INDIANA CRIME UPDATE

Things are completely out of control.

(Thanks to Elvis OnIce1)

Comments

[philintexas]

They sure are?

[Jeff]

Why?????

(Oh, and as IF it mattered, FIRST!)

[Jeff]

Damn it!

[Boo Augustus]

I blame that new fangled rock music and color television. Just disgraceful.

[philintexas]

Sorry Jeff... WE use gold in our server cables in Texas... that's why I was:

FIRST!

[MeL]

Nothing screams anarchy like a flying footlong hot dog.

[Boo Augustus]

Jeff,

Why don't you go back and look at the ramparts again. It might make you feel better and ease the pain.

[MOTW]

I beg your pardon:
"The 12-year-old honor student ... said she did not know why she decided to dump her lunch tray on the table."

You have to know in order to act, unless it could be categorized as a crime of passion. How can an honor student not know why she did something? Was she unconscious or in a coma?

[MeL]

I was am honor student and I don't know why I've done have the dumbass things I've done. I think it's part of growing up. Actually, I know it is.

[Boo Augustus]

Not a very birhgt honor student if she just dumped her tray on the table. Food fights require flinging and/or throwing food (not unlike tossing mullets).

[Boo Augustus]

That's "bright."

[Jeff]

Ah yes, the ramparts. How I would love to ram them parts. Thanks for the tip, Boo.

[mudstuffin]

MOTW: it sounds like you don't have a any twelve-year-olds living in your house. Believe me, they are capable of not knowing anything.

[mudstuffin]

Also - are we sure that the hot dogs were 12 inches long? You know how boys exaggerate.

[MOTW]

mudstuffin, on the contrary, I have 3, ages 13, 11, and 6-1/2. Any time they give some sorry explanation like "I don't know", my husband and I will talk them through the act of not knowing. You cannot "not know". You may be at a loss for words, or wish to deceive yourself as to the true explanation, but there is a reason and it is known, even if forcibly buried in the subconscious.

They will still offer it as an explanation every once in a while. But the other two kids will sit down to watch as we work the one over. It becomes quite entertaining (for the two) and time consuming (for the one), and they think the better of it the next time an explanation is demanded for unacceptable action(s).

Parenting can be so much fun.

[waxwing]

just a minute here...were they _throwing_ their cafeteria food or _tossing_ it, as in "tossing his cookies after an all-night binge"?

[Garret]

Pizza, chili, and foot long hot dogs? In my day, we didn't have such delicacies in the cafetaria! And these ingrates are THROWING it? Throw green beans for crying out loud. Save the chili!

And phil and Jeff both: Shame, shame, shame on you. You must read the article and make a funny, insightful comment. Therefore, I vote Boo first.

[mudstuffin]

I knew that - just yankin' yer chain.

I will occasionally have them write essays on the subject - they hate that one.

[Elvisonice1]

This is the kind of thing that happens when school is winding down and the teacher decides to let the kids watch a screening of "Animal House" while they should be teaching Social Studies!!

[Boo Augustus]

I thought "Animal House" was a social study. Didn't it win an Academy Award for best documentary?

[MOTW]

Bangi-G - you go, Girl! I can't wait to read your essay. You have quite a writing talent.

[Sean]

Have any of the people in charge ever TASTED the alleged "food" in question? Maybe it has a higher projectile value than nutritional value.

[Lily]

I really believe in personal responsibility and the these kids should be held accountable for their actions, however, where were the lunchroom supervisors?

Things do not get this badly out of hand in an instant. I supervise lunchrooms sometimes and I have seen food thrown a few times, but if the teachers are paying attention, you can, as Barney Fife would say, "Nip it, nip it in the bud."

[Jeff Meyerson]

Hey Elvisonice, maybe they were celebrating John Belushi's birthday?

Lily, usually true. But I remember back in high school (before the last Ice Age) when some joker took an open pint container of milk and tossed it across the entire cafeteria. Of course in those days we were well enough trained not to go into a full-fledged food fight (after all, it was before ANIMAL HOUSE), just pummel the crap out of the guy.

Her mother, Beverly Mahony, said administrators "have blown this far out of proportion, and it's hurting my child."

There's the problem right there -- instead of punishing her daughter herself, mom wants to blame the messenger.

[mudstuffin]

Amen Jeff.

And sorry about the milk carton, dude.

[de-lurquer]

I suffered through three years of middle school and four of high school waiting for something like this to happen. I feel gypped. I should have taken the initiative myself. It just doesn't seem like it would be as much fun now in the college caf.

"[Mahony] was among the suspended students, all of whom are banned from extracurricular activities for the rest of the school year."
There's some killer punishment. Although, I suppose two weeks seems like a long time to a middle schooler.

[evil little pixie]

One of my friends (funny that I can't remember which one) says someone threw a school cafeteria biscuit and actually knocked a kid out with it. That's why I always brought my lunch.

[jk]

Those little idiots. If they had claimed they were practicing for the next time the Hoosiers go all the way in the NCAA, they all would have made honor roll.

[Gimme a Doublewide]

did any of them do the famous Belushi "Zit" impression? If not, they should have to repeat the exercise until they get it right.

[Jessica]

You are right, Jeff. It is the "not my child, who is a perfect angel", attitude that has caused the total decline of discipline in our schools. My son is in first grade. There are a couple of boys in his classroom who are consistently out of control. Of course, they are not brats who were never taught to control themselves as they would have been when we were kids, today, they are labeled ADHD and excused for their behavior!

[Jeff Meyerson]

I know Jessica. My wife has been in education for over 30 years (25+ in the classroom) and has no patience for labeling kids ADD or whatever at the drop of a hat rather than trying to work with the kid on self control, self discipline, etc. When she was in the classroom she was often given the "problem kids" that other teachers couldn't handle and usually found it was the teacher (and certainly) parents at least as much as the kid who was the problem.

As soon as she got to a position where she was out of the classroom she would take "troubled" kids and just talk to them normally, maybe walking around the hall for a bit, until she found what the problem was. Don't get me wrong, some of them were junior gang members and awful, but by talking rather than yelling or sending them to the office she was often able to get through to them. I'm not saying it changed them to little angels, but if even a few kids can be helped it's worth it.