[Winona Online Democracy]
Good paper, but one thing:
"Our lives are more important than our privacy."
In theory, I suppose I agree with this statement, but the context in which
it as presented suggests that a choice between the two has to be made in a
school setting, and I don't think that's the case.
99% of America's schools have never had a life-threatening violent incident
of any kind, and the period of around 1995-2000 saw a sharp decline in the
amount of violence occurring in schools. School violence was widespread
during the early 1990's, but in recent years a dramatic drop has been seen.
Statistically, a high-school student is much safer at school than they are
at home.
My point is simply that measures like clear backpacks and bag checks are not
needed, and yes, they do infringe upon privacy. Would you really want
someone digging through your personal belongings every morning when you got
to school? I certainly would not. Public pressure resulting from the
media's irresponsible decision to portray an epidemic of school violence has
caused schools to drastically overreact to a perceived crisis and to erode
much what little dignity and personal freedom students at American schools
are still allowed. Various factions have seized upon the public hysteria to
milk support for their pet causes--greater license to infringe for
totalitarian school administators, gun control for liberals, censorship for
the family-values thought police-- but valid justification for these
intrusions is not present.
Personally, I'm going to argue formy privacy here, because while my life is
not in danger, my privacy is.
Just an observation. Good paper.
>From: "Sarah And Karen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: [Winona] Were Done!
>Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 10:10:35 -0500
>
>[Winona Online Democracy]
>
>----Those who asked to see it, here is the final copy of our paper-----
>
>Winona Online Democracy
>
> For past few months we have participated in the Winona Online Democracy
>e-mail forum. We have discussed several issues, for instance some of the
>topics we discussed were, teen activities, the United Way and Boy Scouts
>issue, the bike paths, weapons in school, snow removal, school funding,
>standardized testing, serving alcohol loud parties, and handicap
>accessibility. All of these have to do with you and the Winona community.
>In writing this paper we want to enlighten you on the some of the issues
>and problems that occur in Winona.
> An issue that is very important to the teen community and was
>discussed in the Online Democracy E-mail forum was Teen Activities, an
>issue we brought up ourselves:
>"From a teens point of view, Winona needs more activities. Although we do
>have some, like the movie theater, the rec. centers, and Rock Solid. A lot
>of these either cost money or are religion based and for some teens they
>either can't afford it or feel left out because their religions are
>different. We think that there should just be a place for teens to go hang
>out, play games, and stay in a good environment that doesn't group teens,
>by religion, or culture. In small towns, teens tend to get bored and go to
>parties, drink, and do drugs. D.A.R.E although a good program should not be
>the only way for teens to stay out of trouble, whether it is drugs,
>violence, or gangs. Some people think Winona doesn't have these problems
>and maybe in a way they are right, but we will have these problems if teens
>have nothing productive to do.
> We feared that most of our responses would consist of " Winona
>doesn't
>have the money to fund this," or " you may find Winona a tough rock to roll
>over," but fortunately people took notice and hopefully additional options
>for teens will be possible. Winona is not completely without anything for
>teens to do, we have the movie theater, The rec. centers and Rock Solid,
>but the pressure for money or religion is an issue. Some of these places
>cost too much money for some teens, or are religion based or teens feel
>left out or pressured. None of these places are pushing religion on teens,
>but the atmosphere could make teens of other cultures or religions feel
>uncomfortable. We are not saying they should not celebrate their religions
>with other people, but this also affects teens that are of different
>cultures and races and are trying to hold onto their culture. Let’s make it
>easier for teens of different cultures, races and religions to have fun
>without feeling pressured.
> Another topic we discussed was a very controversial one, and there
>were a lot different ideas and opinions on what should have been done in
>this situation. The Untied Way made the decision to stop the funding for
>the Winona area Boy Scouts. They didn't just simply cut the funding, and
>they did have a valid reason. When the Boy Scouts were asked to sign a
>nondiscrimination form that would allow homosexuals to be leaders, the Boy
>Scouts refused to sign it, the United Way refused to support them. Many
>people were very angry at the United Way, and some people were very angry
>with the Boy Scouts. Here is what some people had to say about this topic:
>A resident of Winona named Dean Lanz shared these comments:
>" The struggle for gay rights is the next big civil rights movement we face
>in this nation, and the United way should be commended for taking a lead in
>that struggle" and "What is the bigger harm? Missing a couple of camp-outs
>or living with the shame of invidious discrimination every day?" Many
>people wrote letters to Online Democracy, many to the editor in the paper,
>to the Boy Scouts and to The United Way, taking either side, but the main
>concern was the discrimination and how it made Winona look.
> One issue that we discussed affects the teen population greatly is
>weapons in school. Although children in kindergarten and other grades may
>have guns or other weapons available to them, they usually don’t use them.
>Teens on the other hand may use a gun or other weapon for hunting with
>family or if they have them available they will use them in school to harm
>or threaten someone. Some people think that weapons in school isn’t an
>issue, but that teen’s privacy is more of an issue. Some people feel teens
>will lose their privacy if teens are required to have clear backpacks, no
>backpacks, or get your bag checked every morning. Yes that is invading the
>privacy of some teens, but honestly, we feel our lives are more important
>than our privacy.
> Many bills are being passed to make weapon abuse laws harsher. One
>bill that was recently passed by the house was the concealed weapons bill.
>Although this will help it will not get rid of the problem, maybe we are
>targeting the wrong end of the problem. Perhaps the problem is how they are
>getting a hold of these weapons and why they are doing this? Are they doing
>this to fit in, are they unsupervised or are people not looking or even
>noticing the signs?
> Another topic discussed was the Winona Art Center and the lack of
>handicap accessibility. We are glad that this was brought up because it
>truly is unfair to the handicapped members of our community to not be able
>to enjoy the Art Center and the events held there, and other places in
>Winona that may not be handicap accessible. Some people suggested that a
>ramp should be built on the west side of the building where the fire escape
>is. Hopefully Winona will build a ramp at the Art Center in the near
>future.
> Is there a problem with alcohol being served to minors in
>Winona? Many people seem to think so. This is an email sent by an Online
>Democracy member named Pam:
> "I have a problem and I'm hoping someone can help me with it. As
>some of you know, I am from CA so this is new to me. Here is Winona it
>seems to be normal to serve alcohol to minors. I keep getting told by
>parents that's its no big deal because they are drinking at home with the
>parent's permission. Now isn't that illegal? I know that in CA the parents
>would be locked up. Why not here? I am mostly concerned because of the
>graduation parties that will be a regular sight soon. The parents buy the
>beer for the other adults, but if the kids drink it, they don't do anything
>about it. I know of a party next month that even has on the invitation that
>beer will be served (to the minors). I'm sorry, but I think this is
>horrible and I don't think it should be allowed. I'm not even serving beer
>to the adults at my daughter's graduation party. I have already had one
>parent arrested for buying alcohol for minors 2 years ago and I wish there
>were other parents out there that would do the same; but everyone is afraid
>of how it will look. All I really want to know, is why do these parents
>think it's ok to serve alcohol to kids?"
> Hopefully as this discussion progresses, people will start getting
>in
>more trouble for this offense. Its sad that the only way these kids can
>have fun is by taking drugs.
>
>
>
>
>
> Winona Online Democracy has been a very interesting, educational, and
>mind
>expanding experience. We learned so much more about Winona and the issues
>and problems that occur in this city than we knew. Winona Online Democracy
>also opened our minds to learning about and actively participating in
>discussion of Winona. It allows us to voice our opinions and have people
>listen to them and acknowledge our good ideas, even though we're just kids.
>What was so great was that we were able to hear the opinions and ideas of
>our fellow Winonans. This was an experience that we appreciate being able
>to participate in.
>
>
>If you would like to join Online Democracy, go to
>http://onlinedemocracy.winona.org.
>At the web site you can find information on Online Democracy, sign up and
>if you’re not interested in joining you can still check the discussions in
>the message archive.
>
>
>Here is what some of the online democracy members had to say about online
>democracy:
>
>“Many common people talking about important topics is a powerful sound”.
>Dwayne Voegli
>
>
> “There are many good things about online Democracy that I want to say.
>The
>ability to write one's thoughts and to share those thoughts with other
>citizens in Winona is an excellent way to learn about views of people one
>might never meet at meetings. I especially like the fact that I am able
>to
>respond to online democracy at odd hours of the day when I could not
>express
>my thoughts at a given meeting time. Courtesy is important in this effort
>to communicate online.”
>Lee Luebbe
>
>
>
>
>
>
>We would like to acknowledge:
>
>The Winona Daily News and their photographer Blake Darst
> Carolyn J Nelson
>Dwayne Voegli
>Dean Lanz
>Lee Luebbe
>Pam, a member of the Winona Online Democracy.
>A big, special thanks to all of the members of the Winona Online Democracy
>and those who contributed to our wonderful experience.
>
>
>
>
>
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