Principal Needs Detention

Marine With Weapon

I was listening to WBAL radio on the way home and the topic was about a school, Douglas McKay High School in Salem, Oregon, that would not let a picture of a Marine with a weapon be hung in the school. Evidently one of the teachers hangs pictures of the school’s graduates in his classroom. One of his students, the sister of a Marine serving our country, asked if he would hang a picture of her brother on the wall. He replied that he would. She brought in a picture of her brother in uniform in Iraq. The trouble with the picture is that the Marine was holding a weapon.

The teacher, Mr. Costa, asked the school administration for permission because of the “graphic” nature of the photo. His request was denied. Evidently, there is a zero tolerance policy with regard to weapons. I am sure that the policy is supposed to imply having the weapons physically present at the school and that pictures of them are not included. I could be wrong but any rational person would have to reach that same conclusion. The school scanned the photo and removed the weapon from the picture. How can the school expect children to learn about the realities of life by sanitizing everything they see?

I wonder what will happen next. Will the principal remove all pictures from history books if there are weapons in the pictures? What will happen if a student wants a picture of his dad or mom hung and that dad or mom happens to be a police officer in uniform? Will they scan the officer’s service weapon out of the picture? This has got to be the dumbest thing, and that is saying a lot, that a school system has done. This young man, Bill Riecke, is proudly serving his country. He is a decorated combat veteran who is getting ready for his third tour in Iraq and the school decides to dishonor him and all members of the service by defacing a picture of him.

There are several sites that have information about the incident. Marine Corps Moms is one and includes a link to contact the school board to voice your opinion.

If you really want to know how dumb the whole thing is, consider this. The school’s Mascot is a man (looks like a Scotsman) carrying a sword!

The photo of the Marine and his buddies, with weapons, is proudly displayed above. Semper Fi Gentlemen!

Note: The article showing the picture of the Mascot also indicates that the picture of the Marine was brought in as part of an assignment showing McKay graduates at work. I guess the administrators are not bright enough to know that members of the military carry weapons as part of their jobs.

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