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How can
I was saddened to hear of
yet another school shooting
this past week. How tragic
and sad. What are we going to
do to stop this madness? As
we look at each of these tragic
school shootings, we find some
common elements. The first
common trend is that each of
the shooters were different
types of kids. There was no
patternin the typeof child. In
this most recent tragedy, just
like in the Columbine shoot
ing, we keep hearing, “We
didn’t believe this could hap
pen here.” That is a loaded
statement, butl willnot touch
that one this time around.
Suffice it to say, the sugges
tion here is that this can hap
pen anywhere.
There also appears to be a
parent or parents whoweren’t
fully in touch with their chil
dren. Maybe I am being ro
Can’t we let boys be boys any more?
I write today in the after
math of yet another school
shooting. Thisincident was not
asdeadlyasColumbinein terms
of body count, but it is just as
frightening for all Americans.
This latest shooting has left
many people wondering what
in the hell is going on with our
youth. I say that in today’s
society we foster this type of
outburstin manywaysand that
several things are to blame.
Many people want toblamethe
parents. Others would blame
the entertainment industry.
Stillothersblameguns. Iblame
everyone.
For far too long our country
haspushed moreand morechild
rearing responsibilities on
other people and things. We
have moved away from the tra
ditional family unit, that pro
duced so many fine American
generations, toamodern “fam
ily.” This modern family unit
often consists of just one par
ent where the child is either a
“turn key kid” or an MTV or
phan. Parents depend on the
government and television to
assume the responsibility of
raising their children by
entrusting them to govern
ment-controlled schools at
younger and younger ages (we
now have pre-K programs) and
cable television. The children
respond by acting out their
“education” and doing what
Conservation
workshop
this summer
_ Highschool students
in Georgia who are in
terested in learning
more about their envi
ronment and natural
resources will have an
opportunity to have a
hands-on experience
duringasummer camp.
The Natural Resources
Conservation Work
shop will have its 40th
summer camp June 10
- June 15, 2001 at
‘Abraham Baldwin Ag
ricultural College in
Tifton, Georgia. Stu
dents also have an op
portunity to earn over
ss,oooin college schol
arships.
Forapplicationinfor-,
mation contact a local
office of: USDA Natu
ral Resources Conser
vation Service, Geor
gia Forestry Commis
sion, Georgia Depart
ment of Natural Re
sources, or Cooperative
Extension Offices or
contact the Workshop
office at(229)391-3707
or e-mail
nrcw@abac.peachnet.edu.
Information can alsobe
obtained through the
Youth Connection link
on ABAC’s web site
www.abac.peachnet.edu.
we stop school violence?
black W
in the c
By The Rev. Dr. m o
Ralph C. Watkins o
mantic as I look back at my
childhood, but it just seemed
that my momma knew every
thing. I sure couldn’t have
built a bomb in my room, nor
have had a gun. For starters,
Iwastooafraid of my momma.
If we learn anything from
thesetragiceventsas parents,
it is that we must be ever vigi
lant about being in tune with
our children’s activities,
friends, and their pain. It ap
pears that each shooter had
experienced some hurt,
trauma, or pain that was un
resolved.
Thirdly, we find most of
The
o'p|n| l §~*,
By Brad Owens il
they were taught by their new
parents.
When I wasin school and got
into fist fights, the most pun
ishment Ireceived wasathree
day suspension. Today, the on
duty security officer calls the
sheriff’s department and the
children may be arrested for
assault. This is wrong. Chil
drenneedfightingto vent their
frustrations and we should not
make criminals of them. If I
knew that I was going to jail,
why wouldn’t I take the vio
lence to an extreme level? We
must let kids be kids and stop
this “police state” madness
where we want tojail everyone
regardless of the severity of
theirindiscretions. I think that
children who break the rules
should be punished, but jail is
not the answer. Our school
board officials should change
the policies that dictate the in
volvement of police authorities
and give the principals more
power to deal with these types
of problems. I am sure that
everyone will agree that we
havenothingtofear from more
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A Closer Look
these shooters cried out by
suggestingor hinting to some
onethat they were about todo
something awful. In these
cases we find people either
missing the message or not
taking it seriously enough.
Therefore, we must reason
that if there is any hint by a
child, directly or indirectly,
that they plan to hurt others,
we must take it seriously. We
must takeit serious enough to
takeit straight to the authori
ties and let them sort it out.
We aren’t the experts here.
We must demand of the police
not totakethesethingslightly.
These shootings are becom
ing too frequent. We as a
nation can’tbecome apathetic
to the death of our children.
This can’t become news as
usual. It demands attention
and action by parents, stu
dents, communities and our
local control of the schools by
their principals.
The entertainment industry
has produced crap for a very
longtime. They have taken the
traditional good versusevil and
turned it upside down. Now
theheroestobeassimilated are
the villains that use gun vio
lence and intimidation to get
what they want. Ultra-violence
is not only justified, it is glori
fied and depicted as the best
way tosolveyour conflicts. They
teach us that crime is easy and
the coolest way to make a liv
ing. It’s the easy way out of all
of your troubles and should be
aspired to by anyone who has
smarts and ambition. Use sex,
drugs, and gun violence if it
makes you feel good. Anything
that gratifies you, regardless of
the damage it does to other
people, isfine. Itisalie and the
time has come for us, as Ameri
cans, to say enough is enough
and force the entertainment
industry to stop producing this
garbage that poisons our
children’s minds. I am not for
censorship, but if people quit
going to these movies and buy
ingtherecords, then they would
stop producing them. If the
demand goes down, supply will
go down as well.
There are many questions I
have for the parents of today’s
America. What kind of parent
allows their child to have ac
school system.
My momma could walk in
the house where I would be
sitting, and without my say
ing a word to her, she would
say, “Whatis wrongwithyou?”
I would respond, “Nothing.”
She would return with that
old mother wit, “Boy don’t try
to fool me, I know you, you my
child. You better talk to me!”
I then had no option but to
talk. .
Are you talking to your chil
dren? Doyou know what they
are struggling with at this
moment in their lives? When
is the last time you had an old
fashioned sit-down with your
children? Do you have time
for them this weekend?
Dr. Watkins is a sociology
professor at Augusta State
University and can be reached
at (706) 737-1735 or email:
rwatkins@aug.edu
cesstosemiautomaticfirearms?
When willthe people turn away
from themselves and return to
putting their children first in
their lives? What can we do to
help? The parents that need to
answer these questions are the
sameonesthat would turn their
child over to our “government”
when they are four years old.
How many body bags will be
filled with the lifeless corpses
of our children before we de
mand change? I grieve for the
families of the slain children
and pray for an end to the vio
lence.
brad.owens@lycos.com
Join in the fight against
DRUG ABUSE
v/
Efir |
Our young people’s future
‘ depend on it.
Wl'fl"?
AUGUSTA FOCUS
Faith at work
From page 8A
public sector clearly benefits
from private entitles deliver
ing public benefits ... Faith or
ganizationshavetaught Fannie
Mae valuablelessonson how to
help lenders reach and serve
the underserved.”
Of course, many faith-based
programs operate strictly in
side a religious institution and
rely solely on its resources.
Many will continue to do so.
But other such programs,
suchaschurch-sponsored hous
ing development corporations,
over the years have received
public support. And more, un
doubtedly, deserve to have the
chance to pass muster to do so.
That said, there are at least
three key issues to this that
must be adequately addressed.
One, of course, are the safe
guards to ensure that the rela
tionship between the federal
government and faith-based
organizations preserves the
Richmond County Green Party
holds annual meeting at ASU
The Richmond County
Green Party will hold its first
annual meeting on March 29
at 7:30 p.m. in Washington
Hall(student activities build
ing), Topic Room #2, second
floor, at Augusta State Uni
versity.
The purpose of this meet
ing is to elect local Green
Party leadership and to elect
delegates to the
State Green Party Conven
tion to be held in Athens,
MARCH 8, 2001
constitutionally mandated
separation of church and state;
that faith-based groups observe
all laws forbidding discrimina
tion by race, religion, gender or
sexual preferences, and that
they avoid proselytizing or in
troducingreligious practicesor
beliefs into the operation of
publicly-financed programs.
A second is the thorny issue of
howthe Bushadministrationwill
handle applications for federal
funds from organizations which
claim tobefaith-based but whose
beliefs are profoundly offensive
to American values.
And finally, all faith-based
organizations must meet rig
orous requirements that test
their capacity to deliver. It’s
not enough to have the will.
They must have the skill and
the other necessary resources.
That’ll be the best way to
ensure that putting faith to
work works.
Hugh B. Price is president of
the National Urban League.
Georgia in May.
Monthly meetings are co
hosted by the ASU Campus
Greens and the Richmond
County Greens and are de
signed to educate the public
onimportantlocalissues and
Green Party values. Meetings
are held the last Thursday of
every month. The public is
welcome. For more informa
tion call (706) 774-0679 or find
the websiteof www.greens.org/
georgia/locals/richmond.
9A