Tag Archives: shootings

Are Schools Really as Safe as They Say?

There has been more than 30 school shootings since Columbine in 1999, but only about 15 throughout the rest of the world since the Columbine shooting. With school shootings becoming more common in the US, what are schools doing to be safer for students and staff? Some schools have just begun to practice lockdown drills in case of emergency and locking school doors during the day.  Before December, many schools left their doors unlocked during the day, free for people to come and go. Some schools in Ohio are required to give a floor plan to police, and 58 schools have failed to do so. A bill is trying to be passed in Congress called the School Safety Enhancement Act of 2013. The bill is trying to ensure that schools can get the money they need for school safety.

In the wake of the Newtown school shooting, many schools all over the country are reconsidering their safety plan. But why did it take the lives of children for schools to realize they weren’t safe? Even this past week in Connecticut a five year old was able to get out of his kindergarten class and walk all the way home. In the same school, a young girl was missing for about 45 minutes before found in her sisters classroom. Schools claim to be taking more safety measures, but if a school cannot even keep track of all it’s student, what would happen if everyone were to be evacuated? Here in Cheshire, we have been practicing lockdown drills in schools for years, long before Newtown. Even though many schools don’t have many safety measures, it is better late than never to keep students and staff safe in school.

~Carolynn Pechmann

Who Would’ve Thought?

The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by several cities in Massachusetts. This event first began a year after the success of the first modern day marathon in the 1896 Summer Olympics and is now the world’s oldest annual marathon ranking as one of the world’s best known road races. However, during the Boston Marathon this year on April 15th, 2013, two pressure cooker bombs detonated killing three people and injuring many, triggering a massive manhunt for the bombers. Three days after the tragic explosions set off, photographs and surveillance videos were released by the FBI of two suspects soon identified as the notorious brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. On the morning of April 19, 2013 in Watertown, Massachusetts, Tamerlan became involved in a shootout with police where he was shot and captured. According to those police officers involved in the shootout, his brother, Dzhokhar, ran him over with an SUV and dragged him with the vehicle for twenty feet leading to an even greater manhunt for the one single suspect. I assume this was so his brother would not be captured and questioned and would just be dead. That’s just me though. Anyways, during this manhunt on the evening of April 19, Dzhokhar was discovered wounded in a boat in the backyard of a very unlucky resident in Watertown, Massachusetts less than a quarter mile from where he abandoned the SUV.

In my opinion, and most likely every other American citizens’ opinion, the Boston Marathon Bombing was a very horrific tragedy. Another thing I take out of this whole travesty is, why were there not more precautions? After 9/11, safety was a huge issue but somehow, it dwindled to the point where it was almost forgotten which seemed to be the case at the marathon. These two men casually walked the streets with seemingly meaningless backpacks that were, in reality, carrying bombs that they would aimlessly place in random places. I believe if there was security placed evenly around the marathon’s route that the suspicious bags would have been noticed and taken care of before any catastrophes could occur. Nevertheless, I believe a smidge of goodness came out of this; although there were way more negatives about the Boston Bombing, proven above, than positives, the fact that these explosions allowed kind hearted people to come to the rescue of wounded runners or observers is a somewhat pleasant side to this disaster. Every little thing that happened, good and bad, allowed America to come together as a nation in remembrance of the lives lost and to show remorse towards the wounded victims. All in all, the Boston Bombing was a terroristic event very despised by not only me but by mostly all American.  My last question is based towards the two bombers, even though I know they will never answer it but, how could you look at a little boy and think ‘I’m going to kill you’ and not have a bit of guilt or remorse?

~Daniielle Dietrich