The Observation Deck

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2012 7:16 am**

www.lakewoodcityschools.org wrote:RESPONSE TO TRAGEDY IN CONNECTICUT

We are all saddened by the tragedy that happened at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., and our hearts go out to the victims, their families, staff, students and the Newtown community.

Although, unfortunately, tragedies such as these cannot be entirely prevented, know that our district is secure in its emergency-preparedness and safety plan. The district works closely with the Lakewood Police Department in preparing and implementing our safety procedures for our school buildings.

Our staff is trained each year with the help of the Police Department on lockdown and evacuation procedures. Our students and staff practice the lockdown drill four times throughout the school year, such as the unannounced lockdown drill held at Lakewood High last week.

Our staff is well-prepared to handle any situation that may arise and will always put your child’s safety first. The Police Department is also well-prepared to respond to school emergencies and utilizes our facilities to train for crisis situations.

Our safety plan is continually reviewed and updated when needed. On a day-to-day basis our safety measures include secured entrances and video cameras at all school buildings. In addition, at Lakewood High School students and visitors must pass through a staffed security entrance and there are also eight security personnel on duty during the school day. There is also a Lakewood Police Department presence at the high school through its School Resource Officer/D.A.R.E Officer.

In the wake of the Newtown tragedy, if you find your child has a hard time coping with the emotions related to the trauma that occurred in Connecticut, please feel free to call your school building and administrators will get you in touch with our district psychologists and/or counselors for help.

http://www.lakewoodcityschools.org/districtNewsArticle.aspx?artID=1811

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:02 am**

Matthew John Markling wrote:
www.lakewoodcityschools.org wrote:RESPONSE TO TRAGEDY IN CONNECTICUT
In the wake of the Newtown tragedy, if you find your child has a hard time coping with the emotions related to the trauma that occurred in Connecticut, please feel free to call your school building and administrators will get you in touch with our district psychologists and/or counselors for help.

While I appreciate the letter from Jeff Patterson, I have to ask, Why not tell the kids the truth?

That American Society has been hijacked by a bunch of wackos that care more about their
right to arm themselves with automatic weapons than they care about the lives of children
and other people that always seem to be just unknown names on their way to make a living
heading up the NRA from gun manufacturers and lobbyists.

Why not explain to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th graders that many people, possibly their parents are
psychotically obsessed with the immature comment that the "Government Secret Police"
are going to kick in their doors and tip them from their parents arms. So that they, and
many other extremely unstable people(anyone with an assault rifle) place a higher value
on their own immediate happiness than anyone's safety or well being.

That even after 181 school gun tragedies since Columbine, the heads of the NRA have not
even allowed a real conversation about guns, safety, schools, the need to limit and regulate
has not been allowed to happen because these people get paid to keep killer weapons and
ammunition on the street.

Why lie to the kids, to me it is like Vietnam. If you are old enough to die in Nam, then 18-year olds deserve the right to vote, and drink, and savor America. So maybe it is time to give kids from first grade on the right to vote, and drink, and drive because it would seem they are certainly giving their lives on the new battlefields of America so that a very, very slim few can prosper.

WTF America.

.

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:31 am**

@ Jim

Spoken like a non-parent.

This is a time to grieve, be strong and come together. Not a time to start an argument, let alone a political one.

My heart is with you Connecticut and all other schools in the world.

Corey

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:36 am**

Personally, this parent thinks that it's high time to stop saying "this isn't the time".

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_ ... speed.html

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:41 am**

The truth is that there is a rise in the percentage of people dealing with mental health issues in our society (dare I say "caused by our society"? ... which came first, the chicken or the egg?!?!?). Couple that with increasing accessibility to firearms and we find a recipe for disaster.

Parents and non-parents have a responsibility to help protect, educate and serve our most valuable community assets .. OUR (as in "The Collective We) kids!

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:04 am**

Corey Rossen wrote:This is a time to grieve, be strong and come together. Not a time to start an argument, let alone a political one.

My heart is with you Connecticut and all other schools in the world.

Well said, Corey.

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2012 12:42 pm**

Peter Grossetti wrote:The truth is that there is a rise in the percentage of people dealing with mental health issues in our society (dare I say "caused by our society"? ... which came first, the chicken or the egg?!?!?). Couple that with increasing accessibility to firearms and we find a recipe for disaster.

Parents and non-parents have a responsibility to help protect, educate and serve our most valuable community assets .. OUR (as in "The Collective We) kids!

Corey

As much as I agree with you, and would like to agree with you.

NO.

This is a systemic problem no because of parents, not because of mental illness.

But because it is so easy to BUY POLITICIANS on every level. Our own Anthony Sinagra
has proven you can buy a lifelong politician for $3,000 and a bottle of wine. While many
fault Tony for this, I actually think it was a great service he provided and proved. I have
seen hundreds of people rally with others to get laws changed for the betterment of
everyone, only to fall short again and again and again. Why? Because they put their
efforts into changing the rules, not buying the politicians. Well, those with money take
the shortcut. Guns, Food, medicine, education, have taken the short route, bribery
professionals, err lobbyists write enough checks that Politicians are afraid to even talk
about gun control, food security, the gutting of the education system, and the complete
destruction of government funding on so many health issues.

I cannot fault anyone, any longer but the politicians that rather line their pockets, take
the easy way to reelection instead of representing the people that elected them.

The gun experiment is not working, time to cut it.

As someone put so nicely. "One person gets caught with a shoe bomb, now everyone
must take off their shoes and get screened getting on a plane." Well, with 181 school shootings, mass murder is becoming commonplace. Time to CRACK DOWN ON GUNS and educate the American people that the 2nd Amendment is about gun-carrying militias, not inferior, less-than-inadequate humans making up for their lack of size or prowess with gun collections.

Let me assure you, those who believe the government is going to kick in their doors and
take away their freedoms are every bit as unstable as the lunatic shooters.

FWIW

.

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2012 1:12 pm**

A liberal tries to explain why she wants to make gun ownership illegal.

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2012 1:39 pm**

Scott Meeson wrote:A liberal tries to explain why she wants to make gun ownership illegal.

Scott

This is hilarious. They couldn't even find real people to spew this BS.

The entire video comes down to one amazing thing.

We need to own guns, to protect from those that have guns.

That equation is so simple to fix it is ridiculous.

It is getting so out of whack in this country, I am not sure I would have a problem with
a ten year ban on hunting in this country.

One very real, very sad fact is that as Clint VanZandt put it last night, "Even if you banned
all the guns, ten years from now there would still be assault weapons around. There are so
many out there you can never get rid of them." Well, while many would see this as a
reason for more guns, I am thinking it proves the point. This gun thing ain't working out.

.

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2012 1:40 pm**

Jim O'Bryan wrote:
Peter Grossetti wrote:The truth is that there is a rise in the percentage of people dealing with mental health issues in our society (dare I say "caused by our society"? ... which came first, the chicken or the egg?!?!?). Couple that with increasing accessibility to firearms and we find a recipe for disaster.

Parents and non-parents have a responsibility to help protect, educate and serve our most valuable community assets .. OUR (as in "The Collective We) kids!

Corey

As much as I agree with you, and would like to agree with you.

NO.

This is a systemic problem no because of parents, not because of mental illness.

But because it is so easy to BUY POLITICIANS on every level. Our own Anthony Sinagra
has proven you can buy a lifelong politician for $3,000 and a bottle of wine. While many
fault Tony for this, I actually think it was a great service he provided and proved. I have
seen hundreds of people rally with others to get laws changed for the betterment of
everyone, only to fall short again and again and again. Why? Because they put their
efforts into changing the rules, not buying the politicians. Well, those with money take
the shortcut. Guns, Food, medicine, education, have taken the short route, bribery
professionals, err lobbyists write enough checks that Politicians are afraid to even talk
about gun control, food security, the gutting of the education system, and the complete
destruction of government funding on so many health issues.

I cannot fault anyone, any longer but the politicians that rather line their pockets, take
the easy way to reelection instead of representing the people that elected them.

The gun experiment is not working, time to cut it.

As someone put so nicely. "One person gets caught with a show bomb, now everyone
must take off their shows and get screened getting on a plane." Well, 181 school shootings
mass murder becoming common place. Time to CRACK DOWN ON GUNS and educate the
American people that the 2nd Amendment is about gun carrying militias, not inferior
less than inadequate humans making up for their lack of size or prowess with gun collections.

Let me assure you, those that believe the government is going to kick in their doors and
take away their freedoms is every bit as unstable as the lunatic shooters.

FWIW

.

Jim--

So what are you saying? It's time to try to find people with more money than the NRA, to buy the politicians and turn them around the other way? You say:

I have seen hundreds of people rally with others to get laws changed for the betterment of
everyone, only to fall short again and again and again. Why? Because they put their
efforts into changing the rules, not buying the politicians. Well, those with money take
the shortcut. Guns, Food, medicine, education, have taken the short route, bribery
professionals, err lobbyists write enough checks that Politicians are afraid to even talk
about gun control, food security, the gutting of the education system, and the complete
destruction of government funding on so many health issues.

How do we change that?

Why do politicians need the money they get from lobbyists? One reason is that elections are so expensive. Why are they so expensive? Because elections are fought with television ads, with much high drama and very few facts. How many millions were spent on this last presidential campaign?

It's hard to compare where the candidates actually are on actual issues, because no effort is really made to cover the decisions our elected officials make every day. The public is not even educated about what it is that their elected officials do. Why are there so many votes in Congress every week? What are they voting on? Are that many new laws or changes needed every day? What are they? Whose job is it to know what it is that they do, and what is being proposed, and how they are voting, and what those votes change or enact?

If buying TV time and making commercials were not allowed for candidates, the candidate with the most money wouldn't win anymore, or have a great chance of winning because he could get more people to SEE him. Agreed-upon forums like debates and question and answer periods could be made available to each candidate. The same number, with the same exposure to the same amount of people. Their job descriptions, along with their actions and votes in office on major issues could be printed, at public expense! and made available online, and voters would have to do their homework, read and ask questions and make the best decision based not on Hollywood-made commercials, or rallies, or even high drama debates. They would have to make decisions based on the records of the candidates.

So if they don't need a huge amount of money anymore, they don't need the lobbyists to fund their campaigns.

If lobbying was made illegal, again, the lobbyists with the most money wouldn't get what they want. Elected officials would have to do what made the most sense in terms of trying to run a country. So that it was safe. From guns, to what we eat and drink, to what we breathe, etc. And it would have to make sense or people wouldn't vote for them. It sounds too simple to be true. Maybe we should look at why food is safe in Europe.

In terms of guns, when I asked Councilman Mike Polensek in Cleveland why he thought there had never been a school shooting in a Cleveland school, he said: "Metal detectors. With a trained professional monitoring them, at every single Cleveland public school." He went on to say that the schools are public places like airports, court houses, libraries, and police stations. The public needs to know that these places are free of guns.

It sounds so simple. We shouldn't protect them because they are children?

News reports say that the gunman yesterday "forced his way in." I don't know what the statistics are regarding the 181 school shootings Jim is referring to and whether any of the schools involved had metal detectors.

People say that asking for metal detectors is a knee-jerk response after a school shooting, but why should our airports be safer than our schools? It would be worth looking at the statistics.

Cory, Jeff and Matt-- whether "this is the time" is a question that sickens me. Obviously "the time" was before this happened.

Betsy Voinovich

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2012 1:51 pm**

Where is the common sense discussion about gun control? Certainly the there is a difference from banning all guns for all citizens and allowing easy access for most that include few checks. The NRA and gun supporters can't be so entrenched in their view point that they see that they see it as a "slippery slope" to ban assault weapons and make requirements to obtain a gun more strenuous.Who could possibly need a military style assault weapon? I would think that reasonable people who support gun ownership should be the loudest voices clamoring for more regulations to ensure the public's safety. And, I'm so tired of hearing , "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." Give us all a break. If you walk into a room with intent to do harm, you can't do harm to 26 from the doorway with a knife.

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2012 1:53 pm**

Betsy

As I just pointed out to Scott.

Healthcare broken, or let's say Americans not healthy.

Education Broken

Farming Food Security Broken

Air, Water Broken

Banking Broken

Cities Broken

States Broken

Elections Broken

Economy Broken

The legacy of the baby boomers, of which I am one.

We cannot fix everything at one time. But we can make it safer for those trying.

The only real reasons given for guns is hunting and protection. I believe that is a very
easy problem to solve.

If the NRA leadership is unwilling to lead the discussion, then the people of this country
should be more than willing to do so.

.

Posted: **Sat Dec 15, 2012 2:16 pm**

Betsy Voinovich wrote:People say that asking for metal detectors is a knee-jerk response after a school shooting, but why should our airports be safer than our schools? It would be worth looking at the statistics.

Cory, Jeff and Matt-- whether "this is the time" is a question that sickens me. Obviously "the time" was before this happened.

Betsy,

With all due respect, student safety was always a top concern with the school board members and administration when I was on the Lakewood School Board. It still is a top concern.

We were always pro-active on safety.

And, we always got pushback - just search past Deck threads.

Matt

Posted: **Sun Dec 16, 2012 7:56 pm**

Matthew John Markling wrote:
Betsy Voinovich wrote:People say that asking for metal detectors is a knee-jerk response after a school shooting, but why should our airports be safer than our schools? It would be worth looking at the statistics.

Cory, Jeff and Matt-- whether "this is the time" is a question that sickens me. Obviously "the time" was before this happened.

Betsy,

With all due respect, student safety was always a top concern with the school board members and administration when I was on the Lakewood School Board. It still is a top concern.

We were always pro-active on safety.

And, we always got pushback - just search past Deck threads.

Matt

Hi Matt,

I wasn't implying that Lakewood City Schools are not concerned with safety. Now that I've had kids in 4 different Lakewood schools, I've observed the security systems in each of them, with buzzers for visitors and video cameras at the doors. This works as long as the person with the weapon isn't someone familiar, like a student, or a parent or employee who may have gone off the deep end. Same things with "stranger danger," or "Code Ranger" drills. They work unless the danger's not coming from a stranger.

I was talking about what we as concerned citizens need to be doing about the situation as a whole-- was there a way that we could have been more proactive, earlier, to have stopped something like this from happening?

In his post Jim says, "We cannot fix everything at one time. But we can make it safer for those trying.

The only real reasons given for guns is hunting and protection. I believe that is a very
easy problem to solve.

If the NRA leadership is unwilling to lead the discussion, then the people of this country
should be more than willing to do so."

Whatever "we" can do, we'd better start doing it.

Betsy Voinovich

Posted: **Sun Dec 16, 2012 10:19 pm**

We were in Pittsburgh this weekend visiting my sister and the local paper had an ad from a Sporting Goods store, two days after the horrific event in Connecticut, advertising a semi-automatic weapon "On sale for $299, so fun to shoot!".

There's the problem, IMHO.

Our country mentality is that "guns are fun!". Not everyone, of course, but a fair number. And a fair number with money who know how to get in a politician's pocket.

It's interesting that the same political party that wants to clamor for "go back to the Constitution and see what the authors' meant" want us to believe that anyone writing the second amendment could have seen semi-automatic and automatic weapons being in the public's hands.

I have no problem with the right to bear arms. But, IMHO, that line has to be drawn somewhere. There's a reason we all can't own a bazooka.

Actually, I think we should all get a musket and that's it. But that's another debate.....

Peace.

The Observation Deck

RESPONSE TO TRAGEDY IN CONNECTICUT BY LAKEWOOD CITY SCHOOLS

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