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Lowering the common sense threshold in Yakima, upping the ante at Starbucks
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One month ago there was a flap over a youngster’s expulsion from Yakima’s Barge Lincoln Elementary for, according to the story as reported by KNDU, “making a gun with his hands.”
The story got a renewed life recently when one of the national cable networks picked it up. This space has been home in the past for verbal barrages against so-called “zero tolerance” policies that punish kids for being kids. Remember the Portland youngster who was disciplined because he found a tiny rubber gun and action figure in his pocket? Recall the story about the 9-year-old in Staten Island, NY whose tiny figure and gun got him in trouble?
One cannot make up stuff like this, and it raises questions about what they teach in schools these days, or what they evidently don’t teach too well. Herein lies a story about your tax dollars at work!
I got a call from the School saying he's not raising his hand or speaking up. He's scared after we talked about not doing any gestures, he probably doesn't want to to do it because that could be a gesture. It might get him pulled out for two days." Lorena Hurtado.
According to the Yakima Herald, three school principals in the Yakima School District are being transferred in order for the schools to qualify for additional federal funding because – are you sitting down? – “they have not met federal reading and math guidelines for the last three years.” You read that right. These schools are getting money for not having met education goals. Shouldn’t that be the other way around? The principals are being transferred, “rather than lose their jobs.” Well, uh, what about the teachers who don’t appear to have measured up?
One of those schools is (gasp!) Barge Lincoln Elementary. Evidently, while they’re not teaching math or reading adequately, they are also not practicing common sense or teaching by example. The KNDU story about kindergartner Manuel Alvarez noted that because of the incident, he is not raising his hand or speaking up, apparently scared that he might be making some sort of “hand gesture” that would get him in further trouble. (I can think of a gesture that applies to this situation, and it only takes one finger.)
Little Manuel’s offense appears to have been to point his “gun” at the ground and pretend to be shooting; you know, something 5-year-old kids have been doing since Hoot Gibson and William S. Hart silent westerns first played across the silver screen in Yakima years before my dad grew up in nearby Naches. The school district’s Dr. John Irion told KNDU, “When students are at school they should be concerned about learning…safety shouldn’t be a concern at school, we have a zero tolerance policy.”
When students are at school, they should also not be concerned about being expelled because they point a finger at the ground. They should be learning math skills, and how to read. The feds should not be giving money to a school for not having done the job, especially a school that penalizes a kid for being a kid.
Meanwhile, back at the coffee shop…
Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke appears to have upped the ante a bit in his group’s campaign of political demagoguery against Starbucks customers who happen to be packing firearms. In his latest rant about the coffee company’s refusal to turn away legally-armed coffee drinkers, Helmke says, “A customer who refuses to follow the rules should be handled by police.”
So, Helmke now believes that not only should Starbucks bar armed customers, the store should also have these people arrested or at least removed by the cops. In addition to demanding that Starbucks serve as his proxy in the ongoing campaign of social bigotry against gun owners, Helmke now expects the police – who have much better things to do – to serve as agents of his hoplophobia.
But state law doesn't compel Starbucks to allow guns in its stores and endanger its customers and employees.”—Paul Helmke
Perhaps what is most disappointing about his latest spiel in the Los Angeles Times, is that he flat lies about what the Brady Bunch is up to.
“We are not asking Starbucks to take a position on America’s gun debate,” he pontificates.
The hell he’s not. By demanding that Starbucks ban legally armed customers, the Brady Campaign is putting the coffee chain squarely in an anti-gun position, and Helmke knows it. He is still trying to perpetuate the disingenuous argument that businesses have a right to refuse service to people, without acknowledging that those same businesses have a right to cater to anyone they please. If Starbucks is comfortable serving coffee to gun toters, Helmke and his ilk need to get over it.
But I reiterate that this entire controversy was invented by the gun prohibition lobby to gain some face time on television, to give themselves a pinch of their lost relevance, gin up their lack of traction and momentum, and maybe raise a few bucks in the process.
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