Metal detectors key to stopping school violence

Metal detectors key to stopping school violence
EDITOR:
"I'm rubber and you're glue. Whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you." Whatever happened to harmless bickering between children? Today, children are walking into their schools with guns as a means of retribution. They are walking out murderers. I believe schools should add metal detection devices as an attempt to prevent guns from entering the building.
Destruction has been occurring in our schools. In Santee, Calif., Charles Andrew Williams went into his school and killed two people and injured 13, as well as terrifying too many to count. Friends of the boy were told of his plans. One adult was told of his plans. No one did anything appropriate with these warnings. Everyone thought it was a joke.
That same week in Williamsport, Pa., a 14-year-old girl shot a classmate at school.
I have three children in the Girard system. I send them to school every day. I expect them to be given a good education. I also expect them to be safe and alive when school is over at the end of the day.
Unfortunately, I fear for their safety when I see the tragedies that have occurred at other schools. Thankfully, Girard has not had to experience gun violence in school. God willing, we never will.
To think such events can't happen here is reckless. Bad things can and do happen everywhere.
If people had to pass through a metal detection device before entering a school building, Charles Andrew Williams and the girl from Williamsport would have been prevented from entering their schools and causing the devastation that took place. Children would have an added measure of safety at school. Parents would share this comfort in knowing guns won't be able to enter their children's schools.
Some parents feel this is an extreme measure, that it may make children afraid. But if a child carrying a backpack with a gun hidden inside can be prevented from entering school and causing another tragedy, wouldn't it be worth it? I, as a parent, think the reality of gun violence in schools today demands extreme measures to protect my children.
Our kids deserve to be safe at school. They should be given the opportunity to mature into responsible people. It is a tragedy beyond words to lose a child. Knowing that another child's hands were on the trigger heightens this devastation. One way to prevention could be as simple as a step through a metal detector
REBECCA RUDDY
Girard
Fuel cell will meet energy needs of the future
EDITOR:
I read the item in the Sunday Vindicator regarding the Bush-Cheney proposal to open up public lands for oil and gas drilling. It did not come as a surprise to me as it is pay-back time for the Republican administration. The oil industry contributed huge amounts of money to the Bush campaign but only a minuscule amount to the Democratic presidential election. Nobody donates such great contributions unless there will be huge profits in the future.
We do not need to plunder these public lands. Though the news about current energy prices are dismal, technology in the not too distant future.will free us from the oil cartels strangle hold they have placed on the energy consuming public and have caused inflation, recession and economic chaos to the world at large.
Washington, D.C., Chicago and Vancouver are using municipal buses running on power produced by the "fuel cell," whose only emission is water pure enough to drink and heat.
Before the end of this decade, the average home will not need the power lines that now furnish electricity to the homes of this nation. Every home will have a unit about the size of the average refrigerator that will furnish the power needs to operate the household.
A fuel cell contains no moving parts so there is nothing to wear out. You must furnish the gases to run the fuel cell which should be a fraction of what people are now paying for energy.
BEN PAULSEY
Warren