Comments on: What, me feel responsible?

By: Catherine

Catherine — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:16:26 +0000

I would like to take it from another angle in regards to the bullying. If true, it shows that bullying played a part in pressuring his son (although wrong) to bring the gun to school. This tells me that the school needs to take a tougher stand and push more awareness in regards to bullying. There are many other “prevent bullying” programs used at other schools that might be considered for this school as well.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:10:08 +0000

I attended a Catholic grade school in a middle class suburb in a different part of the state. There weren’t any gangs or drugs. I don’t know anything about the inner city gang culture… or why people would chose to have children, then not take care of them.

By: NotMalibuBarbie

NotMalibuBarbie — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:37:30 +0000

Radio Matthew, as for a 4th grader’s only pressure revolving around Lego color selection, I second the comments of CSI, that life as a 4th grader in South Sac isn’t Nirvana. I live in the fringes of Tahoe Park, (13th Ave., off Stockton Blvd)spitting distance to Oak Park. Many of the really young kids (ages 8-12) I see here in South Sac are often gangster-wanna bes if they have not already been swept into the gang culture. What the kid did was wrong, and his father’s comments were even more wrong… but not entirely surprising, given the culture of the geographic area in which he lives.

And I worked for the Folsom Cordova USD for five years, and my mother lives in Folsom… while many of us refer to the area as “Stepford” it has its share of violence and mayhem, just not to the scale of Meadowview.

By: Turty Squip

Turty Squip — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:44:59 +0000

At least the kids can’t blame their behavior on the name of the local park making them feel “excluded” or “inferior” or that thier “cultural history” doesn’t matter.

By: CSI Sac

CSI Sac — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:09:09 +0000

RM: Obviously you know very little about the lives of fourth graders in this Elk Grove cum South Sac area. Pressures like drugs, gangs, low socio-economic status, horrible family life, and much worse. I am in no means defending the behaviors or actions of these students, and in a perfect world, he could have “told the teacher” about what was going on, or his counselor, or someone. However, in some places, these role models and advocates do not exist, and kids decide to “do what they can” to protect themselves.

Michele: Good luck with that move to Folsom. This is where I grew up, instead of pot and gangs we had RX parties and coke and of course my 8th grade year a kid was expelled for…you guessed it, bringing a gun to school! Thankfully, I was able to avoid that environment, but there is “trouble” in every city. I guess it just varies in degrees. As far as violence in folsom goes… http://www.sacbee.com/folsom/story/590485.html

By: HeyMeg

HeyMeg — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:33:39 +0000

I forgot what a utopia Folsom is, what with the prison and all.

By: Julianne

Julianne — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:25:32 +0000

I am offended that the Dad offered ADHD as an excuse for criminal behavior. My son is 10 and has ADHD and Asperger’s. It minimalizes the condition when it is used as a scapegoat for bad parenting.

By: Michele

Michele — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:12:29 +0000

I live in Elk Grove, here about 4 years. I know the Boundaries say it’s Elk Grove but the address list it as Sacramento. I live south of Laguna, I think of Elk grove as south of this street because when you hit Sheldon the address is Sac. I know this is Trival it’s just that I don’t identify with that group of people.

This is just another incident in why we are moving to Folsom. South Sac’s violent mentality is slowly leaking it’s way towards home.

I love that the dad passed the buck on to the kids and any pressure they felt. WTG dad!

By: Turty Squip

Turty Squip — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:41:46 +0000

Sounds like CoolDMZ is calling for preemptive strikes against not just the industrial base, but the civilian population as well!

By: John

John — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:28:35 +0000

Prey for a pandemic soon. I swear people are getting stupider.

By: Radio Matthew

Radio Matthew — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:43:37 +0000

Furthurmore, how much pressure does a fourth grader feel? Does he have to go get a “real world” job? Does he have mouths to feed, diapers to change, alimony to pay?

Or is he upset because there’s more blue Legos in the box than yellow? Wow, such pressure…