Methuen High School Online

Wow that was poor.
For a moment I thought you were going to say that the fundraiser was selling gum to raise money for the American Dental Association.
:)

If you think about it, it would be dumb, unless you are a dentist.

Then when the kids' teeth need fixing, you're all over it.

This is of course setting all ethics aside.
:)

Nothing really stupid here. . .although as a hotelier:

- I had a guest ask me how many beds were in his room. Not a spectacular example of stupidity you say? Well, he called from his ROOM.

COUNT THE BEDS IN FRONT OF YOU

Wow…This story really caught my eye!

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (Aug. 22) - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson called on Monday for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him a "terrific danger" to the United States.

Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America and a former presidential candidate, said on "The 700 Club" it was the United States' duty to stop Chavez from making Venezuela a "launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."

Chavez has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of President Bush, accusing the United States of conspiring to topple his government and possibly backing plots to assassinate him. U.S. officials have called the accusations ridiculous.

"You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson said. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said.

"We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator," he continued. "It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

Gee…and here I was, under the impression that Pat Robertson was a Christian. Wasn’t he the one spearheading the movement to get the Ten Commandments posted at every public school in America? Didn’t he rally against the Supreme Court when they ruled that the monument to the Ten Commandments had to be removed from the Alabama court house? What ever happened to “Thou shalt not kill?” I guess he must have missed that one.
:twisted:

Perhaps he feels he's justified because he isn't volunteering to commit this deadly sin himself. Welcome to the loopholes of the bible belt. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife...unless she's hot and you're a televangelist.

Amen Brotha!

When I tell people I am a Christian, I don't want to be associated with the likes of Jerry Fallwell and Pat Robertson. Somehow they completely bypass Jesus' message and make up their own rules as the go along (but then again, isn't that what all religions do--skew the message of the prophet/savior for political favor?). I truly wonder which bible these people are reading...because I have read the bible rather extensively, particularly the new testament which these so-called Christians claim to follow, and no where in there does Jesus say, love everybody EXCEPT these people, or turn the other cheek EXCEPT in these circumstances. There are no exceptions. It's love everyone, judge not, serve all. Christianity in it's purest form is about being a GOOD HUMAN BEING. I think I can safely say that calling for the death of a fellow man goes completely against that.

Okay...getting off my spiritual soapbox.

Funny quick story about the devil...I mean Jim Baker. He was in my city a few years ago visiting a church. He went out for lunch with the pastor of that church when he first arrived. While they were out to lunch 1/2 the church burned down. Including the sanctuary.

Coincidence?

I THINK NOT!

Did he really say that? That wasn’t some figment of my imagination was it? Did Ray Nagin (mayor of New Orleans) really make those comments? Daaaaaamn!

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s the story: On Monday (MLK Day) Mayor Ray Nagin made a speech. During the speech, Nagin , who is black, said that the hurricanes that hit the nation in quick succession were a sign of God's anger toward the United States because of the war in Iraq, and toward black communities as well, for their violence and infighting.

He went on to say that he wants New Orleans to rise up and become “a chocolate city” because "it's the way God wants it to be."

Okay…now let’s look at this. Anyone who has ever paid any attention to what I write knows that I am not a Christian; that said, it is my understanding that “God” is a merciful, loving being…why would he suddenly decide to destroy one of the poorest sections of the country? If he were going to destroy something in the United States, wouldn’t it be someplace like Hollywood—the modern day equivalent to Sodom and Gomorra? Hell he could have at least waited for Marti Gras to destroy the French Quarter…you know…to “git them dern sinners”.

As for the comment about the “chocolate city”; while I understand that 70% of New Orleans’ population is black, that comment is simply wrong. No…it’s worse than that: it’s racist. If a white man said that he wanted to make a city—any city—a “vanilla” city, every civil rights leader in the country would jump up and crucify him. The NAACP, ACLU, and every other equality group in the nation would rise up in protest until the white man was either driven out of office or assassinated. (please note that such a speech made on MLK Day would probably lead to the second conclusion)

But I guess Mayor Nagin will be forgiven with his weak, lame-ass apology, where he said "I need to be more sensitive and more aware of what I'm saying,". You think??? He went on to say that "I want everyone to be welcome in New Orleans - black, white, Asian, everybody,". My guess is that he finally remembered that it was the 90% of the white vote that got him elected in 2002, and not the 35% of the black vote. He must have realized that if he realizes his dream of a “chocolate city” he’ll be out of a job.

Just another one of those things that make you go “Duh!”

Ok, I don't want to sound racist here in my response to their comments because I am not. Although I do hate anybody that uses racism to "fight racism". Like The Mr. Mayor. Tell me what you think about these things that I also believe to be racist.

Back History Month ( I believe it is still American history of how slavery was bad. Call it something different because it involves white people too.)

Miss Black USA ( Could you imagine a pageant called Miss White USA? Here is the link in case you have never heard of it. http://www.missblackusa.org/ )

BET (Black Entertainment Television) (again could you imagine WET? Why couldn't I watch this station? Are there things that only "black people" would find entertaining? Like what? Isn't that racist? Saying I wouldn't get it? http://www.bet.com/ )

BET Awards (Yes from the BET network. So a white man could not win an award? What if we gave awards to lesser deserving actors in the Oscars just because the better actor was black?)

What about hiring people because they are black alone? Isn't that what our white grandparents/great grandparents did so long ago? What's the difference? Like in the NFL you need to interview at a black candidate for every 2 white candidates. But there must be at least one. So last year when the Redskins wanted to hire Joe Gibbs (a white man) and Joe Gibbs wanted to coach there, Washington still needed to bring in a black man to interview. Would you want to go to that interview you knew you weren't going to get? Knowing you were only there because you are black?

There are many stories and many organizations that are aimed towards black people. Don't you think that if roles were reversed (like WET) the aclu and Jesse Jackson would have a field day? I honestly believe that racism will always be there. But if you just let things alone it wouldn't be as big of a problem. I'm not saying ignore it just LET'S NOT PLAY INTO IT!

Here's a story I found that I know happens everywhere in different applications all the time. I heard the same story about the Boston Fire Dept too! Who would you want to save your ass from a burning building a man in a mask that has no color that scored a 75%-100% or another man in a mask that has no color that scored 60%-74%?

Here's the story:

Charlotte Hale, News Journal (Wilmington), Aug. 3

WILMINGTON—Payday may be coming for trooper applicants not hired by the Delaware State Police because they scored too low on a literacy test that discriminated against blacks.

Federal prosecutors and attorneys for state government want to require the police agency to hire 12 black troopers and pay up to $1.425 million to applicants who did not get jobs solely because of their test score.

The resolution, however, is not final, even though parties on both sides of the case proposed it in a motion filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

{snip}

In May 2003, Jordan ruled that black troopers were disproportionately eliminated from consideration for police jobs because they scored lower than the required 75 percent on the multiple-choice test.

In a final ruling 10 months later, Jordan said state government failed to prove the need for setting the passing score that high. Applicants who scored as low as 66 percent to 70 percent still would have been qualified for police work, the judge said. He found no reason to think racial animus motivated the use of the test, however.

Since then, the two sides have been trying to resolve how to compensate the applicants who unfairly lost an opportunity to work for Delaware State Police.

Those eligible for financial compensation under the proposal include 104 blacks who applied unsuccessfully for police jobs between 1992 and 1998 and scored at least 66 percent on the test.

They also would have to show they met other minimum qualifications for the job, would not have failed a background check and other screenings and did not withdraw from the application process on their own.

The state also would have to try to hire 12 black troopers from among the unsuccessful applicants, if any still are interested. The federal government would monitor that process.

The proposal would not resolve what score these applicants must have received on their test to be considered for the new openings.

State government wants to set the score at 70 percent. Federal prosecutors prefer 66 percent. The final decision would be left to Jordan.

Way to go America. There's no reason to expect a higher grade of intellect for our civil servants. I say if people can't meet the bar that's been set, we should lower the bar, give them money to cheer them up for being stupid, and proceed to give them a gun and a job that entitles them to carry it 8 or more hours a day. Afterall, I wouldn't want a cop to think first before squeezing that trigger. It's official, the next generation of Barney Fifes is on it's way in.

In the words of Tom Lehrer.

" one of the many fine things one has to admit is the way that the army has carried the American democratic ideal to its logical conclusion in the sense that not only do they prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, creed, and color, but also on the grounds of ability."

And now we can say the same for Delaware's mediocre...seeing as demanding the finest was determined to be racist. Good work Delaware. Keep lowering the bar. Give the retarded a gun, a check, and a chance.

:roll: This one just made my head hurt…check this out: :roll:

BROCKTON, Mass. -- A Brockton first-grader was suspended from school for three days last month after school officials said that he sexually harassed a girl in his class.
NewsCenter 5's Jim Boyd reported Tuesday that officials at the Downey Elementary School called the boy's mother, Berthena Dorinvil, on Jan. 30, and asked her to pick up her child from the school. Dorinvil said that officials told her that her son was being suspended for sexually harassing a 6-year-old female classmate.
"My son told me that the girl touched him first, so he touched her back," Dorinvil said. "I was shocked. I was crying. I was out of control," Dorinvil said.
School officials would not speak on camera, and police officers were posted at the school Tuesday afternoon. The school superintendent released a statement that said, "The safety and well-being of Brockton public school students and staff is of the utmost important to us, and we take all allegations of sexual harassment seriously."

WHAT??? A six-year-old??? sexual harassment??? Do six-year-olds know what sex is??? When I was six-years-old—a long long time ago—(shut up Jeremy) it was customary to punch the girls you liked in the arm and then yell “eewww girls are icky.” I guess times have changed.

Am I the only one who believes the Brocton School Officials have too much time on their hands?

From what I saw on the news last night, the little boy supposedly touched her with two fingers on the back. Far from a sexually indecent place.

In my opinion, the school was waaaay out of line on this one. He didn't touch any "private" parts or say anything inappropriate. Give me a fricken break.

George, you did worse when you used to kiss the girl in kindergarten. Hell, I could have accused some boys of sexual harassment in kindergarten because they kissed me.

Where does it end?

I'm going to admit an embarrassing moment here but it is an example of what can happen. :oops:

When I was in the Central School (I am not sure the grade) I remember getting in trouble because a girl was climbing up the basketball hoop pole. Well I came up from behind her and pulled her pants down. I think it was only pants. It was all in fun and not for any sexual thrill that I remember but I was in trouble. I didn't get suspended I was let known how bad it was and I never did it again...Well to any unsuspecting girl anyway.

Again I don't know the girls side of the story I haven't heard about her or her parents being in the media but if it was only two fingers on her back (which I find hard to believe) then what I had done would have been a lot worse, A LOT! Again I was talked to and it all worked out.

As far as what you said, Amy: "They're learning about sex at younger and younger ages. From other kids, TV, internet, parents who don't feel censorship is important, and sadly... abuse." I agree 100% that is most of the problem. I say most because kids do have that natural curiosity like they always have and always will. But those things you mentioned make it a lot worse! Too bad it's the good kids that have to sometimes suffer.

Yes, kids may be learning more about sex at an earlier age these days, but there are still things that children are not capable of comprehending at a particular age. A six year old does not know how to be a sexual predator. If he is exposed to sex through the media or through abuse, he may be more prone to touching others inappropriately as a form of mimicry, but it certainly isn't with predatory intent. Sexual harassment implies dominance and forcefulness with the intent to harm. I don't see how on earth a child of six can be accused of that. Development-wise, they are still trying to sort out what's right and wrong.

Here is the article about it from the Boston Globe...pay particular attention to what is cited as the Brockton School District's Sexual Harassment Policy...

Boy's suspension in harassment case outrages mother
Seeks new school for son, 6
By Ralph Ranalli and Raja Mishra, Globe Staff | February 8, 2006

BROCKTON -- A 6-year-old boy suspended last week after school officials said he sexually harassed a girl in his class does not understand what he did wrong and should be moved to another elementary school to avoid becoming stigmatized by the incident, his mother said yesterday.

The Brockton school district gave the boy a three-day suspension on Jan. 30 after conducting an internal investigation -- which they forwarded to the Plymouth district attorney's office. Prosecutors, however, have not brought any charges, in part because state juvenile criminal laws do not apply to those under age 7, said prosecutors.

The suspension outraged the boy's mother, Berthena Dorinvil, who said her son is far too young to know the meaning of sexual harassment.

''What is that supposed to mean? He's only 6 years old. I didn't raise my son like this," she said last night in an interview at her home.

Dorinvil said school administrators told her that her son's infraction was to place his hand inside the waistband of a girl's pants, touching the skin on her back.

Though her son's suspension has ended, Dorinvil has kept him out of school and has filed a request with Brockton schools to move him to another elementary school because she feels he would be treated differently at the school he attended, Joseph H. Downey Elementary.

She said the district has declined the transfer request but offered to move him to another class in the same school. She is appealing that decision and plans to keep the child home indefinitely.

Brockton school officials yesterday defended their decision.

''This was done right by the book," said Cynthia E. McNally, a district spokeswoman. ''This was thoroughly investigated."

School district administrators said Brockton schools have for years had among the state's most thorough and progressive policies on student sexual harassment.

''The safety and well-being of Brockton Public School students and staff is of the utmost importance to us and we take all allegations of sexual harassment very seriously," read a statement released yesterday by Brockton School Superintendent Basan Nembirkow. ''Principals are trained to handle these difficult situations and they are assisted, as needed, by the district's sexual harassment officer in handling each situation."

School officials would not comment on the specifics of the boy's case, citing his privacy rights. The boy was not identified because he is a minor. Downey principal Diane C. Gosselin could not be reached for comment.

Dorinvil is a stay-at-home mother who said she has raised her only child in the conservative moral tradition of Haitian evangelicalism.

She and her husband, Philippe, a school bus driver in Boston, do not let their son watch secular television and have signed up for cable so he can watch religious cartoons.

She said Gosselin called her on Jan. 30 to tell her ''my son was in trouble over a girl." At school, where she found her boy in tears, she said she was informed he had violated the school's sexual harassment policy and would be suspended.

The Brockton school district's student sexual harassment policy, drafted in January of 2004, prohibits ''uninvited physical contact such as touching, hugging, patting, or pinching."

School officials refused to disclose which provision of the policy the boy violated.

''It's a situation within the parameters [of sexual harassment], and we're dealing with it within the parameters," said McNally.

The school district forwarded the evidence to Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz's office.

A spokeswoman for Cruz, Bridget Norton Middleton, confirmed the office had reviewed the case, but she refused to comment on it. However, she noted that juvenile crimes apply to those age 7 to 17, with younger children exempt.

Dorinvil said her son has said he does not want to return to Downey because they are ''too mean." She said he is confused over the recent turn of events in his life -- and has questions she finds difficult to answer.

''He doesn't even know what that word 'sexual' is. I don't see how I'm going to explain it to him," she said. ''I can't. He's just too young for that."

(CBS4) BROCKTON School officials in Brockton are apologizing after suspending a first grader for sexual harassment.

The suspension of the six year-old boy had sparked a public outcry. He was accused of putting two fingers inside a female classmate’s waistband, touching her skin. The boy told his mother he only grabbed her shirt, after the girl touched him first.

On Thursday, the boy’s parents sat down with school officials. Berthena Dorinvil says the school apologized to her family and offered to transfer her son to another elementary school.

The Downey Elementary School also says it will review its policies for handling such cases.

In other words "OOPS...sorry we scarred your six-year-old's fragile little mind. Please don't sue us." Perhaps now these idiots will think before they do something stupid. They'll still do something stupid, mind you, but at least they will think about it first...but they can't help it; ther're bureaucrats--they're trained to do stupid things.

remind me.... :?:

Wow, to do a search attempting to gather information on the death of Donald P. Timony or even an obituary, it's almost like it never happened. There is NOTHING on google or the eagletribune archive page regarding the school's namesake. So THIS is how Massachusetts buries it's mistakes....Awful literal of them isn't it? As I recall, the man was legendary for his contributions. The majority of his students adored the man. The articles I remember reading spoke highly of his reputation. And yet, you can't find a single word surrounding even the DATE of his death. It's almost sick.

Makes sense. The Web did technically exist, but not in the way we know it today.

No history page at the high school site:

http://www.methuen.k12.ma.us/

Someone should create a wikipedia entry.

I'm not sure I know which part you mean....The kid walking on the man's nice yard or him taking soo long to kill the bastard.

LOL Just kidding. My lawn looks like crap!

Just another case of "Gun's don't kill people, Scott's Turf Builder kills people"

MIAMI (Reuters) - A 76-year-old man claiming to be a doctor went door-to-door in a Florida neighborhood offering free breast exams, and was charged with sexually assaulting two women who accepted the offer,

One woman became suspicious after the man asked her to remove all her clothes and began conducting a purported genital exam without donning rubber gloves, investigators said.

The woman then phoned the Broward County Sheriff's Office and the suspect fled. He was arrested at another woman's apartment in the same Lauderdale Lakes neighborhood on Wednesday, a sheriff's spokesman said.

The white-haired suspect, Philip Winikoff, carried a black bag and claimed to be visiting on behalf of a local hospital.

"He told the woman that he was in the neighborhood offering free breast exams," sheriff's spokesman Hugh Graf said in a statement.

At least two women, both in their 30s, let him into their homes and he fondled and sexually assaulted them, the investigators said.

Winikoff was not a doctor, Graf said. He worked as a shuttle driver for an auto dealership.

Now my question is: Who is more idiotic, Philip Winikoff for thinking this was a good idea, or these women for buying his story? "Free breast exam? Well sure, come on in Mr. Dr. I've never met before. Wait right there while I strip so you can cop a feel..." Has human intelligence slipped so far? :roll:

What am I saying? Of course it has!

Okay all you single guys out there...life is really gonna get really difficult for some of you out there if the rest of the country starts going by Wisconson's example:

Rape law expands to include alcohol
KAREN RIVEDAL
Wisconsin State Journal: Rape law expands to include alcohol

The nation's top party school could get a sobering jolt from a change in state law that puts alcohol on a par with date-rape drugs as an aggravating factor in certain sexual assaults.

The change, long sought by rape- victim advocates in Wisconsin, means that victims who are very drunk during a sexual encounter can be judged incapable of giving consent, triggering a possible second-degree sexual assault charge.

Prior to the change, which took effect in June, a victim who had been drinking typically had to be unconscious to be deemed incapable of consenting to sex.

The law applies to alcohol-related sexual assaults committed by anyone anywhere in the state. But it may have particular resonance on hard-drinking college campuses such as UW- Madison, which was named the country's No. 1 party school by the Princeton Review last year.

"It's a great change," said Carmen Hotvedt, a violence prevention specialist at UW-Madison's University Health Services. "In our educational efforts with students, we define consent as freely given. The (new) law really enforces the educational messages we've been sending for a long time."

Wisconsin had been the only state to exclude alcohol as a potential legal intoxicant in rape cases before the law change, sponsored by Sen. Cathy Stepp, R-Sturtevant.

And while prosecutors say it is likely to be used only rarely - in cases in which victims don't pass out but are so impaired by alcohol they are "unable to appraise their own conduct," as one advocate put it - the change was heralded by experts who work with assault survivors.

"Alcohol is the No. 1 date-rape drug, and we've felt strongly that our statutes should reflect that reality," said Jill Groblewski, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

The coalition started lobbying for the change in the mid-1990s, when language on intoxicants was added to the rape statutes in response to a surge in assaults aided by drugs.

"The change in legislation allows prosecutors to hold offenders accountable who use alcohol to facilitate a sexual assault," Groblewski said. "It gives prosecutors additional charging options."

Just as dangerous

Under state law, having sexual contact with a person incapable of consent because they are under the influence of an intoxicant is defined as second- degree sexual assault. The offense is a Class C felony punishable by a fine up to $100,000 and a prison sentence of up to 25 years.

Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said the change was "long overdue" and is a good thing primarily for the message about alcohol that it sends - namely, that it can be just as dangerous as other drugs.

Blanchard also stressed that the somewhat lower bar on consent standards for victims does not extend to perpetrators, who can be charged for crimes whether they have been drinking or not.

"Alcohol is not an excuse," he said. "It's our job to help jurors understand that people who want to commit sexual assault many times are going to take unfair advantage to get what they want."

The change comes too late for a UW-Madison junior who recently asked Blanchard to press charges against two male students she said raped her after a drunken party when she was a freshman. Laura Dunn said Blanchard told her earlier this month that the case might have been eligible for prosecution if the law had been in effect at the time of the incident in April 2004.

Without it, Dunn's ability to consent could have become an issue, she said Blanchard told her, in part because she cannot remember all of the details of the alleged attack and no one else witnessed it. She said she told the men to stop, but acknowledged she had been drinking heavily that night and repeatedly lost and regained consciousness during the incident.

"I can't remember 90 percent of it," Dunn said. "I just know I didn't want it, and I know I made it clear."

Delay a factor

Blanchard last week confirmed that his office declined to prosecute the case, which was investigated by campus police and forwarded to his office in May. He said it wouldn't be ethical for him to discuss his specific reasons for rejecting it.

In general, though, Blanchard said sexual assault cases involving long delays - Dunn waited 15 months to report hers - and alcohol use by victims and perpetrators can be harder to win in court.

"If jurors believe that inhibitions were down and everybody was drinking, it may be regarded as regretted but essentially consented sex," Blanchard said.

Blanchard stressed that declining to take a case doesn't necessarily mean prosecutors think it doesn't have merit.

"We certainly see cases in which we completely believe the account given by the alleged victim," Blanchard said, "but we have proof problems and we don't feel it's fair to anybody, including the victim, to charge and take to trial a case that we're pretty certain we're going to lose."

UW-Madison's Dean of Students office, which also investigated the incident, declined to levy any academic sanctions against the men. One of them had already graduated and moved away by the time Dunn reported the incident and the other also has graduated.

UW-Madison Police Chief Susan Riseling declined to discuss the case in detail. But she praised the change in the law, calling it "recognition that just because someone has used alcohol doesn't mean they are any less a victim/survivor."

DAMN...some of you guys would be really unlucky...

WATERTOWN, N.Y. (Aug. 21) - The minister of a church that dismissed a female Sunday School teacher after adopting what it called a literal interpretation of the Bible says a woman can perform any job - outside of the church.

The First Baptist Church dismissed Mary Lambert on Aug. 9 with a letter explaining that the church had adopted an interpretation that prohibits women from teaching men. She had taught there for 54 years.
The letter quoted the first epistle to Timothy: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent."
The Rev. Timothy LaBouf, who also serves on the Watertown City Council, issued a statement saying his stance against women teaching men in Sunday school would not affect his decisions as a city leader in Watertown, where all five members of the council are men but the city manager who runs the city's day-to-day operations is a woman.
"I believe that a woman can perform any job and fulfill any responsibility that she desires to" outside of the church, LaBouf wrote Saturday.
Mayor Jeffrey Graham, however, was bothered by the reasons given Lambert's dismissal.
"If what's said in that letter reflects the councilman's views, those are disturbing remarks in this day and age," Graham said. "Maybe they wouldn't have been disturbing 500 years ago, but they are now."
Lambert has publicly criticized the decision, but the church did not publicly address the matter until Saturday, a day after its board met.
In a statement, the board said other issues were behind Lambert's dismissal, but it did not say what they were.

Can anyone say WTF!!!!

That is a very popular stance out here in the middle of the country. I can't wait till a woman is president. But my daughter's only 9 so we have to wait another 26 years for that.

Seriously though....I don't know how any woman could be married to a man who believes she's not good enough or smart enough to tell a man what to do or "help" him interpret the bible.