Bizarre and unusual crimes sometimes get our attention more than the "normal" kind.
Very few children are murdered in school. I heard one fast-flying-figure on the news last month that said that the total in the USA last year was something like 26, and that included the Columbine incident. A child is
much more likely to die by blunt trauma at the hands of mommy's new boyfriend who's "nice when he's sober," but that sort of murder-most-foul is only local news, if that.
A couple or three racist gunmen last year caught enough of my attention that I now go to temple with a CS Vaquero Grande in my pocket, to cut the bread after services, and always sit on an aisle close to the doorway. It's a debatable precaution against a very remote danger, and every now and again I have to remind myself that I should be more vigilant at the ATM machine or the convenience store.
In this zero tolerance case, I think the district should suspend the suspension, but require the Eagle Scout to teach a class on safe tool usage to some of their middle school kids instead.
So it goes ....
HERE, posted on my web site, is the letter I wrote to various people at the school district.
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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
[This message has been edited by James Mattis (edited 05-27-2000).]