COLLEGE PRESIDENTS CALLING ON LAWMAKERS TO CONSIDER LOWERING THE DRINKING AGE
By Justin Pope
Associated Press
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
College presidents from about 100 well-known U.S. universities, including Duke, Morehouse, Dartmouth and Ohio State, are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, saying current laws encourage dangerous binge drinking on campus.
The movement, called the Amethyst Initiative, began quietly recruiting presidents more than a year ago to provoke national debate.
By Justin Pope
Associated Press
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
College presidents from about 100 well-known U.S. universities, including Duke, Morehouse, Dartmouth and Ohio State, are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, saying current laws encourage dangerous binge drinking on campus.
The movement, called the Amethyst Initiative, began quietly recruiting presidents more than a year ago to provoke national debate.
By MARK AGEE
rmagee@star-telegram.com
When classes start Aug. 25 in the tiny Harrold school district, there will be one distinct difference from years prior: Some of the teachers may have guns.
To deter and protect against school shootings, trustees have altered district policy to allow employees to carry concealed weapons if they have a state permit and permission from the administration. The 110-student district lies 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth on the eastern end of Wilbarger County, near the Oklahoma border.
More than a dozen state legislatures have considered making it legal to carry guns on college campuses, but experts and officials contacted by the Star-Telegram say the move is unheard of in elementary or secondary schools.
Superintendent David Thweatt said a main concern was that the small community is a 30-minute drive from the sheriffs office, leaving students and teachers without protection.
rmagee@star-telegram.com
When classes start Aug. 25 in the tiny Harrold school district, there will be one distinct difference from years prior: Some of the teachers may have guns.
To deter and protect against school shootings, trustees have altered district policy to allow employees to carry concealed weapons if they have a state permit and permission from the administration. The 110-student district lies 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth on the eastern end of Wilbarger County, near the Oklahoma border.
More than a dozen state legislatures have considered making it legal to carry guns on college campuses, but experts and officials contacted by the Star-Telegram say the move is unheard of in elementary or secondary schools.
Superintendent David Thweatt said a main concern was that the small community is a 30-minute drive from the sheriffs office, leaving students and teachers without protection.
08/06: New DA pictures
Flat Fire Tire by ~gorytunes on deviantART
Two Trucks Down by ~gorytunes on deviantART
Truck Fire by ~gorytunes on deviantART
Melted paint by ~gorytunes on deviantART
and my new/old favorate song
07/30: stimply VS Brent
07/30: Deviant Art
Boy ends up at Hooters after slipping out of day care.
The kids got balls, but I must say I'm quite disappointed that he opted for the subpar RaceTrac experience over the first-rate Quiktrip quicktrip. He could have got a cheap 32oz coke and hotdog that would have blown away whatever junk food he got at the CrapTrac.
The five-year-old boy walked out of the Imagination Station child care center in the 2300 block of San Jacinto Boulevard near Golden Triangle Mall.
He then crossed busy Dallas Drive to go to a RaceTrac gas station to purchase a soft drink and snacks.
The kids got balls, but I must say I'm quite disappointed that he opted for the subpar RaceTrac experience over the first-rate Quiktrip quicktrip. He could have got a cheap 32oz coke and hotdog that would have blown away whatever junk food he got at the CrapTrac.
Texas students push for gun rights on campus
By:
Posted: 7/14/08
BLANCO, Texas (AP) - College students in Texas are pushing for legislation that grants the right to bear arms on campus in the wake of last year's massacre at Virginia Tech.
Currently, Utah is the only state that specifically allows the carrying of concealed weapons at public universities. A 2003 Colorado law allowed universities to adopt their own policies, and Colorado State decided not to ban licensees from carrying weapons into locations other than residence halls, said Brad Bohlander, a spokesman for the university.
In 1995, Texans won the right to obtain licenses to carry concealed weapons after an emotional legislative debate. Firearms are banned on college campuses, but the state is now caught up in the new national debate to change that law.
House Law Enforcement Chairman Joe Driver, R-Garland, recently held a hearing on the issue. He said he plans to introduce a bill to remove college campuses from the list of places where guns are prohibited. Although the issue is a priority of the National Rifle Association, Driver said he doesn't know whether the bill will gain sufficient support.
"There will be some opposition," Driver said in Sunday's Houston Chronicle. "It's always the same arguments that were presented when we first passed the concealed handgun law: 'Situations will get inflamed. People will drink.'"
Legislators listened to students and gun lobbyists at the hearing. Another speaker was Tim Gottleber, a computer information technology professor at North Lake College near Dallas. He told legislators that he can evacuate students if there is a fire or tornado, but he's powerless to defend them from a predatory gunman.
"If there is an active shooter on campus, I'm only supposed to sit and watch my students die," Gottleber said.
Rice University Police Chief Bill Taylor told the panel, however, that the limited amount of training provided to concealed handgun licensees doesn't prepare them to do the job of law enforcement officers.
"I would hate to think we're going to overreact to some very serious events to the point where we now create situations that are much more difficult," Taylor said.
Marsha McCartney, president of the North Texas Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, also opposes allowing firearms on campuses. She said bills to allow concealed handguns on campus have been introduced in 17 states and have failed in 15, including Virginia, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Two states, Michigan and Ohio, have legislation pending.
Suicide and college drinking are reasons enough to keep guns off campuses, she said.
"For once, we need to think of our students instead of what the gun lobby wants," McCartney said. "I do fear it would be passed here after all these other states have sensibly said no."
But Cameron Schober, a 22-year-old Texas State student, said he wants the right to protect himself if caught in a situation like the one that unfolded on Virginia Tech's campus on April 16, 2007. Seung-Hui Cho, a student, killed 32 people before committing suicide in the deadliest shooting rampage by a single gunman in U.S. history.
"School's not a safe place anymore," Schober said. "How horrible would that be to have to sit under a desk and wait for the cops to come."
Schober was among 13 people who recently completed a shooting proficiency and eight-hour classroom course, prerequisites to obtaining a license to legally carry a concealed handgun in Texas.
Applications for first-time licenses and renewals were up 24 percent during the first five months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By:
Posted: 7/14/08
BLANCO, Texas (AP) - College students in Texas are pushing for legislation that grants the right to bear arms on campus in the wake of last year's massacre at Virginia Tech.
Currently, Utah is the only state that specifically allows the carrying of concealed weapons at public universities. A 2003 Colorado law allowed universities to adopt their own policies, and Colorado State decided not to ban licensees from carrying weapons into locations other than residence halls, said Brad Bohlander, a spokesman for the university.
In 1995, Texans won the right to obtain licenses to carry concealed weapons after an emotional legislative debate. Firearms are banned on college campuses, but the state is now caught up in the new national debate to change that law.
House Law Enforcement Chairman Joe Driver, R-Garland, recently held a hearing on the issue. He said he plans to introduce a bill to remove college campuses from the list of places where guns are prohibited. Although the issue is a priority of the National Rifle Association, Driver said he doesn't know whether the bill will gain sufficient support.
"There will be some opposition," Driver said in Sunday's Houston Chronicle. "It's always the same arguments that were presented when we first passed the concealed handgun law: 'Situations will get inflamed. People will drink.'"
Legislators listened to students and gun lobbyists at the hearing. Another speaker was Tim Gottleber, a computer information technology professor at North Lake College near Dallas. He told legislators that he can evacuate students if there is a fire or tornado, but he's powerless to defend them from a predatory gunman.
"If there is an active shooter on campus, I'm only supposed to sit and watch my students die," Gottleber said.
Rice University Police Chief Bill Taylor told the panel, however, that the limited amount of training provided to concealed handgun licensees doesn't prepare them to do the job of law enforcement officers.
"I would hate to think we're going to overreact to some very serious events to the point where we now create situations that are much more difficult," Taylor said.
Marsha McCartney, president of the North Texas Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, also opposes allowing firearms on campuses. She said bills to allow concealed handguns on campus have been introduced in 17 states and have failed in 15, including Virginia, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Two states, Michigan and Ohio, have legislation pending.
Suicide and college drinking are reasons enough to keep guns off campuses, she said.
"For once, we need to think of our students instead of what the gun lobby wants," McCartney said. "I do fear it would be passed here after all these other states have sensibly said no."
But Cameron Schober, a 22-year-old Texas State student, said he wants the right to protect himself if caught in a situation like the one that unfolded on Virginia Tech's campus on April 16, 2007. Seung-Hui Cho, a student, killed 32 people before committing suicide in the deadliest shooting rampage by a single gunman in U.S. history.
"School's not a safe place anymore," Schober said. "How horrible would that be to have to sit under a desk and wait for the cops to come."
Schober was among 13 people who recently completed a shooting proficiency and eight-hour classroom course, prerequisites to obtaining a license to legally carry a concealed handgun in Texas.
Applications for first-time licenses and renewals were up 24 percent during the first five months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By BILL RANKIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/08/08
Two North Georgia troopers say they followed their noses to the 10 pounds of marijuana stashed in the trunk of a car they'd stopped on I-75.
Troopers Jeff Adamson and Kevin Turner said they caught a whiff of "raw marijuana" from within Jarmane Vernon Knox's car. This gave them probable cause to search, find the pot and then arrest Knox and his passenger, Derrick Mikes.
But Knox, of Chattanooga, claims that something about the arrest smells funny. Specially trained dogs are often used to sniff out illicit drugs, but is the human nose that sensitive?
The dispute has spawned a novel challenge in a court motion filed in Gordon County Superior Court. It seeks a court order to have the marijuana put back inside a trash bag and placed in the trunk of a random car in the courthouse parking lot. The troopers would then be given the chance to prove they can really smell as well as they say they can.
The motion, filed Knox's lawyer, David West of Marietta, seeks to have the seized marijuana suppressed as evidence from an unlawful search.
"It's ridiculous and totally stretches the possibilities of scientific fact to suggest these officers could smell a bag of raw marijuana that's tied up and enclosed in the trunk," West said. "They're trying to make us believe they can basically be drug dogs in this case."
District Attorney Joseph Campbell declined to comment on the motion. "We'll certainly review it," he said. "We don't talk about pending cases or pending motions."
Adamson, who is on military leave, could not be reached for comment. Turner did not return phone calls Tuesday seeking comment.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/08/08
Two North Georgia troopers say they followed their noses to the 10 pounds of marijuana stashed in the trunk of a car they'd stopped on I-75.
Troopers Jeff Adamson and Kevin Turner said they caught a whiff of "raw marijuana" from within Jarmane Vernon Knox's car. This gave them probable cause to search, find the pot and then arrest Knox and his passenger, Derrick Mikes.
But Knox, of Chattanooga, claims that something about the arrest smells funny. Specially trained dogs are often used to sniff out illicit drugs, but is the human nose that sensitive?
The dispute has spawned a novel challenge in a court motion filed in Gordon County Superior Court. It seeks a court order to have the marijuana put back inside a trash bag and placed in the trunk of a random car in the courthouse parking lot. The troopers would then be given the chance to prove they can really smell as well as they say they can.
The motion, filed Knox's lawyer, David West of Marietta, seeks to have the seized marijuana suppressed as evidence from an unlawful search.
"It's ridiculous and totally stretches the possibilities of scientific fact to suggest these officers could smell a bag of raw marijuana that's tied up and enclosed in the trunk," West said. "They're trying to make us believe they can basically be drug dogs in this case."
District Attorney Joseph Campbell declined to comment on the motion. "We'll certainly review it," he said. "We don't talk about pending cases or pending motions."
Adamson, who is on military leave, could not be reached for comment. Turner did not return phone calls Tuesday seeking comment.
go to LINK to see the tv airing times...
if anyone wants to do a fantasy 2008 tour team thing i am tottaly in.
if anyone wants to do a fantasy 2008 tour team thing i am tottaly in.
