If anyone was blameworthy, it was those who knew Rouse and Rouse's antisocial attitude well, and nevertheless sicced Harlow on him. (I imagine that primarily would be Principal Hobbs.)
I give the triggerman most of the blame in the incident. But not all. Joe Fowlkes and the other lackeys of the teacher's union are also to blame. Then those who said, "the law's the law... let's catch Rouse and make him attend" deserve a share of the blame. And then, yes, Foster Harlow deserves some blame, because....
He wasn't REQUIRED to do the job! He, like the Nazi camp guards, could've found a different line of work. But he voluntarily chose to take on the job of slave catcher, and, in this instance, the slave had more fight in him than he had expected.
Let me put it to you this way... would Mr. Harlow have felt remorse for his actions, if he didn't realize, too late, that coercing Rouse back into the cage, was a bad idea? Most people don't feel guilt when they haven't done something wrong. I asume that applies to Mr. Harlow as much as it does to anyone else.
Anonymous 5:03:19 PM--
"Yet, why the "expose" now?"
Why not now? Now, I have a platform -- this blog -- to make the expose. I tried, fruitlessly, to get the newspaper to expose it, nearly eleven years ago.
Finally, if not now... when??? Should the truth be buried forever, like the victims of Jamie Rouse? I think not. Having the truth out, might encourage school officials to "look the other way" the next time a malcontent tries to drop out. And that means that future acts of violence could be avoided, and lives possibly saved-- all of which I regard as a good thing.
Anonymous 5:16:25 PM--
"The school system should not be to blame for what happened on that awful day."
All of the blame? Obviously not. The school system didn't provide the rifle, or pull the trigger. Rouse gets all the blame for that.
But what motivated Rouse to kill?
We know that he was a poor student, with failing grades. We can make a good assumption that he was denied, by the school system, of any sort of reading instruction using phonics. Thus, he was probably halfway illiterate, like so many others permanently damaged by the educrat's preference for "whole word" reading instruction. And without a strong foundation in reading, his chances of accomplishing much in the other disciplines would be roughly nil.
We also know that Rouse was bullied and mistreated by the other students. He was a "misfit," true, but who was responsible for creating an environment where even misfits would be treated humanely? Obviously, the school system.
We know further that Rouse was alienated. But who wouldn't be, in a monstrous "factory school" like RHS? Had the school system not shoved "consolidation" down the county's throat, twenty years earlier, Rouse probably would've been much better adjusted to school life.
Finally, why was Jamie Rouse physically present on that awful day? He was there because the educrats FORCED him to be there. If he'd had his druthers, he'd have been somewhere else entirely. Denied the ability to flee an intolerable (to him) situation, he did what any other caged animal is wont to do; he fought back.
Now, I'm not trying, by any stretch of the imagination, to make excuses for Rouse's awful deed. But the fact is, had he been left alone... had he been given a proper education... had he been a student at an institution that bore less resemblance to "Lord of the Flies"... had he attended a smaller, less alienating school... then his life might not have been wrecked, and the lives of his victims might not have been lost.
I know that it's a bitter pill to accept that the school system is partly responsible for that tragedy. But facts are troublesome things-- they don't go away just because you ignore them. And if the facts of the Rouse incident aren't laid out in the open and fully understood, then what happened before might be alllowed to happen again. And that would TRULY be a terrible thing, don't you agree?
Anonymous 5:23:20 PM--
"Mr. Harlow was doing his job for goodness sakes!"
He could've found another line of work, besides catching escaped slaves. Alternatively, he could've worked a little less hard at the job he was assigned, and let whack-jobs like Rouse slip through the cracks.
How about this? Let's enforce the law against hookey about equally as well as we enforce the law against smoking on school grounds?
That would suit me just fine.
Funny.
I see all kinds of comments about the Rouse-Harlow connection. But nobody seems phased by the fact that the local news media monopoly had this information nearly eleven years ago, but chose deliberately to keep the public from hearing it.
Frankly, I thought that angle was the bigger story, if not the bigger outrage. Isn't there anyone out there upset that the local news is "filtered" in order to manipulate public opinion? I think it's simply dreadful, but then, maybe i"m just hypersensitive to that sort of thing, having crossed swords with the paper so many times over the zoning issue.
Are you freaking out, or what?
Kendrick.....
Your "compassion" for your fellow man is impressive in that you waited until now to "break" this story. How kind and considerate of you.
Quick question. Do you have a PhD in Child Psychiatry or related field? If so, from which university? Inquiring minds would like to know.
Kendrick,
I don't want to KNOW! I can plainly see you are well educated and intelligent...so just ignore the sarcastic question.
Kendrick,
I don't even know where to begin on your "opinions". First, if you want to know how people feel about the news media not addressing the information presented, that is their choice. You are the one that did not do your duty by not taking it to other sources. From what I understand, this was a national story and therefore, there were many other media outlets you could have presented this information to if you feel it is so important. You are responsible for this information not coming out sooner. And you should feel remorse over that.
Second, as for someone feeling remorseful meaning they did something wrong... Obviously you have never been through any type of traumatic event personally. If you were, you would understand that even if it wasn't your fault, you do the "What if" game with yourself for a long time. I imagine everyone that knew that child felt as if they could have stopped him if they had only changed something they had done with him in their past.
Third, I love the part you wrote about him being illiterate. I know I feel better knowing that anyone that commits a heinous crime does it because they can’t read well. Your logic is ridiculous in so many ways on your post.
Finally, the thing that upsets me the most about this story is the way you presented it. Your guessing game of “guess what I know that you don’t know” is such a careless and heartless way of lightening this situation. Lives were lost from this incident. Don’t disrespect those people by making a guessing game about the situation. That is truly despicable.
Irrelevant...because I disagree? How shallow of you, Mr. Barrett. Would you make the same charge against those who disagree with you spiritually?
I think there's more than one anonymous.
You bet.
whatever
Anonymous 7:45:16 AM--
"Your "compassion" for your fellow man is impressive in that you waited until now to "break" this story. How kind and considerate of you."
In point of fact, I tried to "break" the story, via tipping the local paper, practically as soon as I found out what happened. The local paper refused to even investigate the matter... so where is your righteous indignation against them? Just how much "compassion" do the news manipulators have, especially compared to me?
"Quick question. Do you have a PhD in Child Psychiatry or related field?"
No, I don't. And the relevance of this question is.........
Anonymous 1:06:15 PM--
"First, if you want to know how people feel about the news media not addressing the information presented, that is their choice."
Yes, yes, I am well familiiar with the First Amendment. But why would they CHOOSE to ignore such a big news story?
Once upon a time, Giles County had two newspapers-- one liberal, and one conservative. In those days, there was an actual competition to not only get the news, but to be the first to publish it. Rest assured that, in the olden days, if one paper passed on publishing a story like the Rouse-Harlow connection, the other paper would've run with it. We are all much worse off, now that such news competition is extinct.
"You are the one that did not do your duty by not taking it to other sources."
Wait a minute here. A news media monopoly that CHARGES MONEY FOR THEIR PRODUCT UNDER THE PRETEXT THAT THEY WILL DELIVER THE NEWS has NO DUTY to report the truth, but I, a private citizen unassociated with the news business, DO? Would you like to explain the mechanics of how that works? By what theory am I obligated to expend effort "getting a story out" when the professional news publishers have a pass on reporting the truth?
"From what I understand, this was a national story and therefore, there were many other media outlets you could have presented this information to if you feel it is so important."
No. Not really. The attention span of the news media, national and otherwise, is only a little bit longer than that of the average couch potato. To put it in numbers, a story where two people are killed, is viable for probably no more than a week, if that long.
I didn't find out the story, until about three or four months after the killings. That's way, way, waaay too long for any news outlet to still have an interest in it. The situation in Giles County was a little bit different, though, as the Rouse story was still being flogged in the attempt (supported by the paper) to establish and fund an SRO program in the schools.
Another reason why the national news would've been uninterested in such a cold story, is that there really is no "wow factor" in it. "Disgruntled youth forced to attend school by truant officer, arrives with a rifle and starts shooting...." is not a story that makes you slap your forehead and say "whoda-thunkit." There's simply nothing of the "man bites dog" angle in it. It's entirely too esay to believe to be newsworthy, especially many months after the fact.
At any rate, I think it quite likely that at least the Nashville news media knew what happened, but chose not to report it. Why? Because government schools are the holy churches of the religion of liberalism (a religion that something like 90% of reporters and editors adhere to) and reporting the unvarnished truth of what happened might have caused a crack of disbelief in the brainwashed masses (who have been indoctrinated in the belief that government schooling is essential). And news manipulation goes on at all levels; not just locally with the Lakes' crew.
"You are responsible for this information not coming out sooner."
Oh please. Is ny name Dana Keeton now? Have I ever been the editor of a local paper? I think not.
Speaking of Ms. Keeton, I'd like to say that I believe it highly likely that she already knew the story before I presented it to her. She didn't act especially surprised when I told her, and she made the decision not to run the story in the blink of an eye. I believe that she had prior knowledge of the story, and that an editorial decision had already been made to spike it.
How hard would it have been to find out? All of Rouse's family and friends had to know about it, and likelihood is, they mentioned it to reporters, in order to soften up the hatred directed at Rouse. THe idea that no-one close to Rouse blabbed it to a reporter, is pretty much inconceivable.
So, I think the local reporters, and the Nashville ones, knew the story, but decided to supress it, lest it reflect poorly on the government schools which they hold so dear.
"And you should feel remorse over that."
Look. I did what I could with Ms. Keeton. Then I battled the statist nitwit Donald Rutledge in the newspaper on the SRO issue, taking the position that mandatory attendance should be abolished... while hinting that maybe Rouse would've quit if he'd been allowed to. About the time that the debate with Rutldedge was winding down, my mother had a stroke... and I suddenly found myself caring a lot less about the public finding out about Rouse's run in with Harlow. Meanwhile, I couldn't exactly print up flyers and pass them out, since Foster Harlow's wife was dying, and it would've severely strained my relationship with my sister to make a public "to-do" about what she had told me.
Then, as the icing on the cake, my father dropped dead (thank you, Rapid Responders, for the three dead defibrillator batteries) and then I was launched into a depression that lasted seven miserable years. While depressed, I doubt it very much if I gave Jamie Rouse or Foster Harlow any thought whatsoever.
By the time I recovered from the depression, seven years had elapsed, and there just didn't seem to be any point to pursuing the matter... if I even thought about it, which is doubtful.
So, no, I don't think I should feel remorse over my actions. I did the best I could, and then I was overtaken by a shroud of death and depression. Not to mention that, unlike the folks at the newspaper office, it's not my job to report the news.
But I do have remorse over one thing. I do wish I'd called, or otherwise made contact with, the families of the victims, during the one year window of opportunity they had to sue the county. Quite possibly, if my father hadn't died, and I hadn't gone so deeply into depression, I would've made some effort to do this. But what happened, happened... and I never did. This, I truly do regret.
"Second, as for someone feeling remorseful meaning they did something wrong... Obviously you have never been through any type of traumatic event personally."
Wrong-o.
"If you were, you would understand that even if it wasn't your fault, you do the "What if" game with yourself for a long time."
I'm familiar with that. If I'd been by my father's side the morning he died, I might've talked the "responders" into letting me connect their defibrillator to my father's van, via jumper cables, and thereby shock his heart back to life. But I wasn't, and so he died... this has bothered me a lot.
"I imagine everyone that knew that child felt as if they could have stopped him if they had only changed something they had done with him in their past."
But how many of these "what-iffers" were afraid of being drug into a lawsuit? Not many, I'd bet, besides Mr. Harlow.
"Third, I love the part you wrote about him being illiterate."
I'm pretty sure I suggested he was "half" illiterate. Since the government schools universally use the "look-say" nonsense of "whole word" reading instruction, very few people nowadays attain the level of reading excellence that was common, say, a hundred years ago... when phonics was used almost without exception.
Newspaper reports said that Rouse was a failing student, with very poor grades. I think it's no great leap in logic to assume that his primary problem was poor reading skills. (That's usually the root cause of all academic failure.)
"I know I feel better knowing that anyone that commits a heinous crime does it because they can’t read well."
I never said that poor reading skills were the only causation of those who commit crimes. But, be reasonable. You know good and well that most violent criminals have very poor levels of educational attainment. Pretty much anyone who can read and write proficiently, has better options available to them, than plundering and killing their neighbors.
So, you may not feel any better knowing that a heinous criminal has poor reading skills, but you should recognize it as the truth, and damn to Hell and back all of the ivory tower intellectuals who destroyed the American education system by replacing Phonics with whole word instruction.
At any rate, I was merely trying to show that the government schools, via abysmal reading instruction, lack of discipline for bullies, and factory like, alienating school environments... made Rouse what he was. (And, one can assume, is cranking out many many more disturbed Rouse like kids-- who won't be allowed to drop out.)
If you have any interest on how the government schools got in their current shape, I suggest a perusal of "The Underground History of American Education," by multiple award winning teacher, John Taylor Gatto. It's a great book, although it's infuriating to read how much damage has been deliberately inflicted on America's schoolchildren.
Read it for free online:
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/index.htm
"Your logic is ridiculous in so many ways on your post."
If my logic is ridiculous, then feel free to point out what exactly is ridiculous about it.
"Finally, the thing that upsets me the most about this story is the way you presented it. Your guessing game of “guess what I know that you don’t know” is such a careless and heartless way of lightening this situation. Lives were lost from this incident. Don’t disrespect those people by making a guessing game about the situation. That is truly despicable."
Well, I'm sorry you took it that way. I regret the use of the word "guess," as what I really wanted, was to hear from people who KNEW what had happened, and wondered why it hadn't been reported. But I wrote that first post in kind of a bit of a rush -- trying to get it date stamped on Thursday -- and didn't anticipate that my actual choice of words would lead to any sort of "game."
To the extent that I accidentally created a "guessing game," I am very sorry. I hope the families of the victims realize that my main concern was to get a truth out that had been, by design, denied them. I know it's too late for them to sue, but I know that if I was in their position, I'd want to know everything about what happened...better late, than never.
People have decided to take out anger on you Mr. McPeters because they are not suprised by the information that the paper would not get the story out, it is par for the course here in Giles County, they have no where else to place their anger but at you. So now the heat is on you and off Mr. Barrett for a time anyway.
I am sorry for Mr. Harlow's misfortune with his wife but most people have had sick loved ones-this man wasn't then and still isn't now an angel by no means. If you can recall not to long ago the incident in the paper that happened at the alternative school-puts his actions in perspective doesn't it.
Most of us aren't angels. His job was to keep kid in school.
Well, I suppose we could let kid drop out whenever and we can have an even greater society than we have now.
What's par for the course here in Giles County (in recent months) is the fact that there is a small group here who wants to run it as they see fit. The problem they have is that they can't get the votes necessary to achieve that through the normal election process. So, are Giles Countians as ignorant as they claim we are? I think not.
As for Mr. Harlow's actions at the alternative school, you really don't know ALL the facts as to what went on there. I realize that he should act as an adult and as a professional, but how many of you actually know the finer details of that incident?
Kendrick..
The relevance of my question is obvious. You do not have the training and expertise to diagnose children.
Kendrick:
In addition to not teaching children how to read, what are they teaching? Most minds have a capacity to absorb something & will do so in the absence of worthwhile instruction. Political correctness? deviant sex (two daddys)? secularity?
Has anyone with a normal brain & values read the texts & instructional programs, etc.?
Someone said the school system spends over half a million a year on p-s-y-c-o-l-o-g-i-c-a-l wages alone - tweeking little minds for conformity, ways to enjoy the fringes without mommy knowing...
Laughable. Consider the source perhaps?
I know that way too much is spent on aides/assistants for kids who were born to drug mothers, etc.
That is true, but law requires that those children be served, regardless of the cost. They have a right to a free public education. And it is a shame that drugs and alcohol have contributed so greatly to the problem.
Anonymous 3:27:29 PM--
"His job was to keep kid in school."
He could've found another line of work besides slave catcher. Jamie Rouse was 17 -- an adult in the eyes of the law -- and, as an adult, he should've been allowed to quit when he pleased. Other than keeping money in the school system's coffers, his presence there didn't benefit anyone, himself included.
"Well, I suppose we could let kid drop out whenever and we can have an even greater society than we have now."
Yes, indeed we could and would. Isn't FREEDOM a value to you? We would be much more free if young adults weren't dragged off against their will, locked into a building they don't want to be in, and subjected to six hours a day of brainwashing they want no part of.
We'd be freer without mandatory attendance, just like in the good old days before mandatory attendance laws were made so draconian. And if we have fewer alienated students getting fed up, and deciding, like Rouse, to shoot dead their captors, so much the better...
So you think Rouse got poor grades because he was "half-literate." Hmmm. How many kids are there who are quite intelligent and can read perfectly well who don't make the grades that they should? Quite a few to say the least is my guess. And of course it has everything to do with the teachers and nothing to do with the fact that many of those kids have no support at home, are involved with drugs, are allowed to do what they choose without parental supervision, etc., etc. Once again I see the misperception that the school system is at fault for all of society's ills. On the contrary, schools don't cause these problems; they are simply a microcosm of the problems that are present in society. Here's a thought - what if parents were actually held responsible for their children??!?!! What an innovative concept that would be!
Anonymous 5:39:17 PM--
"You do not have the training and expertise to diagnose children."
Who said I was? Jamie Rouse was determined by the courts to be an ADULT. Ironically, had he been treated as an adult when he wanted to peacefully remove himself from RHS, there would almost certainly have been no shooting.
And BTW, I don't believe in "credentialism." A person can have very sound ideas regarding education -- or even child psychology -- without being degreed in those specialties.
Anonymous
"...what are they teaching?"
I don't know. I assume it's the state's lowest common denominator curriculum, designed to carefully instill mediocrity and obedience to the government, and of course, meet the ACLU's requirements of Godlessness. Politically correct pablum.
"Has anyone with a normal brain & values read the texts & instructional programs, etc.?"
Not that I am aware. Such an undertaking might be a good one for the group that Mr. Barrett is trying to start up. On the other hand, as long as we take money from the state and the feds, we'll have to dance to their tune... and that includes using the mediocre "approved" textbooks.
Anyone looking for a CHALLENGING curriculum (and who is homeschooling) should check out the Robinson Curriculum... which is practically a college education in the form of $200 worth of CD-ROMs. Add computer and student, and watch him leave the government schooled kids behind in the dust!
http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/
Anonymous 8:33:12 PM--
"That is true, but law requires that those children be served, regardless of the cost.
Only a federal congresscritter could pass a law as openended as that. But yes, the federal IDEA law really does require money to be thrown at "disabled" kids, regardless of the cost.
How much cost is that,in real life? I'm not really sure, but according to this table:
http://www.k-12.state.tn.us/asr0405/table22.pdf
Exactly $2,863,880.00 was spent in Giles County on special education... all of it, apparently, in the form of babysitting services, as ZERO DOLLARS were spent on textbooks.
And how many kids did this approximate 10% of the school system's total budget benefit? According to this table:
http://www.k-12.state.tn.us/asr0405/table7b.pdf
Only ten. That's over a quarter million dollars apiece -- about 40 times what the "regular" kids get spent on them -- if I'm reading these tables correctly. And if I am, then it seems pretty obvious that money is being wasted by the bushel-load to meat the federal IDEA mandate. A $10,000 voucher per special ed kid would solve the whole problem, for about $100K in spending. Doing this would allow local taxes to be cut substantially, or the nearly three megabucks saved could be used to enrich the education of the smart kids. Surely, anything is better than the current fiscal travesty.
"They have a right to a free public education.
There's no such thing as a "free" "public" education. And there never will be. Government schooling will always be paid for with money extracted from the taxpayer, against his will. (Otherwise known as theft, when done by private individuals.)
And there's no "right" to education, special or otherwise. Find this alleged right enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights. You can't do it, because there is no such right.
Anonymous 11:21:01 PM--
So you think Rouse got poor grades because he was "half-literate."
It's a reasonable assumption. Unless his parents bought him "Hooked on Phonics" and taught him REAL reading -- as opposed to that look-say crap they teach in schools -- then he probably couldn't read all that well. And, from what I recall hearing about Rouse's parents, I frankly doubt that they did this sort of thing for him.
"Hmmm. How many kids are there who are quite intelligent and can read perfectly well who don't make the grades that they should? Quite a few to say the least is my guess.
Yes. That's largely because kids are grouped by age, rather than ability, and the class is taught to the speed of the slowest students. And this makes "education" monumentally boring for the better students. I can remember this, from my own education, lo those many years ago.
And of course it has everything to do with the teachers...
Where did I say that? I feel sorry for the teachers, and would be happy to see the entire school system privatized, with each school made into a non-profit corporation, with the stock held by the teachers that teach there. Give each parent a voucher for $7,000, and the 290 teachers of Giles County would each bring in a gross of $105,000 (with a class size of 15 kids)... out of which they'd have to pay for utilities and building maintenence.
I'd let the teachers pick their own curriculum, set their own rules of discipline, and, in general, run the school like they owned it -- which they would.
I have great confidence that the teachers of Giles County could deliver first rate education, so long as they are unchained from the stupid mandates of the State and Federal Departments of (Mis)Education. Serving only the parents, and in friendly competition with each other, positive results would be virtually guaranteed. Why not try it? Who needs a towering, totally non-productive, bureaucracy, in order to educate the kids???
"...and nothing to do with the fact that many of those kids have no support at home, are involved with drugs, are allowed to do what they choose without parental supervision, etc., etc."
In the days of yore, there was this thing called "standards," which was closely related to a practice known as "expulsion." Bring back standards and expulsion, and the problems you speak of will be minimized.
Once again I see the misperception that the school system is at fault for all of society's ills.
All of society's ills? Nope. But enough of em to surely be worth complaining about. The maniacal secularization and values-relativity of society, certainly begins in the government schools. Mediocre reading and reasoning ability is literally designed into the curriculum of the government schools; I certainly see plenty to gripe about with that.
I'm sure I could go on, but that's enough. Read John Taylor Gatto for more information... if your stomach can handle it.
"On the contrary, schools don't cause these problems; they are simply a microcosm of the problems that are present in society."
No. Functional illiteracy -- caused by the idiotic "whole word" reading system, which treats our phonic based language as if it were Egyptian heiroglyphics -- is totally a product of the school system. And an adult that can't read, is simply not suited for anything more than a life of being mesmerized by the Electronic Propaganda Box, aka/television.
The public's sheeplike attitude toward their governmental masters is also a vile product of the government school's self-serving "social studies" programs. I'm sure I could go on, but I believe I have made my point that schools are purveyors of destruction, not merely mirrors of a dysfunctional society. (Note that this would change if teachers ran the schools, and parents freely chose the schools their child attended. Under such a system, there would be no incentive in miseducating kids to be illiterate and servile, as is presently the case with the Feds calling all the shots.)
"Here's a thought - what if parents were actually held responsible for their children??!?!! What an innovative concept that would be!"
Indeed, it would be wonderful. THrow in a little capitalist competition between the teacher owned and operated schools, and I believe we'd really see quite a difference!
Mr. McPeters:
You know very well what I meant by "free" public education, so please do not belittle my post. And you also know the law allows all children to have accesss to it. Everyone knows the taxpayer foots the bill. But I will agree with you that teachers should have more control of curriculum, discipline, etc. And it's a shame something can't be done with the troublemakers in schools. They make it hard on anyone to get that public education for which they have a right by law!
Kendrick:
What do you suggest the education system do with "disabled" kids? Sounds awfully Aryan to me!
Kendrick,
Your big words and off the wall thinking is something else. Don't you think that children should be educated before they can make qualified decisions? If you give most people a choice, they would rather play games, then when they really need to be productive, they wouldn't have all of the tools necessary.
And one more thought.....it is the law!
It is not the law in the state of TN to send a child to a public school. There are private schools and I am sad Highland Academy closed. I had children the same time Annelle did attending Highland and the students there were must more advanced than the public schools, so I know where Kendrick is coming from.
You are missing the point. It IS law that children are entitled to a free public education in this state. Nobody said you can't send your child to a private school or home school if you prefer. If you doubt that, just call the state department of education.
I trust that the author of the following piece is enough of a bonafide expert that his opinion -- which is the same as mine -- will be taken seriously. -- JKM
The Epidemic of Reading Disabilities
By Carl L. Kline, M.D. with Carolyn Lacey Kline
Carl L. Kline, M.D. (Vancouver, B.C., Canada), a child and adolescent psychiatrist, is internationally known for his expertise in children’s learning disabilities, including dyslexia. With his wife, Carolyn Lacey Kline, who is a Language Disabilities consultant, he has treated over 4,000 children with learning disabilities. Dr. Kline states that “every poor reader who does not receive appropriate help will develop significant emotional problems.”
When 35% of the population is affected by a disability, it is an epidemic. When that disability is the leading cause of emotional problems in children and adolescents in North America, we are talking about a serious public health problem. Consider also that this epidemic is a major etiological factor in school-dropouts and in juvenile delinquency. Furthermore, although a definitive study has not yet been done, it seems likely that teenagers who can’t read or spell and who consequently hate school are easy targets for drug dealers.
Remember the panic in the streets each summer before Salk discovered a polio vaccine? Mothers dreaded the hot months of July and August. Daily they read the latest newspaper count of children struck down by what was then a disease of mysterious ways. Dr. Salk’s discovery annihilated the risk of polio in all who are inoculated against it, and simultaneously abolished the anxiety and fear that made summers a family nightmare.
We already have the vaccine to attack reading disability, but we can’t get the educators to use it. Samuel Orton, Rudolf Flesch, Jeanne Chall, Patrick Groff and numerous other researchers have urged the educators to prevent this massive problem by inoculating primary students with a steady injection of synthetic, explicit phonics. (This is not what the schools mean by phonics—a word increasingly in bad taste among educators. Synthetic, explicit phonics is intensive, structured training in letter-sound associations and blending drills with beginning reading/spelling/writing limited to phonetically regular words of increasing complexity. It is not occasional, hit-or-miss, unexplained letter-sounds unrelated to reading and written work.)
The research supporting early, intensive phonics as opposed to whole word-whole language instruction has been researched and validated. The findings have been widely published. One can only wonder: Do our educators have a reading disability? If teachers were taught how to teach children to read and spell phonetically and were provided with appropriate, inexpensive materials, the learning disability epidemic would be over. Parents no longer would have to worry about whether their children would learn to read. And they would not have to suffer the devastating experience of seeing their children fall apart emotionally under the impact of being perceived as stupid.
When typhoid fever occurred endemically, doctors discovered that it often was carried by food handlers, usually women in those days. These women were labeled “Typhoid Marys.” Doctors would go into the kitchens of restaurants, hospitals, and boarding houses, locate the typhoid carrier, and remove her from the kitchen. Perhaps we will have to go into the educational faculties and schools, locate the “Typhoid Marys,” and get them out of the classrooms.
Those who question what the educators are doing and who dare to suggest that they are a major cause of this epidemic of reading disability typically are met with anger. However, iconoclasts who threaten an entrenched establishment never are welcomed by those in power. For example, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweiss in 1850 demonstrated that the appalling death rate from childbirth fever in hospital maternity wards was caused by the attending doctors. They came directly from autopsy rooms to the delivery rooms, carrying the virulent infection on their unscrubbed hands and bloody aprons. Doctors were furious. They refused to listen to the evidence. They attacked Dr. Semmelweiss with verbal abuse, and finally they drove him from his university teaching position. Yet, twenty years after his death, the simple antiseptic techniques he advocated were adopted, and childbirth fever was abolished.
If the faculties of education would study the impressive evidence demonstrating that teaching to read by explicit phonics prevents reading failure, the children would not have to wait twenty more years. It’s time for educators to stop behaving like those nineteenth century doctors whose bacteria-infected hands and clothing killed young mothers in childbirth. Today’s educators also are destroying the innocent. They are killing the hopes, and the potential, and the mental health of the children who are victims of the reading disability epidemic. How long must these children wait?
http://www.readingstore.com/EPIDEMIO.HTM#The%20Epidemic%20of%20Reading%20Disabilities
Kendrick,
I must say you have "messed in your hat" with teachers on this one. And I am awed that you have such knowledge in the fields of education and child mental health issues. Impressive indeed.
And children who come to our schools with mental health issues are referred to whom? Now that's a question worth exploring!
Are we not using phonics in GC? Again, me thinks out little tads are being filled with fecalism, political correctness, and garbage that overwhelms fertile little minds with conformity rather than values and morality!
I think those Kline people are a bit freaky. Yes, our county teaches phonics.
You can blame that on liberalism if such things are now being taught in our schools.
I'm confused. Do you mean "such things" as phonics??
You're missing one most obvious point - almost every other student (excluding transfers into the system, those who had been previously home schooled, etc.) were taught in the same educational system as Rouse, yet they didn't go on a murderous rampage.
One other note...the key word in "It's a reasonable assumption..." is ASSUMPTION. The bottom line is you don't KNOW, so how can you argue your point? You can't, not with any veracity.
fecalism, political correctness, and the like
I so often wonder if the outcome would have been different had mental health services been available to Mr. Rouse when he was at RHS.
Here's another "guest opinion" on the problems with government schooling. -- JKM
'Literacy Rose ... To Between 91 And 97 Percent'
by Vin Suprynowicz
Last time, one Carol A. Davis wrote in: "Since Mr. Suprynowicz is allowed to take almost a half of a page making, just one more time, the RJ’s constant point that ‘public schools just ain’t no **** good,’" (March 26) "why doesn’t he enlighten us some more. I want to hear all about the educated populace at the time of our Founding Fathers which he refers to in his closing paragraph. Who was educated and who wasn’t? To use this argument, Mr. V., you should be willing to back it up with facts. Prove you are correct, please, I want to learn."
Last week, we began by citing some of the findings of New York City and State (government school) Teacher of the Year John Taylor Gatto, from his book The Underground History of American Education (available free Online – and I heartily recommend you peruse the original).
Ms. Davis will doubtless object that this is only one source – though Mr. Gatto has impeccable credentials and his research is well documented.
OK, here’s more. Matthew Brouillette, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, writes: "According to author Barry Poulson, ‘Private education was widely demanded in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Great Britain and America. The private supply of education was highly responsive to that demand, with the consequence that large numbers of children from all classes of society received several years of education.’ (Barry W. Poulson, "Education and the Family During the Industrial Revolution," in Joseph R. Peden and Fred R. Glahe, eds., The American Family and the State, San Francisco: Pacific Research Institute, 1986, p. 138.)
"Not only was private education in demand, but it was quite successful. Literacy in the North rose from 75 percent to between 91 and 97 percent between 1800 and 1840, the years prior to compulsory schooling and governmental provision and operation of education. In the South during the same time period, the rate grew among the white population from between 50 and 60 percent to 81 percent. (Sheldon Richman, Separating School & State, p. 38.) ..."
This year, by comparison, a study by the American Institutes for Research found that more than 75 percent of students at 2-year colleges and more than 50 percent of students at 4-year colleges in 2006 "lack the skills to perform complex literacy tasks, such as comparing credit card offers with different interest rates or summarizing the arguments of newspaper editorials." These are today’s college kids, mind you – supposedly the cream of the American crop, youths on whose schooling our unionized government propaganda camps have squandered more treasure per pupil than any other society in history. Any other project of this size that failed so badly would be dynamited. Unless, of course ... the schooling institution is doing precisely what it was designed to do.
After the 1840s, Mr. Brouillette reports, "Government control of schooling was intended to bring education to a larger segment of the population, but the result was that it simply pushed aside existing private schools without substantially increasing overall enrollment rates. As tax expenditures on the government system increased during the mid-1800s, more parents were drawn away from tuition-charging schools while the percentage of the child population being educated remained essentially constant. Government usurpation of schooling did little to increase educational access for children. Rather, it simply shifted the responsibility of education from the family to the state. (Andrew J. Coulson, Market Education: The Unknown History, New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1999, p. 83.)
"Modern educators argue that state intervention was, and remains, necessary in order to unify American society," Mr. Brouillette continues. "It is regularly contended that government schooling has been key to bringing together various racial, religious, and political groups; and that society would otherwise become polarized and antagonistic to one another. However, based on the experiences of the 1800s, this belief is not only wrong but is exactly backwards. Author Andrew J. Coulson writes:
"Prior to the government’s involvement in education, there were nondenominational schools, Quaker schools and Lutheran schools, fundamentalist schools and more liberal Protestant schools, classical schools and technical schools, in accordance with the preferences of local communities. Some had homogeneous enrollments, others drew students from across ethnic and religious lines. In areas where schools of different sects coexisted, they and their patrons seldom came into conflict, since they did not try to foist their views on one another. They lived and let live in what were comparatively stable, though increasingly diverse communities. It was only after the state began creating uniform institutions for all children that these families were thrown into conflict.
"Within public schools, many parents were faced with an unpleasant choice: accept that objectionable ideas would be forced on their children, or force their own ideas on everyone else’s children by taking control of the system. It was this artificial choice between two evils that led to the Philadelphia Bible Riots, the beatings of Catholic children, the official denigration of immigrant values and lifestyles in public schools and textbooks, and laws which would today be viewed as utterly unconstitutional, forcing the Protestant Bible on all families. The unparalleled treatment of black families by the government schools, which persisted for over a century, does nothing to lighten this grim picture. (Ibid., p. 85.)"
The purpose of "modern, industrialized, compulsory schooling was to make a sort of surgical incision into the prospective unity of these underclasses," John Taylor Gatto concludes in "Against School: How public education cripples our kids and why," published in the September, 2001 edition of Harper’s. "Divide children by subject, by age-grading, by constant rankings on tests, and by many other more subtle means, and it was unlikely that the ignorant mass of mankind, separated in childhood, would ever re-integrate into a dangerous whole." (Dangerous, that is to say, to the planned domination of the corporate elites.) That’s right, schools are divisive. They’re all about ranking and dividing. When you were in school, could you tell the "popular" kids from the nerds? If cultivating fertile minds – as opposed to stressing herd unity and obedience – was ever the goal of these institutions, why are the bright kids so ostracized? The purpose of government schooling, Gatto learns from Alexander Inglis’s 1918 book, Principles of Secondary Education, is "to watch over and control a population deliberately dumbed down and declawed in order that government might proceed unchallenged and corporations might never want for obedient labor.
"That, unfortunately, is the purpose of mandatory public education in this country. And lest you take Inglis for an isolated crank with a rather too cynical take on the educational enterprise, you should know that he was hardly alone in championing these ideas. ... Men like George Peabody, who funded the cause of mandatory schooling throughout the South, surely understood that the Prussian system was useful in creating not only a harmless electorate and a servile labor force but also a virtual herd of mindless consumers. In time a great number of industrial titans came to recognize the enormous profits to be had by cultivating and tending just such a herd via public education, among them Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller."
The result? "We have become a nation of children," Gatto offers as our cultural epitaph, "happy to surrender our judgments and our wills to political exhortations and commercial blandishments that would insult actual adults."
This week and last, I have cited many sources, though necessarily in much abbreviated form. Surely whether a reader chooses to seek them out and study them at more length, or responds by harrumphing that "I certainly don’t believe that; we’re just having a little temporary problem with these Mexican kids; I suppose he wants to go back to slavery times when blacks weren’t allowed to read," will best allow us to judge whether he or she truly "wants to learn" why our government youth internment camps are producing an ever higher percentage of functional illiterates ...
Just as they were intended to.
April 29, 2006
Vin Suprynowicz [send him mail] is assistant editorial page editor of the daily Las Vegas Review-Journal and author of The Black Arrow.
Copyright © 2006 Vin Suprynowicz
http://www.lewrockwell.com/suprynowicz/suprynowicz40.html
Anonymous 7:31:33 AM--
"You know very well what I meant by "free" public education, so please do not belittle my post.
I wasn't belittling your post-- I was correcting it. Calling the gargantuanly expensive government schools "free" is simply inexcusable. Words mean things, and the word "free" doesn't apply to any aspect of government schooling.
Note also that you use the silly feel good euphamism of "public" education, rather than the much more accurate term "government" education. Finally, even the use of the term "education" is debatable-- documentary evidence exists which shows that actual education was a very low priority among those who created the modern system of school gulags. The elite who gave us modern "education" never had any intention of sending their own kids to the youth indoctrination camps run by the government. "Free" "public" "education" was intended for the masses-- to level them downward, and make them unquestioning servile drones who faithfully follow the orders given them by their governmental and corporate masters. Read Gatto's book, available online for free, to get the gruesome details of what happened.
And you also know the law allows all children to have accesss to it.
Why would anyone want their kids exposed to it? If the government was giving away free food, which was tainted with a cumulative deadly poison, would you accept it and feed it to your kids? What Big Brother is giving away as "free" "public" "education" is simply poison to the independent thinking mind. Avoid it at all costs, by homeschooling or privately schooling.
"Everyone knows the taxpayer foots the bill."
Well, people who call it "free" seem to be missing that point.
"But I will agree with you that teachers should have more control of curriculum, discipline, etc."
So why don't we just give the schools to the teachers, and the money (vouchers) to the parents? Isn't that the simplest way to reform things? Or do you think the paper shufflers in West Hill, Nashville, and Washington DC are contributing something that the parents couldn't provide?
"And it's a shame something can't be done with the troublemakers in schools.
If the schools were privatized, all of the nitwit "civil rights" decisions by judges, that protect the rights of the troublemakers at the expense of everyone else... would be mooted. Private schools can set and enforce behavior standards, via expulsion if need be. Government schools are stuck with the troublemakers.
"They make it hard on anyone to get that public education for which they have a right by law!
Note that a "right by law" is exactly the same as a "right provided by politicians." Such rights are not REAL rights, which come from God, not politicians.
Politically provided rights can be cancelled at any time, for any reason, as the Supreme Court has ruled regarding the non-contractual nature of Social Security. Rights that come from God are eternal and unchanging, whether they are recognized by the politicians who happen to be in power, or not.
Finally, "rights created by politicians" usually nullify the rights created by God. For instance, we all have a God given right, enumerated by commandment, not to be stolen from. Yet most politically contrived "rights" trample on this commandment, by requiring that the politicians rob the citizen (a process euphamistically known as taxation) in order to make good on the political promise. Speaking for myself, I think a world where the God given rights are fully respected would be the best of all possible worlds-- far, far better than the blighted tyranny that the politicians (of both parties) are so busy erecting for us at this time.
Anonymous 7:35:23 AM--
What do you suggest the education system do with "disabled" kids?
The smart thing that the "system" should do, is provide them a Montessori education. Maria Montessori invented her methods to raise mentally retarded kids to the point that they were nearly equivalent to "regular" kids taught using conventional methods.
Incidentally, I put scare quotes around the word "disabled" because the government, having created a subsidy for disability, has (naturally) increased the number of children who are labeled as disabled. (It's money in the bank to enroll a "special" child, after all.)
Especially troubling, are the number of kids who are claimed to be "learning disabled"-- which is a "disability" that ordinary non retarded kids suffer from when taught reading by the heiroglyphic (ie, whole word) method.
"Sounds awfully Aryan to me!"
Well, spending $280,000 per disabled kid sounds like an obscene waste to me, especially considering that, whatever they are learning, it apparently doesn't involve textbooks. I think a $10,000/special ed student voucher ought to be enough to take care of matters.... and going this route would save the county $2.75 Million per year. Not exactly chump change, in my humble opinion!
Anonymous 8:46:06 AM--
"Your big words and off the wall thinking is something else."
Thank you.
"Don't you think that children should be educated before they can make qualified decisions?"
I think children should get the sort of education they got in one room school houses a hundred years ago. The sort of education where they learned more by the sixth grade, than today's high school graduates learn in twelve years... and once they have that knowledge, they should be treated as adults.
At any rate, if the student in question is still a CHILD, then the PARENT should be allowed to make the decision, not a politician or unelected bureaucrat.
"If you give most people a choice, they would rather play games, then when they really need to be productive, they wouldn't have all of the tools necessary."
The main tools necessary for a successful life, are reading proficiency and critical thinking skills. Reading is not really taught in a way (phonics) that encourages proficiency, and critical thinking hasn't been taught for over a hundred years (doing so would make life harder for scummy politicians, who rely on a credulous and easily manipulated herd of voters for the success of their nefarious schemes.)
Since modern day government schools are little more than baby sitting agencies that provide few of the skills needed for success, why keep them in operation? Other than for the benefit of our slave masters in Washington DC?
"And one more thought.....it is the law!"
You've gotta be trolling me! The law made by man -- politician made law -- is pretty much worthless where it departs from (or attempts to "improve" on) the laws given by God to Moses. All that "it is the law" proves is that a jackass who won a silly popularity contest (ie, election) got together with his fellow jackasses, and decided to burden us by making us slaves to his will. I am not impressed by this state of affairs, to put it mildly!
Anonymous 6:37:12 PM
"I think those Kline people are a bit freaky."
Want to be more specific? Want to point out what they are wrong about? (And please note that they are fully credentialed to offer opinions on this subject!)
"Yes, our county teaches phonics."
With how much emphasis? Throwing in a little phonics here and there while retaining the "sight words" of the Dick and Jane book, is not what is meant by "phonics."
As Dr. Kline said:
We already have the vaccine to attack reading disability, but we can’t get the educators to use it. Samuel Orton, Rudolf Flesch, Jeanne Chall, Patrick Groff and numerous other researchers have urged the educators to prevent this massive problem by inoculating primary students with a steady injection of synthetic, explicit phonics. (This is not what the schools mean by phonics—a word increasingly in bad taste among educators. Synthetic, explicit phonics is intensive, structured training in letter-sound associations and blending drills with beginning reading/spelling/writing limited to phonetically regular words of increasing complexity. It is not occasional, hit-or-miss, unexplained letter-sounds unrelated to reading and written work.)
Anonymous 7:53:43 PM--
"You're missing one most obvious point - almost every other student (excluding transfers into the system, those who had been previously home schooled, etc.) were taught in the same educational system as Rouse, yet they didn't go on a murderous rampage."
That's because different people have different tolerances for being locked in edu-prison against their will. Rouse apparently had a very low threshhold for that sort of thing, unfortunately.
One other note...the key word in "It's a reasonable assumption..." is ASSUMPTION.
If 35% of the student population is learning disabled thanks to the use of "look-say" reading "instruction," and if this is the root cause of virtually all educational problems... and if you know that Rouse had problems getting good grades, then the key word is, in fact, REASONABLE.
" The bottom line is you don't KNOW, so how can you argue your point?
I know enough to make a reasonable assumption. And so do you!
You can't, not with any veracity.
There's no veracity to be found in the statistics that I've cited? Don't think so.
I am a teacher and I teach phonics every day of the school week.
Mr. McPeters..
Thank you for "correcting" my post. You won't be getting that chance again. You and the "great one" are always right and those who disagree are seen as ignorant, uninformed people (sheeple). If all you have here are hair-splitting exercises on semantics and word definition/application, then there is no debate. Also, there is no "free speech" when people are afraid to post their names.
This has become a forum for belittling and attacking certain people, smearing reputations, etc. I and a few others have tried to stand against those who do it, but it has proven futile.
So, carry on. I won't be back to challenge any of you who are bent on destroying others. Peace.
Try keeping your nine year old out of school without some program of education, and you will quickly see that it is a law that children attend school. You will be hauled into court..we well you should be.
Kendrick,
You are losing, and you are losing it! Please freak out somwhere else.
This is another gotcha, isn't it? Are you pulling our legs, or are you really serious?
its fairly plain to see that the purpose of the "exposure" of information was never really to expose anything...it was merely a convenient opening to post lengthy tirades about a negative view of the educational system. too bad we all know that no one really read through all those laughable lengthy posts and just skipped over them. no one really cares about them, most are on here just to try to defame people they dont like.
Wrong...I appreciate the knowledge of Kendrick and admire him as a person.
Wrong...didn't read them.
Didn't read them either, just scrolled right past them.
Note your first post was 5:34:01 PM and your second was 5:36:02 PM! Wonder how that happened? lmao!
My post was at 5:34:01 PM. This is my current post. I did not post at 5:36:02 PM. I suppose that could happen if the same person posted approximately two minutes apart. I'm sure that happens a lot.
Me neither!!
What difference does it make anyhow?
I do know the finer details of what happened. And that was not the only time Mr. Harlow had been in the spotlight for doing something he shouldn't have done. This is not about the man it's about the service he provided to Jamie Rouse and how it was served!
Then demand a full investigation.
I graduated from RHS 16 years ago. I never knew Jamie Rouse. But either last year or the year before does anyone remember when Channel 2 News did a story on Jamie from prison in Clifton, TN? This child or rather young man spoke with obvious remorse about what he'd done. He is now counseling high school students. They come to the prison and he speaks to them. During his interview with Channel 2 he said that when he was in school he dressed in all black, he was an outcast who listened to "devil worship" lyrics. He said he was an outcast, and it was no one's fault but his own. He said he was made fun of, and he had no one to blame for that but himself. He never spoke about the school officials, however he obviously felt anger towards teachers or we would still have Mrs. Foster with us. What I'm saying is he never said, "If it weren't for this A-Hole truant officer bullying me back to school I never would have done it." Now as for Mr. Harlow, yes, he was truant officer for Giles County, but I know for a fact that he took that title WAY WAY too far most of the time. He never bothered me, I was usually always a good girl, but a guy that I dated used to attend GCHS and Mr. Harlow came to his home one day, walked into his living room, grabbed him by the elbow and took him to school. His parents weren't there but knew he was not going that day. This guy hardly ever missed school unless he had a cold, the flu, etc. and he had hurt his back while working his after school job. When his father got in from work he was taking him to the doctor to see about his back. When Mr. Harlow got him to school, Mr. Bubba Parker told him to leave the boy alone, he was a good student, and should not have been treated that way.
Do you think the paper should discontinue the "Citizen of the Week?"
why not?
Do you mean "why" or "why not?"
It's a good thing, why not continue. Good point, "why not" could mean whatever one wants it to mean...
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Now that cries out for a full investigation. Something very suspicious about those chickens for sure!
Not only those "chickens!"
Their eggs should also be investigated thoroughly. Any "bad" eggs must be exposed and thrown out! Right?
Right.
Why investigate the eggs - The head rooster says they're hard boiled & good for what ails you. We'll drag some down from the loft & you can be the head taster for the head rooster
No, I'm trying to watch my cholesterol, so I'll have to pass on that. But, wouldn't you think all the roosters should be investigated? They could be involved in some clandestine operation to raise cholesterol among unsuspecting consumers of eggs. If that be true, they should be exposed!
Let's not leave the hens out of this. They also need investigating. After all, they are the ones producing the eggs. However, the roosters may themselves be guilty of adding some foreign substance to those eggs. Oh, how the plot thickens!
Investigating...investigating...investigating...investigating!
Hm, why are you using this word soooo much?
Isn't that what some people on here want? If not, then how can all those who need to be exposed be exposed? Makes sense to me.
Does it concern you when a person lies, hides the truth and does not follow the law?
Would you cast the first stone?
I repeat, does it concern you when a person lies, hides the truth and does not follow the law?
I repeat, it's not about who you think is right or wrong. It's about sarcasm and arrogance.
Must be a chicken story that gets to the point. Once upon a time ... Usedter Bee was a fullerdung rooster, a cuzin to Chicken Little and a distant relative to the Little Boy Who Cried Wolf. Seems a nut hit him in the head, he flew out the hen house window skuacking, spies what looks like a wolf, was scared out of his wits & started screaming wuff, wuff, wuff! All the chickens started laughing at him as he hit the ground in front of the henhouse. He gets up, struts around in a circle, & clucks, "I was talking to that big police dog over yonder - we work rogether to protect you from yourselves! Convinced his story was the real thing ... Usedter Be strolled out of the chicken yard with a wing full of dog food & on up the hill to the big dog, to work out a protection racket. Usedter Be, opened the conversation, "I brought you something to eat." With that, Wuff says, "Look way down my throat. I have something for you too." Usedter Be looked way down Wuff's gullet, Wuff swallowed, & the story ended. It seems that forever after, when Wuff does his thing, there is a feather in it - a fitting tribute to Usedter Be the Fullerdung rooster... who is finally the real thing.
Forgot to mention for the benefit of anonomouse. Remember when you feed and shelter your wolf, he may take a liking to you & the feather in your hat may look more like a feather in wolf dung.
Well, I would suggest that you guys open an immediate investigation into the Wuff's personal and private life. He apparently is doing something underhanded. Would we call it larceny by trick maybe?
You Guys??
You seem really disturbed about the feather in the cap thing, right? Maybe that should also be investigated.
I think the food chain should likewise be investigated. There's something sinister about roosters being full of dung. Perhaps Pepto-Bismol for fowl?
To, 6:12:42 6:15:00 of the same,
Your “investigation/investigating” comments are just as stupid as any comments made by the people you disagree with. It is plain to see what you are attempting to accomplish with your attempt at reverse psychology.
What a laugh...Have you ever considered becoming a comedian...or comedienne?
You say....my comments are just as stupid as any made by people I disagree with. Would that include you as well, since I don't agree with you? Just wondering.
What does disagreeable agree with???
By definition, I would guess the word agrees with the idea of being testy or difficult.
More likely it's stupid and insecure.
I asked a question quite a while ago. Do you think our newspaper should continue the "Citizen of the Week?"
tj...
That is, unless one is smarter than the average bear and full of self.
After the person that was chosen a few weeks ago, No I do not think the "Citizen of the Week" should continue. So what if she gave her husband a coming home party after his station in Iraq. He deserves the honor not her. Especially after the way she behaves in public. Among other things too numerous to mention, this so called "Citizen of the Week" also uses profane hand gestures to an elementary principal while children are present. What an embarrassment!
Yes, she likes to make life miserable for the teachers of her son.
I wish they'd get a picture of her givin' the hoodoo to Mr. J - That'd qualify as citizen of the year!
Don't smear good people like that.
That's not really funny.
(citizen of the year comment)
Agreed - it is not funny. It is still a good idea. What would do to recognize all the thigs he do?
What???????????????
Ditto
We need another monument on the square. There's are lot of unemployed pigeons needing a rest stop.
Now there's an idea! And those pigeons need to be investigated immediately. Do you realize that there may be some clandestine operation going on right there at the court house? If it is, those responsible for allowing those birds to loiter on taxpayer property should be exposed.
A job for you, you have found. When you get done sweeping the dew off the grass, you can get off your thing & polish the brass, up past the thigh to the finger so high. Scrub a dub dub & not a morsel to the shrub.
We'll create a midnight shift just for you. It's time to rename you, Whinie the Poo. Hinnie high while in the grass with thumb way up your ... oops, time run - teach is rounding the corner with switch in hand.
Wow, perhaps you are the Joker and not the Riddler after all!
A little tree we whack
to hang a bit of light
then munch upon a snack
before slumber into night
It ain't Monday distress
after Saturday Night
It's Christmas
Smile with all your might!
Well everyone had better be prepared to be at the next meeting Feb 8, it is my understanding Tee Jackson is getting a big raise and an extrension until 2012.
Board meeting changed to February 8, Thursday, 6:30 pm. Alot of people need to be there to stare down there school board member. If he gets a raise you can blame yourself for not letting your board member know.
Yeah, be there to stare someone down. That really sounds like a classy thing to do. I would like to attend but I'm afraid it will get ugly and, quite honestly, a bit of an embarrassment.
How can it get ugly if you ain't their.
You know exactly what I am referring to by getting ugly. No, I'll not be a part of that.
You should ask how can it get any uglier? These people take advantage of the fact that you are not allowed to talk at those board meetings. Lots of times they sneak things onto the agenda without anyone knowing it and once its done its done-like the bus debacle-that was all done without the knowledge of the public!
Sunday, February 04, 2007 12:19:35 PM, I am a retired teacher and would like to know what you are speaking of getting ulgy? No ugly has happened at any of the meetings I attend.
I do.
The ugly I refer to is the way the School board continues to do exactly as Tee Jackson wants regardless of anyone else!
Thanks for the clarification, now, I have to agree with you.
I think the ugly is how people come there with a bad attitude and an almost "poised for a fight" mentality. Why can't they simply follow the teachings of people like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Jesus? Peaceful change is always more palatable.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007 4:44:28 PM,
Don't you think your comments would have been nice for Mr. Gonzales etc. to follow also?
People are posed for a fight because they know that their will is not going to be done, what in the best interest for the people will not be done, your voice is not even heard at those board meetings. Have you ever attended one? If so you would know that the public is not allowed to speak because it is classified as a working meeting. So if you are unaware of what they are going be talking about tough luck.
No, certain people seem poised for a fight because that's just their nature. They love contention and friction. They think they know best and that they have all the answers. Their problem is that most people do not listen to them. But of course that only means they are ignorant and could care less about what is going on. Right?
Yes, some people are like that but as I said before some truly just get so infuriated that people in power get away with murder and there is not a darn thing that they can do about. Have you never seen something happening that was wrong and become angry?
Have you ever seen people become so infuriated and controlled by resentment and jealousy that they will do or say almost anything to achieve what they don't have? They focus on the negative things they perceive in those who are "in charge" and continue to toot their own horns about how much better things would be if they were allowed to take over and manage things in a "proper" way. Such arrogance of mind is both infuriating and, in my opinion, wrong.
Thank the good lord we all are entitled to opinions and not just yours.
The post about the resentment and jealousy seems to be true from what I read on here and from the talk around town. But, I too am glad we all have a right to our own opinions.
To, February 10, 2007 9:29:45 AM
And they would be who?
Who? You can't tell by reading the posts on this blog?
So what you are saying is the School Board and Director are doing a good job? Such a good job that the director needed a contract extension of 4 years 3 years before his last contract was up?
Do you realize that there are county employees working in a building that at least one of the Grand Jury members said was not fit to store feed in and refused to go up a set of stairs, you can see all the way through the walls, it is also my understanding the Grand Jury has condemed this building and Tee Jackson was aware of the condition of this building and alloed and is allowing these employees to continue to work under these conditions and is still pushing for a new central office building. Now you tell me where his interest lies! He has known about the situation with the bus garage ever since he was hired, and if he says he didn't know than he is guilty of not doing his job, because he should be aware of everything that has anything to do with the school system-he is the director of schools. He knew because he will not even go in the building, it's been stated several times that he will stand outside and call the employees out to him to talk with them rather than go in the delapitated building that might fall in on him!
Now I being biased against Tee Jackson, knowing that he knew about the condition of the bus garage and he pushed for a new office for himself what does that tell you about him?
Great post above. Could not agree more.
Why don't some of you who have no apparent life volunteer to go over to the school bus garage and build a new set of stairs? Now that would be a positive move on your part.
11:00:21 AM i think the better question is...why haven't you built the stairs?
Because I'm not the one complaining. But I would be glad to help anyhow. I believe in positive things, don't you?
Because I'm not the one complaining. But I would be glad to help anyhow. I believe in positive things, don't you?
You must not have a life either, you post here don't you? A positive move would be for the school system to take care of things that should have been done years ago, instead of worrying about what they can get for themselves.
What should the school board have taken care of years ago? Please enlighten me.
one good thing would have been to fire jackson.
Giving the employees who work at the bus garage a safe place to work. The condition of that building did not happen over night, the school board is well aware of this. And no it didn't just happen all of a sudden when Tee Jackson became the director either, but he has pushed for a new central office knowing the shape of the building the transportation department works in. The fact that Giles County High School is overcrowded and Richland has empty rooms-but yet students are allowed to leave Richland to go to GCHS. The uproar at Richland. Pay for system employees-all employees. Let's not forget also making sure all rules are inforced equally to everyone!
DOES THAT HELP ENLIGHTEN YOU?
If the old contract was made within 45 days of an election and was not valid, how would it be valid for it to be extended?
Mr barrett....
I was merely "suggesting" that those who are so concerned with the steps pitch in and do something besides complaining. I fully REALIZE that the building may need morte repairs, and you go off on a tangent about the steps. Go ahead and start hammering away; I am sure the building will not fall in on you. That sounds a bit like "Chicken Little" to suggest the roof is falling.
Saying that I am cuckoo IF I believe the steps are the only problem is almost like you saying that Mr. Jackson is an unbelievable liar IF he doesn't do what you think he should.
Can you see the parallel there?
Oh, you are back to suggesting that I lack understanding of the truth. Please.
I know, you only "suggested that I was a cuckoo and that Mr. Jackson is a liar. How convenient for an unbiased reporter.
NOBODY said the building was in disrepair. So don't accuse me of having no regard for facts. You already know what I don't like about this, so I'll not labor the point further. Try a little kindness and consideration of others, and you might have a following. Isn't that what you want?
Excuse me, I meant to say that NOBODY said the building was NOT in disrepair. OK?
If you were so afraid it might fall in on you, why did you go there in the first place?
No, you EXCUSE ME. I corrected what I said in the first post to say that nobody ever said the school bus garage was not in need of repairs. That was my intended statement, and you know that. Otherwise, why would I have immediately corrected it on another post? Are we splitting hair yet?
You misunderstood and continue to misunderstand my philosophy toward truth. I embrace truth, even when I am not happy with it. So, I'm no ostrich.
As I have said numerous times, my problem with you is not in what you have to say but in how you say it. Look, nobody lives in a utopian society. Oh, it would be nice, but it AIN'T gonna happen. If you want to bring about true and lasting change, you don't go about beating people over the heads with your opinions. It is done calmly and peacefully and through the election process. But that requires patience and a Martin Luther King perspective,
The election process this past year really brought about some change didn't it? You do need to pull your head out of the sand. The election will not make a difference until we vote more people like Beverly Murrey and Jime Greene into office, and the citizens stand and and say we are not going to take it anymore and push those out who are doing the wrong. Tee Jackson is not elected he is appointed and if you leave it up to the board members who are there now they will extend his contract until he is 90 years old which would suit him just fine!
Mr Barrett:
Are we splitting hair over repair? I too empathize with those employees, so don't imply that I feel otherwise. I never said the building didn't need attention. OK?
As for my having no regard for truth, surely you jest. I have explained that to you before. I am not concerned so much with your truths as I am with mine. All of us are egotistical in that regard. So, I think for myself.
Your suggestion that I am a liberal is really too funny. If that's what you think, then my suspicions about your intelligence are confirmed. But I'm sure you were joking about that. Right?
I thought you would have understood the MLK perspective. That is, lasting change brought about through peaceful means.
You say you only want to share your opinions. Good for you, but I must say that you are, more often than not, a little over the top with your sharing. But that is exactly what I'm doing....sharing my opinions about the way people are treated on here who have differing views. That's the heart and soul of debate. Right?
At any rate, I hope this has cleared up some of your misunderstandings.
Me...
Let me paraphrase what you said. Things will not change around here until we get "our" people into those leadership positions. Well, it's not going to happen if you continue the smear tactics currently being used. I shouldn't have given you that silver bullet, but it needed to be said.
You need to read what I wrote again and do nto try paraphrasing others words for you get them wrong! I said things will not change until those who are dong wrong is gone, period. I DID NOT SAY OUR PEOPLE. I have not people I am an american and do not like to see my tax money being wasted and I do not smear people either. You show me on this blog where I have smeared someone and I will concede. If you are going to comment on what someone else thinks make sure you understand what is being said. I do not feel Tee Jackson is ding the job he waas hired to do. He is dead set on getting a new central office and to heck with what other employees desperately needs. That is my opinion and it will not change.
Oh, I understood your post clearly. And, by the way, anything written by anybody is subject to paraphrase or at least to an interpretation. And that interpretation is the right of the reader.
And you don't think those of your persuasion are using smear tactics? Well, if someone talked about my spouse the way some (didn't say you) have talked about Mrs. Norman, I would be doing my utmost find out who they are. Trust me on that.
Lastly, I do respect your opinion about Mr. Jackson. But what if I told you I think he is doing a good job (I honestly don't know)?
The point is, would you then respect mine?
If my spouse acted like Mrs. Norman - WOW! All I hear is Tammy singing D I V O R C E. She's in a position of maintaining order, insuring a flow of accurate communication, and resolving issues - none of which, she did!
Charging the director of schools with lying is a serious matter, especially when there is evidence presented to that end. Denying citizens the right to speak and fully present their grievances does violate the Constitution. slamming the gavel down in a rage, to improperly close a public meeting is beyond belief. The director should have been made to respond, by the chairperson - but wasn't!
It isn't like the public wasn't there to witness the various legal proceedings, with the school board, chaiman, and director very obviously on one side of the court room in lock step support of the arrest and conviction of winkles & barrett. The school board and director could have stopped the proceedings anywhere along the way, including during the arrest! They didn't! The most recent incident would have ended immediately, with no animosity, with a simple apology by Jackson. It says volumes about the impotence and impudence of those in charge. what a disgrace!
You say the school board could have stopped the proceedings anywhere along the way. That's true, but you disagree with that when it comes to Mrs. Norman ending a meeting that was about to get out of hand. She did the right thing, and I think (from what I hear) that there are plenty of others who feel the same way, given the circumstances surrounding that adjournment.
By the way, that meeting was NOT about Barrett and Winkles getting arrested. "Those in charge" seems to be words you dislike intensely, particularly since they don't include those you wish actually were. There's always the next election, you know. That's the democratic way of affecting meaningful change. And we all know that, don't we?
Barrett has never been violent or a threat. He caught a man in a lie, squirming like a snake with his tail under a tire. Snakes get real antsy when caught that way - can't bite, & can't get away. A half way good chair person could have managed the situation all by herself. Maybe take TJ to the "john", wash his mouth out with lye soap, drag him back in the room by his ear & ask him if he'd like to answer the question again... She knew he was lying & knew she, herself was part and parcel of the lie. Compounding a lie is the trait of pathological liars - But, Let's not be a nasty. maybe call it habitual antisocial behavior, something a lobotomy might fix.
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