Reading, Riting, and Reloading

I really don’t know where to begin……..

Today I had a conference to go to about keeping our schools safe. The conference portion was like any conference, but the first three hours were filled with almost unbearable grief. During the first three hours the Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner, Colonel Jeffrey Miller, spoke to us about the Amish School Shooting at West Nickel Mines School in Lancaster County, PA. that happened on Oct. 2, 2006. On that day ten little girls, ages 6-13, kissed their mothers goodbye as they headed off to school. For five of them, it would be the last time. That day started like any other. Mothers woke their kids, got them ready, kissed them, then hurried them out the door to school. I would imagine they said what we all say, “See you when you get home.”

When they got to school they sat down at their desks and began their day, along with 21 other classmates and their teacher. Enter Charles Carl Roberts III. God should have struck this scumbag down long before this day. I won’t go into the details. If you want them you can get them on the internet. It was horrible. Roberts released everyone but the ten girls in that school. Two girls, ages 7 and 13, died at the scene. Three more girls, ages 12, 7, and 8, died shortly thereafter. Every girl in that school had been shot. More would have died had the PA State Police not acted so heroically. Roberts committed suicide as the police launched their assault. His soul was in Hell before his body hit the floor.

This was a random event. Roberts had no ties to the school. These girls just won the psycho lottery that day. The Amish are such a peaceful, forgiving, and trusting group that this makes this incident even more unbelievable. They are so forgiving that approximately 70 of them attended Roberts' funeral, to support his family. Roberts wasn’t even Amish.

In this case, Roberts was an adult. The majority of these school shootings are kids exacting some kind of sick revenge on some perceived wrong. If you think it can’t happen where you live ask the Amish if something like this could happen. Ask the residents of Jonesboro, AR if this could happen. Ask anyone who has graduated from Columbine High School if this could happen.

There are serious problems in this country when a child’s fundamental right to be safe in school is stolen. I am pissed off that I have to even consider that my daughter could be murdered in school simply because she is sitting at her desk in first grade. I am pissed off that we, the police, actually have a battle plan that we physically train on, should one of our schools come under siege. And finally, I am pissed off that my kids will never have a total sense of security in one of the few places that they should be able feel that way.