Cause and Effect:
Littleton, Colorado
On April 30, 1999, Governor Gary Locke
issued a proclamation for a special session of the legislature to commence on
May 17, 1999. In addressing the reason
for this special session, Locke said that it was to, among other things,
address education and school safety issues:
We had several
significant bills on school safety passed during the regular session, and I
will sign them soon. They came
directly out of our School Safety Summit last summer. But we can always do more. We will be suggesting further steps to
the legislature before the special session starts.
The Youth Safety Summit, held in August, 1998, was
orchestrated and controlled by the OSPI and the
Governor's office to achieve the desired result; that being the outcomes they
wanted to see. The people of the
State of Washington were not invited; were not involved; were not heard. The Report of the People
on the Youth Safety Summit requested statewide public hearings on the matter of
youth violence. But, as usual, the
people of the State of Washington were ignored by the legislature as they
turned to the "experts" for the solutions — the same
"experts" who have been the cause of the problems in the first place.
The following is a letter sent to the legislature regarding
youth violence in schools. Will
they listen? It is doubtful. However, as the watchman, it our duty to
inform; if they do not heed, if they will not listen, the blood is not on our
hands.
We are now almost two weeks past the tragedy in Littleton,
Colorado, and the question most people are asking is "why?" There is no single answer and there are
many issues peripheral to it. More
legislation regarding guns and security is not going to cure the problem;
neither will metal detectors because the problem is both without and within the
schools.
There have now been seven school shootings — Moses
Lake, Washington; Jonesboro, Arkansas; West Paducah, Kentucky; Pearl,
Mississippi; Edinboro, Pennsylvania; Springfield,
Oregon and Littleton, Colorado.
People who knew the shooters described them as quiet or shy, retiring,
loners or not part of the "in" crowd, some were described as good kids,
hard workers. Kids close to them
tell us that they were harassed, tormented, and taunted by the
"popular" crowd and/or the "jocks" — those in sports.
We are quick to profile, analyze and dissect the
shooters. If we are going to cure
this problem, we are also going to have to look at not only what produces the
shooters, but also what produces children who believe they have the right to
taunt, torment, and harass other kids.
Kids have always picked on others, but this has gone far beyond what
could ever be considered acceptable.
There used to be a code of acceptable conduct regarding how far one went
with teasing others, those rules have long since disappeared.
In the past four years, my family has been harassed by
juveniles who attend the local junior high/high school. There have been 24 such incidents to
date committed by juveniles driving by our home under the guise of darkness as
cowards always do: tomatoes, eggs
and other projectiles thrown at our home; paintballs shot at our home (using a
paintball gun in this manner is considered a weapon and the act assault with
the intent to do harm); explosive devices thrown at our home (ten feet closer
and our front windows would have been shattered; using an explosive device in
this manner is a Class C felony); for four years we have had a yearly
serpentine of cars (upwards of 150 kids) in front of our home with kids yelling
obscenities, making lewd and lascivious gestures, disturbing the peace,
entering upon our property, involved in disorderly conduct, and contributing to
riotous conditions. We have had our
property damaged and vandalized, threats made against our persons and property. Yet the perpetrators wouldn't know us if
they met us walking down the street; they only know where we live.
It is naive to ever believe that these
same kids are not taunting, tormenting, and harassing other kids at
school. These kids are predators
who prey on others. We have already
had two incidents of guns on or attempted onto school grounds. … boys and
girls french kissed in hallways and behind doors with
their hands in very inappropriate places; kids were assaulted on school
grounds; kids were body slammed against walls and lockers; kids were taunted
and tormented about anything and everything if they weren't part of the
"in" crowd … This is just SOME of what went on that my kids
were aware of and told me about. … People ask why the parents of Klebold and Harris didn't know what was going on in their
homes. How about schools who flatly
deny this type of behavior is occurring? that claim
these are isolated incidents? who tell parents "you are the ONLY one who EVER
complained", ridicule them and harass them when they address inappropriate
conduct on school grounds, inappropriate curriculums, books that are morbid,
sordid, masochistic, sadistic and in some cases, pornographic. [1]
Stories not unlike these are coming out of every government
school in this state and this nation as they move forward with education
reform. The government schools are
ALL ticking time bombs waiting to go off.
You know what parents say when you ask them if they have contacted their
elected officials? They say, "they don't want to hear
about it … they've made up their minds about all of this … they
don't listen to us … they DON'T CARE!" And you know what, from what I have seen
in my five years of talking to legislators, I have no basis to defend the
actions of legislators who have refused to look at the evidence, have ignored
curriculums provided them, have boycotted meetings where evidence was
presented, have foisted this on the schools in this state even though provided
evidence of what the consequence would be.
The attitude of legislators has not been unlike the local
attitude. The sheriff's department
and prosecutor have failed to deal with these kids in an appropriate manner
even though provided ample evidence, even confessions; the school district says
it's not their problem as the serpentines, although organized and emanating
from school grounds, are not a recognized school function; the local
neighborhood observation patrol (NOPS) carefully
avoids the street in front of our home; and parents in this community have been
silent with regard to the conduct of these juveniles. By their silence, everyone is condoning
the behavior of these kids, and in condoning it, encouraging it. Just as in Littleton with the
"jocks", local teenagers think their conduct in front our home is
"funny" which speaks directly to their intelligence level as no
intelligent child would ever consider acting in the depraved manner in which
these kids act; and they think their depraved conduct somehow reflects on us
— which it doesn't — it reflects on them, their parents, and their
schools — none of whom seem to care enough about them to address their
unacceptable behavior. Their
conduct isn't funny — it is aberrant and unacceptable if the intent is to
perpetuate a civilized society.
These kids have no respect for themselves, others, the rights of others,
the property of others, or that which establishes and
sustains a civilized society. Not
only this, but they have not been taught it or modeled it in either the school
or the home. But these are the kids
that are held up to everyone as a shining example of the best the school has to
offer, as the "good" kids, as the kids to emulate, as the
"normal" kids. No one is
doing these kids any favor by ignoring their conduct. And their conduct on school grounds is
ignored equally as readily as it is ignored in the community, which means they
are allowed to harass, taunt, and torment other kids without fear of their
conduct being addressed or punished.
Now, if you were a child going to school, and you knew that
you were going to be harassed, tormented and taunted on a daily basis, what do
you suppose your reaction would be — especially if you did not have
parents at home who supported you and told you that the conduct of these
individuals reflected not on you, but on them in their depravity, their school
for accepting and allowing it, and their parents for not teaching them
better? These predators, as
predators always do, don't pick on anyone their own size, ie,
a gang of kids tougher than they are, they pick on loners, quiet kids, sensitive
kids, kids who don't run in cliques.
As a minority, subjected to constant taunting, torment and harassment,
without that support at home, feeling totally put down, constantly angry at the
unfairness and double standard, what do you suppose you would do? Would you join a gang for
protection? Would you start acting
out as kids do to try and get SOMEONE's
attention? Would you consider
taking a gun to school and eliminating the problem that no one else seemed to
care about? Or would you just hang your
head all day long, hide in corners and hope no one noticed you were there, and
avoid the cliques in the hallways and bathrooms? Remember, you are a kid, not an adult
— a kid who is basically on his own.
And remember, you are a kid who has been taught in the government
schools that your values are whatever you want them to be, life is not sacred,
mankind is no better than the cat who ran under your car on the way to school
this morning, and your parents are "old fashioned, don't understand you,
and are just not with it".
Barry Loukaitas targeted kids who had been
harassing him; Eric Harris was angry because the "jocks" got off for
a crime equal or worse than the one he and Klebold
had committed; the boys in Jonesboro, Arkansas, were out to "get
even"; the boy in Pearl, Mississippi, had been jilted; Kip Kinkel was an outsider on drugs; and so on…
This problem is not only societal and the breakdown of a
unified culture, it is also our government schools and what children are being
taught and allowed to do in those government schools. We are creating children on both ends of
this spectrum — warring factions, if you will, those who are popular and
allowed to get away was aberrant behavior and those who are not popular and who
school administrators and teachers allow to be picked at, taunted, tormented
and harassed on school grounds.
There is no moral code that says "thou shalt
not kill" and "thou shalt respect others
and other rights." While we
puzzle over what produces the shooters, we fail to look at their tormentors who
are no better. ALL of these kids
might as well be wearing big signs that say, "WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE A
DAMN!" Kids all need
discipline, order, and a code of acceptable conduct. If they don't have it, they seek it in
ways that should be sending adults a clear message but which the adults don't
seem to be hearing. As a result, we
have kids killing kids and others as well.
How do we cure this problem? I have a few suggestions based on my
knowledge of all of this:
we
address the laws that have removed the right of parents to discipline and
control their children, then we expect parents to be parents and hold them
accountable for their children's behavior;
we
address what is going on inside schools:
curriculums that target belief systems, undermine parental authority and
rights, promote a political agenda; and are antithetical to family values and a
unified culture;
we
address the laws that have turned our schools into workforce development
centers instead of places where children are educated for intelligence and
where a common societal moral standard is modeled and enforced;
we
return accountability for what children are taught to parents, and education,
in total, to the local level;
we
reduce the tax burden on families so there is a parent at home for the kids;
we
get the government out of the business of education, out of homes, and out of
the business of parenting;
we
return children to being children, not "raw material" to be properly
conditioned to become human resource units to meet the needs of the state;
we,
as adults, use some common sense and quit listening to the "experts"
who have caused this mess and who now tell us that they know how to fix it;
and not necessarily in that order.
When Moses Lake happened, I told several legislators then
that that was just the start of it.
And it was. And it will not
end, no matter how many laws are passed to "protect" and
"secure", until that which is rending our society into warring
factions is addressed and eradicated.
You do not produce a cohesive society when there is no common core of
morals, standards, and values that are the "glue" of a cohesive
society.
Sincerely,
Lynn M Stuter
7th District
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[1] Due to the sensitive nature of some of
the material in this paragraph, it has been edited. Back
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