ARTICLES: October 18, 2007
 
Shoot, Shovel and Shut Up
by Roni Bell Sylvester

"I accept ultimate responsibility for this event, because I set a tone... I also accept responsibility for any lapses in the training of my..."

Was this a response from a parent of a misbehaved child?  No. It was from a rancher who killed a wolf to keep his cattle safe.

He can be prosecuted.

Meanwhile, at the King Middle School in Portland, Maine,  officials have added birth control pills to the goody bag of contraceptives they’ve doled out since 2000.

These children also get free after school snacks and lunches.

I picture their school snack, birth control pill and condom bundled together in a  little brown sack like the kind we  got 50 years ago after “The Papillion Methodist Church Presents ‘Away in the Manger.’”

Ah, those little brown sacks. Twisted at the top, and tied off with a pretty red and green swirl of ribbon. They held promise of a shiny red apple or bright orange orange, some peanuts in the shell, and oh jump up and down a Hershey Bar!

At the King school, eleven year old girls can request birth control and neither the school or the child has to tell the parents.
Dandy.  Just dandy.  We’ve finally arrived at a culture where a child can get into any kind of trouble and the  parent won’t be told, won’t have to accept “ultimate responsibility,” and won’t be prosecuted for  “lapses in training.” 

This isn’t fair.  If ranchers plagued with killer wolves can’t shoot, shovel and shut up, how come those kids get to?
 
Roni Bell Sylvester

 

Response: 11/07

...and what about some local issues where our newly elected "environmental" Governor is professing his "Green thinking" by protecting rural landscapes from the economic scourge of oil/gas drilling (a fairly temporary, and proven to be mostly reversible, form of extraction) while at the same time proposing to dig up the West end of Denver's Historic, Beaux Arts, Civic Center Park to put in an ill conceived / poorly designed / contemporary building..? I guess it's only OK to protect "Green-space" if it's on private rural land where it is rarely visited.  And don't even get me started on this poor State's water and wildlife management issues...
Anyhow, I'm with you on this...You go Girl!
Randy Swa



Roni,
Excellent point and the kind that should cause a lot of uninvolved folks to begin thinking about what is going on all around us. Jim Beers

Sad what our country has come to! It's only going to get worse with Hillary in the white house.  She's got some programs planned that will never be able to be changed in years to come... because no future president would dare have the nerve to take some of these things away.  Leslie

Unfortunately, common sense doesn't play well in big cities and it's the big cities that give us all this grief and heartache.  They know what's best for all of us, even the rural folk and our 11-year old girls.  Pathetic!  You wouldn't see this insane garbage in a country school.
Take care,
Ron Ewart


Well said!  good one, Roni!
Tami Jo Arvik Blake
Agri-News editor


Fantastic article, Roni.  What a super comparison.  I am proud of you.
Lois Herbst

Amen sister, amen!!!  I have encountered so much crap that is being done even to adults in the area of banking and credit card companies in the last couple of weeks I just want to go and slap some sense into the morons that are running our industries and making laws that are eating away at the U. S. citizens rights.  We are headed towards a communist type of government and it scares the hell out of me as to what our grandchildren are going to have to contend with
Judi Schow


Amen Roni, you hit the nail right on the head.
Willard Forman


Little boys and girls need proper education and discipline in the school systems.  A lot of manners and character enhancement would also be in order.  With the emphasis on carnal behavior those little darlings will learn what they live and are exposed to.  Now, aren't those recipients of the "Freebie Goodie Bags" going to be outstanding future citizens!  They will have no concept of self restraint.

In contrast, that rancher in dealing with the predatory wolf situation exercised extreme self restraint.  He refrained from shooting the Eco-Terrorist responsible for creating that problem.
M Sue Hollis