The Emporia Gazette

Obama delivers acceptance speech

He can talk the talk...can he walk the walk?
I think each candidate should be put in office for a 6 month probation period (no sick days and no vacation days). See how they do and our "vote" will be their evaluation.

Every 4 years we hear promises....promises! Let's see someone really do the job!

August 29, 2008 at 4:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Boys tender pleas in zoo cases

The money would be paid by the parents anyway and they would only learn that they can be bought out of trouble...we have plenty of that already! Make them work off the debt at $1.00/hour until it's paid off. For EVERYTHING they destroyed. The parents should have to go to a parenting class and make a big donation to the zoo because they need to learn to supervise their children. If they were working and these were latch key kids then they need to learn that this age group is not yet responsible to stay home alone and hire a babysitter like the rest of us have had to do in our lives. Do the people that really matter read these blogs?

August 21, 2008 at 2:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Wanted: a few good students

I agree with ntmidtrfan! this is not the first time an "attractive" picture about ESU has been put on the front page of The Gazette. Does anyone remember the beer/alcohol decorated snow man and Christmas tree last year? For heaven's sakes there are tons of GOOD things on Campus especially during the block party to take pictures of!

If I were a parent looking at campuses (which I have been 3 times now) that would not appeal to me at all! If you think they don't pick up the paper and check out community happenings, you're wrong!

I also thought it was interesting that this picture was posted right below the big hoopla about "clean air"!!

Items to attract students? ATTRACT PARENTS! It's usually their money paying the way. Community offerings are a very important factor. Shopping? Banking? Job Opportunities? Recreation? Housing? (By the way the houses and apartments in that area are pretty poor overall! - can you say SLUM LORDS???) Friendly acceptance by the community? Oh back to the picture again... is that the image we want the community to parallel with ESU - a bunch of drunk, rowdy kids!!??? So the community isn't very receptive of the students sometimes.

When we visited campuses we had a check list and those are the items that were on the list. We would spend 2 or 3 days in the city where the campus was located and check it out and visit with the locals and other college students. 3 of our children would have loved to stay at ESU (3.0 - 4.0 students-non-athletic though) but guess what...no scholarship $$ offered except the ACT $ which they only get their freshman year. One professor told us "We typically earmark the scholarship $ for out of town students" ... yeah those kids stay here after graduation!!! Or we could be big donors to ESU and the alumni assn. that would have helped. Ok...if we had the money to donate we probably wouldn't need the scholarships! Another question - if a student is on a full ride scholarship and they get busted for drugs and alcohol why don't they lose that scholarship??

Full rides were offered and some very good out of town universities! So our children AND our money (and plenty pocket change gets spent outside of the campus) is going out of town and our kids will probably not come back "home" after they graduate because "there is nothing here.." A town of 25,000 + and "there is nothing here". Sad.... but IF they liked to spend their money on kegs of beer and live the party life the Gazette advertises that very well. I wonder if those young men are on scholarships? Oh and AFTER they get good and silly...the Emporia Police Dept. can issue them tickets for MIP and DUIs. There are plenty of those in the paper too!

August 21, 2008 at 12:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Private property

Oh I have a better one for you Steve - how about Emporians for Drug Awareness having "DRUGS ARE BAD!!!" commercials on TV using kids from Emporia that have been busted for drugs and alcohol...Didn't see those kids on TV fessing up to what they did!!!

That holier than thou group we have trying to run our city!

July 25, 2008 at 1:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Parents are asked to pay support for juvenile suspects in zoo case

Every child has "potential". I happen to know first hand that EVERY child in this town has at least one positive influence in thier lives - TEACHERS and ADMINSTRATORS! I have seen teachers, paras, aides, school counselors, and principals go out of thier way (thier underpaid way) trying to help young people find a positive direction in their lives. I have also seen a number of these same students verbally and physically abuse these people who are trying to help them. We cannot overcome what and how they live elsewhere! Dealt a raw deal? Oh please... you would cring if you knew the "raw deals" I've had in my life! You either overcome it and decide to win or you decide to wallow in your self pitty and blame everyone else for your problems! At 11 & 13 they know the difference and they know right from wrong! I also know from experience that there were signs that these boys had problems and people just kept making excuses for them.

As far as year around school...they probably wouldn't go anyway...they already have a truency problem. I remember getting caught skipping school one time and my mother took me school for a week and sat behind me in every class. That taught me a lesson. I took a pack of gum from woolworth's when i was 5 years old and she called the police on me! Never stole a thing again! Don't tell me parents don't make or break a child.

Now for the other part of this (which by the way has nothing to do with the issues). Some people in Emporia live in thier glass houses and look down there nose way too much... some of these peoples children has also strayed the wrong way while the parents were out "solializing" - their names were never in the paper or maybe they were listed as a "traffic violation" when in fact they were busted for drugs and alcohol as well... the "end of the story" never got told...money talks in this town...well in every town...always has and always will! But there are friendly, wonderful people here also. The others are just unfortunate to never take the time to get to know us.

July 24, 2008 at 12:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Parents are asked to pay support for juvenile suspects in zoo case

I think this is a start. These boys should have to pay for replacement of the birds they brutally murdered! Work it off if nothing else. I still stand behind the idea of having them work at the zoo and do other jobs for The City of Emporia. Obviously they have too much time on their hands! And I sure hope that they haven't been placed together in the detention facility. I feel bad for the parents but I can't imagine that they were keeping track of their kids too well or none of this would have happened. I think most responsible parents know where their 11 and 13 year olds are in the middle of the night!

July 23, 2008 at 2:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Juveniles arrested in zoo killings

LifeGoesOn, Let's not make this situation into a "vegetarian" debate or a TV/Video Game debate. This has nothing to do with either one. My family eats meat AND we watch TV and none of my children have murdered any person or animal, bullied anyone, been arrested for drugs or alcohol, beat up anyone, shot a gun, etc. Maybe I'm just lucky but I like to think it's because we talked to our kids, we listened to our kids, we didn't take our kids to church and school activities...we WENT WITH THEM!

There is no excuse for this!

July 22, 2008 at 12:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Juveniles arrested in zoo killings

The whole story will probably not ever be known as this is a juvenile case and will most likely be sealed. It also depends on who the kids are....

3 kids involved and not ONE of them stopped and said "Hey, this is not right! I'm outta here!" There is a limit to the peer pressure motive.. I don't buy that as an excuse. I do know that regardless of how hard some parents try sometimes the kid just travels the wrong path but I also know that there are always "signs"! So hottopic you're saying the parents can't be held responsible and the kids were just trying to be tough guys...so just let everyone walk away with no reprocussions? I don't think so!!!! That's alot of the problem now is that we've let people off too often for too long.

July 22, 2008 at 10:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Juveniles arrested in zoo killings

Oh how sad! I agree - WHERE ARE THESE KIDS' PARENTS? This is a situation where the parents should be held responsible as well as the kids! These kids should have to volunteer (under very guarded conditions) at the zoo until they reach adulthood. They should get the nastiest jobs available. When they are done there everyday they can start working their way down Commercial St. cleaning up trash, pulling weeds, cleaning windows...etc.., when they are so tired they can't move then they can move on to cleaning up the local parks...or does anyone around here still haul hay? In the winter I'm sure there will be snow to shovel off the sidewalks. They need to write a public letter of apology to the City of Emporia! I don't think juveniles should be protected by not releasing their names! Too bad! How many kids have they bullied at school and everyone looked the other way? Are these the kids that walk through our public areas and use their profane language and pull stuff off the shelves at the stores? It's time for this to stop! I see kids everyday during the school year gadding around DURING SCHOOL HOURS and LATE AT NIGHT... isn't there a law...why doesn't anyone question them? Now things like this happen! What's next? It's time for us to take back the night!! It's time for us to take back Emporia! Killing is wrong! Stealing is wrong! Bullying is wrong! My 3 year old grandchildren know this...I'm sure 11 year olds and 13 year olds know it too! Children live what they learn.

July 22, 2008 at 9:37 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )