A news article caught my eye this morning and absolutely boiled me over. A 10 year old 5th grade girl from Ocala, Florida was arrested on Friday. The reason was that she brought a small steak knife to school in her lunch bag. Why did she do this? To cut the piece of steak she brought in her lunch! She did not threaten anyone with it, she did not show to the kids around her all she was doing was eating her lunch. A couple of the teachers happened to see it on the table, took the knife and called the sheriffs office. They could not reach the girls parents at the time so the sheriffs department took her to a juvenile assessment center. You have got to be kidding me, she is a 10 year old girl just trying to eat her lunch, it may have been a poor choice in judgment, but surely not a reason to take her too juvenile in a police car.
Read the complete article here.

Some schools have just become way out of hand, our children are suppose to be in a learning environment with mentors they look up to. What student is going to look up to the staff if they are sending 10 year old to jail for eating their lunch.

The really bad part of this story is that while I was reading this article another headline caught my eye. It read Mother Upset After School Doesn’t Report Slashing Incident to Police. This took place in a Middle School in Deltona, Florida which is approximately 73 miles southeast of Ocala. One student that cuts himself due to mental issues, took out a piece of glass and cut another student.

The student that was cut, states

I walked up to him he had eight or ten cuts on his arm. I said, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ He goes, ‘Nothing,’ and he pulls out a glass out of his pocket and he cuts me, Aaron said.

It was just a scratch, but it did bleed. Now I am not saying that warrants arresting this student, but the school did not even call the Aarons parents to tell them about the incident. When Aaron showed up for school the next day the boy that cut him was sitting in the classroom. A school counselor states that their concern was for the boy that cuts himself, as it should be, but they should also be concerned with the fact that he is cutting other students.

The school staff considered Aaron’s wound minor and not an attack with a weapon.

When asked by the reporter

He did go after a fellow student, so why wouldn’t this fall under a weapon?”

The counselor stated

I can tell you, we’re not talking about a knife here, we’re not talking about anything that had a jagged edge,

So one school sends a 5th grade student off in a police car for cutting a steak and another school 70 miles away sends a student to counseling for cutting another student. What is going on in this country! This is so insanely ridiculous!

As some of you may know the snow on the sidewalks in Bridgeport is a major issue for us. This boils us over more than anything else in life. If you have read the About Me page you will know that we partially blame the snow covered sidewalks for our sons death, and it has been a problem since before that. As we stated at the end of that post we were able to get new sidewalks that were badly needed along our busy stretch of highway. The question was whether or not the township would enforce an ordinance that requires you, the property owner to shovel your sidewalks. Two years later and IT HASN’T HAPPENED YET!
Our son was in the road on his bicycle because he could not ride on the sidewalks due to the build up of snow and ice. I had complained to the township and was told they did not have the money to enforce the ordinance. Meanwhile the snow continued to build up. At one point they stated that not shoveling your sidewalks would be safer, so that the ice did not build up on them…Are they crazy or do they think we’re stupid? These are businesses along these sidewalks, they could pay someone to shovel and write it off on their taxes. *We do have two businesses along that route that always shovel a special thanks goes out to them.

A nice gentleman from our township wrote a letter to the editor the day after our son died. It stated…

Clear walks for safety Editor, The News:

A young teenager riding his bike on the Dixie Highway died last week. Six-thirty in the
morning on the Dixie is no place to be with a bike. This is awfully sad.
But here is the rest of the story that needs consideration. I often walk down the Dixie between 6 and 7 in the
morning with my dog. Nearly every morning, two teenagers would pass me on their bikes, on the sidewalk. They
were going to the Bridgeport Middle School, and would park their bikes there at the bike stand. On this particular
morning there was only one. The other was under the front wheels of a SUV on the Dixie.
The sidewalks Were covered with ice and snow. Practically no one clears the walks along the Dixie. McDonald’s
Restaurant is one company that does. The sidewalk is difficult to walk, and I have to wear boots. It is impossible
to drive a bike on that sidewalk, and if the sidewalk had been cleared, as it should have been, that teen still could
be alive.
I believe that Bridgeport Township should get serious in demanding that property owners keep their walks clear
of snow, or do it themselves, if there is an absentee owner, and invoice the owner. This non-sidewalk clearing
condition also occurs on State Street. I believe that it’s time for some action. If nothing more, the owners should
be given warnings.

Last year I complained again about the snow covered sidewalks, again I was told the ordinance would not be enforced! Just think with all the fines they could hand out to the property owners they could pay someone to enforce the ordinance. This time I called the local newspaper and they ran a story on the townships refusal to help get the sidewalks cleared. That story was featured in the paper on January 24, 2007, one year and one day after our son was killed. You may read the original article by clicking here. The township’s response was to put a sign up along Dixie Highway stating that there is an ordinance to shovel the sidewalks, please do so. No one complied.

This summer a new sidewalk was placed on our side of the highway, the township paid for the sidewalk and they still will not enforce the snow removal! How frustrating is that, this is absolutely ridiculous. One of the businesses along the new sidewalk is the Michigan State Police, not only have they not shoveled, but they have dead branches laying on their stretch of the sidewalk. My other son stopped into the State Police Station and asked the officer why they have not shoveled? He did not have an answer for him, matter of fact he said to take it up with the township because they put the sidewalk in! Now I have had it, this is insanely crazy. I plan to call the newspaper again and this time I am including the evening news channels.

For any property owner out there with a sidewalk on your property please shovel you have no idea what it means for the safety of other people. If you happen to be a business either shovel or employ a person to shovel and give back to the economy!

   I get a bad case of road rage Monday thru Friday between the times of 6:45 – 7:05 am. This is when I drive my son to school which is only four blocks from our house. This is also the time of day when my oldest son was hit and killed on his way to school, hence why I now drive my other son. Granted the speed limit on this five lane highway is 45 Mph, but 90% of the people that travel that four block stretch know there is a school on the left hand side off the highway.

     I see all kinds of people driving like a bat out of hell to get where they are going. Even other parents that are dropping off their children whip around me to get there faster. This time of year it is dark and the roads tend to be slippery why do these people not slow down. They see kids walking in the vicinity and yet they drive like lunatics to what get there a mere few minutes earlier. To everyone out there that drives between the hours of 6:00-9:00 am remember there may be a school in the area, SLOW DOWN!

We tried to get the speed limit changed and school signs posted on that stretch of highway, but we were rejected. That will be another blog post on another day so be sure and check back.

Another Bad Case of Road Rage …..

This video is displayed on YouTube under the user TheHeathenTrucker. His video is a great rant about road rage.

This is his description of the video:

I just felt like doing a rant about a driver that pissed me off today.At one point in the video I mention how much weight I’m carrying. Note that’s only the weight of the freight and doesn’t include the truck or trailer’s weight. After scaling the load my gross weight was 79,020

Warning: This video contains graphic language

  We have all had them at one point in time, the boss from hell. You give him one hundred and ten percent for years and when the pressure is on he stabs you in the back. This particular boss also likes to throw things, smash things, and bang his head against hard objects. It is tough to get through a stressful day when your boss totally blows up at the tiniest problem. Life is full of problems GET OVER IT!

   This job I am on now is the last straw, I just can’t take it anymore. After putting in over seven hard years with this company, I have been demoted with a pay cut. The reason why….I am the only certified welder on the job, which means I am the only person qualified to weld the decking. I don’t mind doing that, but the pay scale changes with deck, which means I am making six dollars an hour less than I was before and less than the guys on the ground twisting bolts. Why should I be penalized for having a certification that obviously no one else on the jobsite has and at the worst time of year possible? The boss looks at it this way he is saving the company money, but he is taking food out of my family’s mouth, and money from my benefits. This boss has brought in men from the union hall to take my place and the place of my fellow union brothers. Loyalty to a company and hard work used to mean something. Now it seems that the employee is just a number and it’s all about saving the company money. Well if it wasn’t for us “numbers” the company would never make the money to save.

  So many big businesses out there forget about the little guy that helps their company run on a daily basis, now it is overflowing into our unions who are supposed be there to protect the worker. Where will it stop? If the money makers of this country realized that helping the average everyday American helps them as well this country would not be in the economic downfall it is in.

  We all want to tell that boss from hell to “Take This Job and Shove It”! Until then, I need the paycheck. We will see what he  blow’s up about today. Maybe I should tell him to save the company some money and stop trying to chop down the steel column with a level.

Last year I thought if I heard “Happy Holidays” one more time I was going to explode. I was so angry that I was trying to enjoy the Christmas season, the feeling of joy and all I was getting was “Happy Holidays”. This year it is even worse, I have heard “Have a Nice Day” more than I have heard “Happy Holidays”. Are you kidding me? People in this country are so afraid of offending someone that they say nothing at all! Yesterday I dropped my usual donation in the wonderful red kettle and the gentleman ringing the bell said, “Thank you” I waited but nothing no Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas. Wait a minute aren’t they collecting for Christmas? What is going on in this country?

They have ban religion in our government and our schools because they do not want to offend anyone. The county courthouse can not even display “Merry Christmas” or the traditional Nativity scene. The schools no longer are allowed to put up Christmas decorations or have a Christmas party. They call their vacation time winter break, not Christmas break. I understand that not everyone participates in Christmas, but why do we have to bow down to them and break our own traditions. It is not like we are pushing our beliefs on people we are just enjoying the celebration of our faith. I don’t protest the birthday party of the person down the road that I do not like, that would be ridiculous. Are people just scared of religion?

In an article published by The Washington Post in 2004 columnist Charles Krauthammer says it best,

“The attempts to de-Christianize Christmas are as absurd as they are relentless. The United States today is the most tolerant and diverse society in history. It celebrates all faiths with an open heart and open-mindedness that, compared to even the most advanced countries in Europe, are unique.
Yet more than 80 percent of Americans are Christian, and probably 95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas. Christmas Day is an official federal holiday, the only day of the entire year when,for example, the Smithsonian museums are closed. Are we to pretend that Christmas is nothing but an orgy of commerce in celebration of . . . what? The winter solstice? “

Now in the year 2007 it has continued to get worse. We should be spreading good will to all not fighting over decorations and sayings that could offend someone. If you don’t like Christmas stay home and hibernate for the month of December and let us enjoy our holiday!

From us to you Merry Christmas!