Jump to content
SASS Wire Forum

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation since 10/04/2024 in all areas

  1. On some of the older catagories they usually start collasping on about stage six.
    31 points
  2. After serving diligently for a few years, Possum Skinner has decided to retire from the JEDI Council. He and I talked about this last year and since that time, we've quietly pondered on who would make a good, hard working Council member, of which all the present Council members would have to approve. Well, seems like 'HER' resume as a GF is never ending and now, SHE is an official JEDI Council member, assuming all the duties and functions of a Council member. Congratulations.......... SCARLETT DARLIN. Her constant and distant travels are a huge plus. She has become an excellent GF and loves the Frontier Cartridge competition. Now only does she have a growing resume, she is well known as a Gunfighter, vendor....... and excellent hugger! 😍 I personally want to thank Possum Skinner, of which it has been an honor to serve with. He brought a lot of credibility to the Council and leaves with equal standing. He has served the JEDI GFer's proudly. THANKS POSSUM! ..........Widder
    22 points
  3. Well, I made no egregious errors, was complemented on my safety, and had a great time!!
    21 points
  4. Brag, that is. But at the slight risk of annoying my wife, I would like to brag on her a little. This evening I got to watch AB ride in and make the finals in Level 1 Amateur Select Western Pleasure at the All American Quarter Horse Congress. Many aren't aware of the dedication she has shown, the perseverance and literal blood, sweat and tears. She has overcome misfortune, health issues (hers and those of her horse) and stuck with it because she is passionate about it. Of course, she has had the good fortune of having a top notch trainer in Brent Tincher, who has been there through all the challenges. So, congrats to my wife! Oh yeah, she also got another puppy. I told her it was a horrifically bad idea, and she said something about following through on those for nearly 34 years now. I didn't have any response...
    19 points
  5. My wife and I will be celebrating our 60th anniversary later this month and we decided not to take a big trip or a have a big celebration. We have a dinner planned at a local streakhouse for ourselves and a few close friends. My wife has mentioned she really liked the looks of the new Bronco and I decided to buy her one. They make a new model, Bronco Sport, that is a little smaller and less off road performance oriented. I have a friend who is general manager of our local Ford Dealership and he made me a great deal on a new 2024 Bronco Sport. I picked it up Friday and drove it home and she almost fell over when she saw it. On Monday some really nice custom rims will be installed and I will post another picture.
    19 points
  6. My FIRST official duty as a new member of the Jedi Council was to bestow the title of Jedi Gunfighter of the YEAR 2024 upon @Possum Skinner, SASS#60697 at Hot Lead, the Lousiana State Championship! Possum Skinner is a MOST worthy recipient. He’s an outstanding shooter, cowboy, gunfighter and friend. His years of service on the Jedi Council are deeply appreciated. @Widder, SASS #59054 was going to do it after Thanksgiving but I used The Force to convince him to let me do it this past weekend! I’m sure Widder will want to add his own congratulatory message! Proud to be a part of recognizing you, Possum Skinner! Big Hugs!! Scarlett Jedi 235
    18 points
  7. Trizzlee and I just finished Bordertown 2024. Trizzlee was more excited about winning a Yul Lose box in the raffle than the Championship buckle she won. Everyone knows about Yul's gun carts and the workmanship that goes into them. The same workmanship is in the boxes. Truly works of art. Thank you very much to Yul Lose for donating 3 boxes to be raffled off at Bordertown. Barry Sloe and Trizzlee
    17 points
  8. This is the first time I heard that SASS members were among the victims. They lived together. They died together. One year after Lewiston, those left behind recall a steadfast friendship. Jason Walker and Mike Deslauriers charged the gunman who killed eight in a bowling alley and 10 in a nearby bar. Their families still struggle with the void of their absence. By Lewis RobinsonUpdated October 23, 2024, 3:00 a.m. 11 Jason Walker, left, and Mike Deslauriers in Rangeley, Maine, in 2022.Kathleen Walker One warm spring evening in Sabattus, Maine, in the early 1980s, Michael Deslauriers stopped to pick a few things up on his way home from work, at the Webster Rubber Company. A man walked into the grocery store where he was waiting in line and shouted, “There are kids out on the ice!” The pond was barely frozen, and Mike knew immediately that the boys in question were his son, Michael Deslauriers II, and Jason Walker. They’d been best friends since kindergarten and were known to be a little wild. Mike Sr. went down to the shore to usher the boys in, but Jason was quick to assure him not to worry. “Mr. Deslauriers, we’ve only broken through up to our knees. If we fall in any deeper, we’ll definitely call it off.” I’m sitting in the Walkers’ kitchen listening to Mike Sr. tell this story. He’s laughing as he recalls how polite Jason was while also brushing him off. Jason’s widow, Kathi Walker, smiles from across the counter, as does Stacy Cyr, Mike II’s partner of 10 years. Both men were shot and killed in a bowling alley in Lewiston one year ago. They died while charging and attempting to disarm the gunman. Cub Scouts Jason Walker, left, and Mike Deslauriers, both 8, in 1980 at the Deslauriers family home. Mike's mother was the troop's den leader.Courtesy of the Delauriers family When Jason was 10, he and Mike were on their bikes at school when Jason tried to bunny hop his BMX bike over the chain-link fence beside the playground. The fence clipped his front tire and he pitched face-first into the asphalt, breaking his nose. He returned home covered in blood, cleaned himself up, and kept the accident to himself. Several months later, his mother finally brought him to the doctor because his septum had collapsed and he was having trouble breathing. Later, when they had jobs and extra income, they bought snowmobiles. Soon enough, the goal of every outing was to outrace or outperform the other. The more often they crashed, the better they got at straightening out their skis. At home or in the bar, Jason and Mike told stories and argued. In the eyes of their friends, their arguing had an epic quality, and the more they kept at it, the more those around them found it hard to differentiate their positions. Their families called these arguments “loud agreements.” They razzed each other, loved sarcasm, but still showed each other respect and admiration. They presented as tough guys, but they both knew they were soft on the inside, and they felt comfortable with each other because of this. Advertisement Over the years, their interest in self-reliance grew. They valued learning things on their own, seeking their own paths, and drawing their own conclusions. Together they tapped maple trees and built a sugar shack for Mike’s parents. They provided food for their families by growing their own vegetables, baking their own bread made from wheat they grew and milled themselves, and making their own sausages. It wasn’t uncommon for Jason to can thousands of tomatoes in a given season and dry and save seeds for the next year’s garden. Mike, who loved to make people laugh, participated in the canning mostly as a way to hang out with his best friend. The friends appreciated and respected firearms and were members of the Single Action Shooter Society, a tribute to their interest in history and the American frontier. For this, they would dress in period costume, and they practiced their quick draws by shooting homemade wax bullets against trash can lids. Mike’s alias was “Dog Alley Deadeye” and Jason’s was “Fence Post Mortem.” Using an antique sewing machine, Jason made himself a complete head-to-toe buckskin suit. Stacy likes to joke that Mike taught her how to garden, how to can things, how to make tomato sauce, pickles, coleslaw, and homemade mayonnaise — all so that she would feed him and he wouldn’t need to cook anymore. But Kathi suspects there was more to it for Jason. She thinks he wanted to prepare her and their children for the possibility of his early death. Advertisement After an honorable discharge from the Army Reserve, he’d worked many years of manual labor — lugging bundles of shingles up steep ladders, driving a semi, offloading 50-pound potato sacks for the Clam Festival in Yarmouth, and carrying them up and down restaurant cellar steps in Boothbay. All this had taken a toll on his body, she says. “Jason, all his life, . . . told me that he was going to die young,” Kathi says. “I feel like he truly believed that. How he knew that, I don’t know. But he had to learn everything, or teach everything, or try to make us know it all so that we could be OK when he wasn’t there.” Jason Walker, left, and Mike Deslauriers enjoyed a sunny day in Rangeley, Maine, in 2022.Kathleen Walker In his 40s and early 50s, Jason became more introverted, nervous about encounters with crowds. He didn’t even like to use the drive-through at chain restaurants. But he made an exception for bowling. He and Mike, along with Kathi and Stacy, were in their second year of participating in the handicap league at Just-in-Time Recreation, and they liked to find time to practice together. The evening of Oct. 25, 2023, was one of those times. Once the two couples were inside the bowling alley, the manager, Thomas Conrad, stepped from behind the counter and greeted the four of them with bear hugs. He gave them an available lane, the one closest to the entrance. As they were preparing to start their third game, they heard a popping sound. “Like a balloon, but much louder,” Stacy later recalled. At first, they wondered if someone in the kitchen had dropped something. Then they all turned to see a man standing near the entrance with a large gun. Mike and Jason recognized it as a Ruger SFAR semiautomatic rifle, which — after that first shot — had jammed. Jason yelled to Kathi and Stacy to get down. Stacy found a spot beneath their table and Kathi curled up on the far side of the ball return. Advertisement Mike and Jason looked at each other. Without exchanging a word, they advanced on the shooter. Jason raced at the gunman from the front and tried to kick the weapon from his hands. Mike came at him from behind. The shooter’s rifle unjammed. He shot Jason in the leg, turned and fatally shot Mike, and turned again and fatally shot Jason. While Jason and Mike engaged the gunman, many people in the bowling alley were able to escape. Stacy could see the gunman continuing to fire, smoke and green light coming from the rifle’s muzzle. “I do not think I will ever be able to explain the fear that I felt,” Stacy says. “I was completely frozen. I sat there waiting for my turn to be shot.” The attack lasted 45 seconds and killed eight people. Kathi and Stacy followed those who were lucky enough to flee out of the bowling alley by heading to the back of the lanes. A man leaning against the wall near the pinsetter was covered in blood but alive; someone was asking for a belt to use as a tourniquet to help save the man’s life. As first responders swarmed into the building, Kathi and Stacy, outside, remained terrified and confused. The killer was at large. Families arrived in a nearby parking lot. One notable absence was Mike’s daughter, Abby, a first-year teacher holding parent-teacher conferences at the local school that night. Stacy called her again and again, and when Abby finally called back, Stacy gave the phone to Kathi — she just couldn’t bear to tell Abby that her dad had been shot. Advertisement One year later, Kathi and Stacy still look out for each other, as Mike and Jason did. Together, they work through their grief, their fear, their remorse, and their anger. They are in constant touch. They attend commemorations together and respond to media requests together. Their strength and friendship have helped keep them going. They both produced statements for the Independent Commission to Investigate the Facts of the Tragedy in Lewiston. “There were several opportunities to take firearms away from a known mentally unstable man,” Kathi wrote in her statement. “It should never have taken Mike and my husband to be the first to approach him to disarm him.” Before I leave Kathi’s kitchen to drive home to my own family for the night, she shares some of Jason’s notebook entries with me, written in Jason’s steady hand. “I got no low placed friends but they can’t say the same. You might forget my face but you won’t forget my name.” Lewis Robinson is an associate professor of humanities at the University of Maine Farmington. His third book, “The Islanders,” was published this fall. LL
    17 points
  9. Hey! Cut that out! How dare you provide a clear and concise answer in the first response! How the heck are we supposed to drag this out for 6 or 8 pages of argument if you do things like this. Geese, some peoples kids...
    16 points
  10. I am getting old and senile but last I heard you do not need any. P's are assessed by the TO. If need be he can ask the spotters what they saw.
    16 points
  11. I finally found the right deal and picked up a new truck . 2025 2500 HD 6.6L Gas with a 10 Speed Allison Trans. This should be my only & last new truck . My tab is open for a round of drinks .
    16 points
  12. The other day after returning from the Veterinarian Office, we stopped by one of the Publix grocery stores to pick up miscellaneous items as we made final preparations for the upcoming hurricane. Ann went in while I stayed in the truck with the girls, and upon returning she stated that they had everything she had on her list but found getting a loaf of bread impossible. She picked up hamburger and Hawaiian rolls as an alternative. On the way home, we stopped by the gas station just to top off the fuel tank [we had filled it up earlier; however, with the long run to the Veterinary, felt it better to be safe. The first available pump I found to be out of gas at all octane levels only after I had put in my credit card and pushed all the buttons to no avail. I cancelled the transaction and was able to move up to the next pump when that vehicle was through. While filling up the truck, a vehicle pulled up to the pump I had just left. A middle-aged woman got out and as she started to enter her credit card, I quickly approached her [ at which point she became somewhat startled] and advised her that that pump was no longer pumping gas. I then suggested that she use the pump I was getting ready to finish with. It was at that moment that she became very thankful for my assistance and grabbed a loaf of bread she had just purchased from Winn-Dixie and offered it to me. I declined her offer and told her that it was kind of her but that I did not want to take her own bread. She then advised that it was a BOGO and that it was just her and her husband and that the second loaf would most likely go bad before they could use it. I then obliged her offer, taking the loaf of bread and thanking her. Ann was as amazed as I was that her act of kindness was to provide the one food item that Ann was unable to acquire. GOD works in amazing ways.
    16 points
  13. Uno and I went for dinner this evening at a quaint little tavern in a near by town. The place holds maybe 40 people at the most. As we came in the door, there was a large table off to the left that had 5 couples around it. The owner told us sometimes there were only 3 couples, and sometimes there were 7 or 8 but it depended on who was available. This group of folks came every Friday evening for dinner and drinks. They were all locals and I would guess the median age was about 70. There was lots of laughing, joke telling and general camaraderie. One of the gentlemen came to our table to apologize for their loud conversations. We just smiled and said carry on. You're a great bunch to listen to. As they were leaving, the owner came up and gave them all hugs, wishing them a good week. She walked them to the door and invited them back next week. The place became deafeningly quiet at that point. The remaining few patrons seemed saddened by their departure. On the drive home, I mentioned to Uno we need to make more of an effort to stay connected with our friends. Maybe we could organize a Friday evening gathering like that. It would be really sad to let our insanely busy lives get in the way of living.......... He agreed.
    16 points
  14. Well, I called up ole TW this morning thinking I might hear some good news about a new gun he's bought, or maybe his 65 Chevelle is running, etc..... Basically, just talk about good stuff. BUT, he's DEPRESSED. Real bad depressed. I sez..... "What's got ya down and feeling bad?" TW sez....... "wife and I got into a BIG argument and she told me she wasn't gonna speak to me for a whole MONTH". Ole Widder replies:....... "well, that ain't as good as 2 months, but still, ONE WHOLE is pretty good. Why would that make you feel depressed?" TW sez....... "The argument was back on October 1st. That whole month ends TODAYT!" NOW WE ALL CAN UNDERSTAND WHY TW IS DEPRESSED. ..........Widder
    15 points
  15. I'M EXTENDING MY SYMPATHIES ... to my wife. I have no idea why -- honest Engine, I got no idea a'tall -- but she stood beside me 28 years ago and said "I Do" and we became man and wife, and ever since, we've been just as happy as if we had good since. Well, mostly ... there's the time the basement flooded, and there's the time this-yere deer decided to commit suicide by running out in front of the wife's little blue Nissan pickup when she was coming home from work, four years ago the 17th she hit the floor dying (the fourth time in our married life being hitched to an old veteran paramedic kept her alive) ... those weren't terribly happy moments, but we got through 'em. I'll leave it to wiser heads than mine to decide whether keeping company with the likes of me, for that many years, constitutes Prima Facie Evidence of Insanity, Stupidity or the Soft Head! (Hey, she's got to have a gear loose somewhere just to put up with me! The guys at work called me a commodion, they said I'm so full of it I need flushed!) (They're right!) Yes we got married on Halloween, and that's gotten us a few funny looks, and we've admitted frankly no, we're not dancing naked around a bubbling cauldron, we don't follow the Old Ways ... truth be told, we got married on Halloween because it was the only day we'd both have off together in the next three months, so we found a Parson that would perform the service, we got all dressed up and 'twas just the three of us on a lovely sunny day when we became Mr. and Mrs. So there you have it. I'm taking her out for a good steak dinner tomorrow by way of apology and to display my sympathy for having to put up with me all these years. Ya gotta feel sorry for her, somehow ... Linn
    15 points
  16. Save our ranges? Start by voting for the right candidates.
    15 points
  17. Howdy All A friend of mine has been inviting me to come shoot for a few years. He hooked me with half a 73 rifle and then set the hook by getting me to my first match. It was absolutely amazing tons of fun with great people. So that night I registeredwith SASS. Just thought I'd introduce myself here. Roland Thunder
    15 points
  18. My wife Jenorado & my Buckaroo Grandson Young Maverick on the front cover of the latest edition of our State Pistol Shooting Magazine! Such a surprise when we got our copy in the mail and opened it up and saw this!
    15 points
  19. No one will gain much ground in the Middle East until we get out of our little "Crusader Villages" and roll out everything we have and start kicking a$$! And we must DEMAND assistance from the countries who have been riding our coat tails for over a century! Quit the UN and throw them off our soil (Let them move their HQ to whatever mud nation has provided the current Secretary General and live under those conditions, laws, and customs...and infrastructures and supplies), and defy the UN to do anything about what we are going to do. Ignore whatever they have to say about it. Do away with Diplomatic Immunity" and get their spy systems, operatives, and saboteurs out of our country. If any are caught use our court system, the way it was meant to be and punish them to the full extent of OUR laws and demand equal treatment from the rest of the world. Stop supplying our enemies (and the others who don't care about us as long as we support their governments and causes). Cut them off completely. If they have resources we need we could negotiate contracts for those items and / or services ONLY, at fair market value, and notify the world that we will violently and immediately defend our sources...but not otherwise get involved. Any attacks on U. S. personnel or properties anywhere in the world will be met with immediate violent and total responses. If some country needs what we have we can do the same thing for them. Defend Israel, Taiwan, and other places that we literally created, and demand across the globe that the people we fought for and saved repay the debts (with interest) we are owed. So many of our enemies and competitors would not even exist if we hadn't provided supplies, money, lives, and technology, etc. for them to survive. Great Britain, every government in the Pacific, all of Europe, China, Russia, a large part of India, north Africa, the Middle East, the Atlantic coastal areas, quite a bit of Central and South America, and the list goes on, all owe us for what we did for them. We must stop apologizing to the world for being better than they are and for any other thing we are or do. BE PROUD OF OUR COUNTRY ( if our internal politicians and do-gooders ever allow that to happen.... but that's another discussion.) There are those who will argue that we couldn't have won these fights had it not been for the countries we saved,. Maybe not...but we stepped in and helped, we footed the bill, provided all manner of materials, covered their butts, and even helped plan products, movements, communications, training, propaganda, and a myriad of other things so that "they could help us win the numerous wars...then and now!" WE weren't obligated to do any of this, but we did. When it was over with we stepped in and helped rebuild these countries, many of which almost instantly turned on us and are now our greatest adversaries. Rant over. I'm going to the grocery store.
    15 points
  20. Saturday at the Tejas Caballeros was my 25th anniversary shooting CAS. Yeah, I know, compared to a few of you ol' codgers I'm a newbie whippersnapper, but still, anniversaries are fun. I had a little problem with the rifle plate rack on the first stage when my 32-20 rifle started misfiring - the main spring screw had loosened, easy fix. As you can see, fun still trumps winning.
    14 points
  21. To answer your question: Rossi R92 Use it and upgrade later if you desire. The rifle will always carry a value...it's not like spending $$ at a bar where your $$ ends up down the toilet. Phantom
    14 points
  22. Update Breathing tube out. Mike is still very confused but responsive. No surgery until he’s stronger. Still in ICU. Thank you for continued prayers.
    13 points
  23. Our daughter in law has never seen Young Frankenstein. Until tonight. It never gets old! Genius. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072431/
    13 points
  24. On Alaykoskü Street in the Cagaloglu district of Istanbul, Turkey, there’s a building that reveals the city’s layered past. At the base are Roman columns from a cistern built around the late 2nd or early 3rd century AD. Above that is a Byzantine arch, likely from the 4th century AD, representing the city’s earlier Roman history. Higher up, an Ottoman stone wall from the 15th century reflects the city’s imperial era. Finally, the upper floors, made of baked brick from the 1920s, mark the early years of the Turkish Republic. This building serves as an 1,800-year timeline of Istanbul’s rich history, showcasing the blend of cultures and empires that shaped the city into the crossroads of civilizations it remains today.
    13 points
  25. *Shooter broke the 170. SDQ *Shooter changed locations with a closed cocked long gun other than from the loading table. SDQ Soap box time, and I aint gonna be popular. 1) These are rules, not recommendations. If you don't like them, talk to your TG about changing them. If you can't make the call, don't operate the timer. 2) Some people fuss about the fairness of the sport or game across the board because one shooter's TO helped them and another shooter's TO did not. All the while saying they would not make a certain call. You can't play both sides. Pick one. 3) Regarding the 170° rule. Someone may not be able to tell if a gun is 169° or 171° but everydanged one of you can tell if it's straight up or straight down or all the way left or all the way right of the line! That means it is at 180° and therefore has broken the 170° rule! There is no longer ANY DOUBT for the shooter. Make the call. It doesn't matter if you're the TO or a spotter. Even if you're in the peanut gallery you're a safety officer and should tell the TO. The TO is in a bad position to call the 170 vertical from directly behind the shooter. This is IMO, THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE IN SASS. 4) Going back and forth with a WTC thread on the SASS wire when you know what the correct call should be, but you FEEL it should be different is not at all helpful to the new shooter. They just want clarification. See number 1 above.
    13 points
  26. I load an ounce of shot because I’m shooting FC and hope that some of that shot hits a target that I cannot see! Hugs! Scarlett
    13 points
  27. "Europeans invented imperialism and colonialism!" Uhm. Ok bro.
    13 points
  28. Some friends recently lost a little dog that had been with them for a dozen years or so. She was sick and horribly crippled and in pain, so they took that final step. They still have two others, but wanted anther like the one they lost. They finaly found one that seemed to fit their wants and needs. A few months old, pedigreed, all the shots and such. They showed me a picture and she is nearly as cute as my little dog. They started the procedure at a total cost of close to three grand. They have the money and the dog seemed perfect. The people who have the pup would have it delivered by a transporter of their choosing in Kansas. Comes the SCAM! They wanted to be paid in gift cards (alarm #1) and the transport company wanted the same thing, but would accept a cashier's check from American Express (who told my friends that they would NOT make out such a check.) (Alarm #2) made out to an individual, not a business. (Alarm #3. ) Neither would produce a mailing address except for a PO Box (alarm #4). When they were questioned they got somewhat nasty (Alarm #5) and my friends reported it to everyone they could think of: town and state governments, BBBs, Chambers of Commerce, TV, radio, newspapers, breeders' magazines and Kennel Clubs, etc. They started to get threatening messages from the criminals, so they reported it to USPS, the phone and computer companies, even the FBI , their email company and others, then they went online and bashed these scammers on social media...then they blocked all calls from the outfit. The end isn't here yet but probably will be one way of another. Hubby is a combat vet from 'Nam with 3 Purple Hearts and a peck of other medals, wife is a contract "end of life" nurse, and neither one is afraid of much of anything. As a team they are truly frightening, It takes a real AH to use a cute puppy to scam someone. My personal first response is "Get a rope".
    12 points
  29. I went to a basketball game and side match competition tonight my daughter was playing in. I seen this little kid skipping around and having a good time swinging a bag of candy around. Not being one to waste an opportunity, I immediately pushed the kid down and snatched up the bag of candy and made my escape while the kid was sitting there crying(kids nowadays ain't got much toughness). Anyhow, I was going through the booty when I came across this little jewel. All is great with the world. And maybe it's not such a bad thing that kids ain't tough as they used to be! I was surprised they named these sucker after widder, but you cant beat nanner split flavored anything.
    12 points
  30. As one that lived his early life in East Germany and what it was like. My father and mother along with me and my younger sister escaped during the night, hid during the daylight. It wasn't just the Wall in Berlin. Were we lived farther North the Border was defined with Towers, trip wires, soldiers and dogs set every 500 yards. My father and mother gave up everything so us kids could grow up in freedom. I know what it was like and remember the indoctrinating we were taught in school, and seems that is happening here. We were lucky through the Catholic Church after being refugees in West Germany to get sponsors for United States. I still remember the night were our sponsors picked us up, drove us to the country home. Upon entering the house, they turned on all the lights and when they did, I ran to pull the drapes down, my father, and I can still to this day hear and remember his words, "you don't have to do that son, we're in America" ( of course he said it to me in German). One never appreciates freedom till they have a taste of lost, and then there are those that take advantage of Freedom that will lead to its downfall and loss..
    12 points
  31. Turn around, walk back in the house, shut the door. And turn the porch light off.
    12 points
  32. This, This is why I have missed the Sport and the people. We have been in touch, he still has them, and we are working out getting them back. Thank you all for helping. Abilene I can’t thank you enough for all the help.
    12 points
  33. In September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a History teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal, and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks in her classroom. When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks. 'Ms. Cothren, where are our desks?' She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.' They thought, 'Well, maybe it's our grades.' 'No,' she said. 'Maybe it's our behavior.' She told them, 'No, it's not even your behavior.' And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom. Kids called their parents to tell them what was happening and by early afternoon television news crews had started gathering at the school to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room. The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the desk-less classroom. Martha Cothren said, 'Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he or she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.' At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-seven (27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniform, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place, those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned. Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. They went halfway around the world, giving up their education and interrupting their careers and families so you could have the freedom you have. Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it.' By the way, this is a true story. And this teacher was awarded the Veterans of Foreign Wars Teacher of the Year for the State of Arkansas in 2006. She is the daughter of a WWII POW.
    12 points
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.