| Today's Feature Cops Square Off Downtown
Last Friday night the Carthage
Police Department hosted what they think is the
first of several activities on the square for
kids. What began as the brainstorm of Chief
Dennis Veach evolved into an enjoyable blend of
old and young. He wanted to find a way to educate
the kids that congregate on the square about the
new summertime "Rules of Engagement" as
he calls it. Veach accomplished his goal through
food, posters, demonstrations, interaction and
hands on experience.
To the casual observer it
seemed much like a large family gathering
complete with food and fun except for the highly
visible fully uniformed officers representing
local, county and state agencies.
KNOCK! KNOCK! A young boy hit
the officer’s chest twice with his fist as
hard as he could.
"HEY! That hurt!" The
boy said as he shook his hand vigorously.
"Watcha got under there?"
"My vest. It will stop a
bullet just like it stopped you," replied
the officer who laughed and ruffled the
boy’s hair.
Prominently placed posters
displayed rules, such as ‘Do Have Fun’
and ‘Do talk to strangers’ or ‘Do
not ride bikes in the street after dark’,
written in large block letters.
Kids of all ages wandered up to
read the rules while they waited for hamburgers
to cook on the truck-bed sized BBQ provided by
the CPD. Amid the tantalizing smells, kids and
cops were talking to each other, joking, laughing
and learning.
One officer had a radar gun
timing the speed of tennis balls pitched into a
tarp cover that was strung up in an old maple
tree near the steps to the Courthouse.
"Can’t you do any
better than that?", he said as he showed the
speed. The red digital numbers flashed 145 mph!
The kids wildly cheered their friend. When the
next pitch, thrown by an officer, flashed 43 the
kids laughed.
"Well, you just come back
twenty years from now and let’s see how good
you pitch then," challenged the officer good
naturedly.
What the kids didn’t know
was the radar gun had been retired long ago and
is only "brought out and dusted off" to
check the speed of the tennis balls. They also
didn’t know that the intermittent light
winds caused the false reading of 145, which in
reality was closer to 70, and pitched by an older
teen. The uniformed officers who threw balls said
the unwieldy vests slowed the pitches
considerably.
"Yeh...right," said
one unbelieving teen who heard the comments.
Nearby Officer Dickey had the
‘tire slasher’ on display. It looks
much like an old-fashioned cup rack with the cup
holders spaced somewhat closer together. Instead
of cup hooks there are two-inch tall, round, thin
razor sharp extensions. In a high-speed chase,
the tool is stretched across the road. If the
chased vehicle runs over it, all tires are
slashed and the vehicle is quickly rendered
undriveable.
In a roped off area in the
street a type of vision altering tool had the
kids laughing and talking about it to each other
and to the adults. The ‘drunk glasses’
produce an alcohol simulated effect to normal
events like walking or shaking hands by changing
the visual perception via special lenses set in
goggles. The result is the person wearing the
goggles literally cannot walk a straight line or
grab an outstretched hand.
One eight-year old girl told
her mother it was okay but it, "Gave me a
headache and made me sick to her stomach" as
she sat down in her lap.
"So will alcohol,"
replied the mother. When she said that she
instinctively tightened her arms around her
daughter as a gesture of security.
In the center of the yard
Officer "Big Dog’ Barksdale’s
presence was dwarfed by the little dog with the
biggest bark. Officer "Brinks", a
Belgian Malinois dog trained in drug detection,
came with his handler Sgt. Coleman from the
Jasper County Sheriff’s Department to
demonstrate his skills. A few minutes earlier
Brinks was ‘working’ the crowd.
"Is he a drug dog?,"
asked one older boy.
"Sure is. Are you
carrying"?, asked Coleman.
"Nah, I quit a couple of
years ago. What would he do if I was?"
"Find it!" Coleman
said and laughed, "Glad you quit!"
While Coleman was talking with
kids and parents, Barksdale quietly donned a
training ‘sleeve’ to demonstrate the
noise, speed and power of a working police dog.
Clued by Coleman he began to agitate (an approved
method of training) Brinks by taking an
deliberately aggressive stance and shaking the
sleeve protected arm in an threatening manner
toward Coleman.
In the blink of an eye the dog
that was playing with a toddler only seconds
earlier was all business. Brinks exploded into
frenzied activity. He snarled, barked and lunged
at the end of his leash while waiting for his
‘word’. Within three seconds of a
command from Coleman the dog had a firm grip on
the training sleeve and Barksdale arm. And, he
was growling loudly. Brinks did not stop until he
heard the ‘correct’ response from
Coleman.
As the square began to get dark
and traffic increased, an officer stood in the
middle of the street and stopped cars. Every car
that came by he yelled, "Free food" or
"Free drinks." Some took advantage of
the offer and some didn’t.
Chief Veach was asked if there
will be other similar activities.
"Sometime," was his
reply.
And did he feel the Friday
night was a success?
"Yea," he said
quietly and smiled.
Commentary
Martin
"Bubs" Hohulin
State
Representative District 126
I am going to
stray a little from writing about recently passed
legislation and write about something you may be
tired of hearing about; Littleton, CO and other
school violence incidents. Originally, I was
going to not write about these incidents, but as
I kept thinking about it I knew I had to get this
off my chest.
From where I sit in the House
Chamber, I have a pretty good view of liberalism
at its best. At first I would just get irritated.
Now, as my own kids get older, I am worried for
their future and mad at those people that have
perpetuated this problem.
One of the bills introduced
each year would outlaw paddling kids in school.
Unfortunately, this is a disappearing practice
anyway, but it needs to be retained as an option.
Nobody wants to see kids beaten to the point of
abuse, but a spanking isn’t abuse. In fact,
the biggest punishment of a spanking is the
embarrassment it causes. Of course, we can’t
do that either because of the damage to the self
esteem of the kid in trouble. What about the self
esteem of the kids that are behaving and have to
be subject to the actions of the troublemaker?
I might have mentioned this in
an earlier column, but it is worth mentioning
again. During the appropriations process this
year, the Dept. of Mental Health was asking for
funds to start up a parenting program. I asked
what was going to be taught in the program. They
responded that part of it would include teaching
values to children. Ever the skeptic, I wanted to
know whose values would be taught. They answered
that experts would design the program. I asked if
parents would be taught to spank their kid. You
should have seen the look of horror on the faces
of these bureaucratic child raising experts! I
was told in no uncertain terms that parents would
be instructed that spanking their kids was a form
of violence that would only lead to more
violence. I asked how then they could explain
that when our parents were kids there was more
spanking and less violence.
I was greeted with the eye
rolling that is typical when a liberal is wrong
and has no ready explanation. I guess what I am
getting at is the recent rash of violence can be
directly traced to a lack of discipline in our
society and that in itself is fed by willing,
liberal lawmakers that do all they can to see
that no discipline is ever administered by
parents that aren’t at home anyway because
taxes are so high that both parents have to work
full-time just to pay the government its claim to
their money. As a coach in youth baseball the
last four years, I can tell you in a minute which
kids receive loving discipline at home and which
ones are allowed to run wild. I have had both
kinds on my team each year and have both on my
team this year.
Incidentally, if you think you
might be the type of parent I am criticizing and
are getting mad at me, get over it! I ought to be
mad at you for helping mess up the world.
These kids are learning what
they are being taught. If we continue to teach
them they are not responsible for their actions
and that there is a difference between right and
wrong, we are only at the beginning of our
problems.
As usual, I can be reached at
House Post Office, State Capitol, Jefferson City,
MO 65101, or 1-800-878-7126, or
mhohulin@services.state.mo.us for your questions,
comments, or advice.
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