May 13, 2010
Columbine Almost Revisited
Remember Columbine?  Two Nazi-loving narcissistic sociopaths murdered teachers and students in their school because it would put them in the spotlight of history.....forever.No one stepped forward to stop them.The police stayed outside the building.Horrendous mishandling caused many innocent lives to be lost.Fast forward 11 years.Another wacked-out gunman with a bolt-action hunting rifle came onto a Colorado middle school parking lot and starting shooting at students.  He had just wounded two students and seemed ready to massacre more when a tall, skinny teacher (6'5" former college basketball player who oversees the school's track team) decided that this massacre just wasn't going to happen.  He saw the bad guy who was about to reload the chamber and decided that was THE moment.  He ran and tackled the shooter, wrapped his arms and legs around him like a strait jacket from head to toe, and held him for police.  Another teacher came to help keep the creep on the ground. The two wounded students were hospitalized; one was released and the other was listed in critical condition.The teacher's name?  DAVID BENKE.By the way, the system allowed the gunman to be walking among us.  The bad guy, Bruco Eastwood, has an arrest record in Colorado dating back to 1996 for menacing, assault, domestic violence and driving under the influence.  That's some arrest record - the newspaper account I read did not mention prison time where children would be safe from him.When interviewed, the father of the creep said: "There's nothing you can say about it.  What can you say?  Pretty dumb thing to do.  I feel bad for the people involved." Dumb??  When you're talking about attempting to murder children?As for Benke, he still wishes he could have done more: "It bugs me that he got another round off" before being taken down.I am all for a trained and armed faculty member or security person on the grounds of every school in America.  Self-defense is a primary right of every living creature.My respect goes to Mr. Benke.  I admire guts, grit, and the compassion to risk to protect the lives of others, especially children.The community should set up a trust account for him so that when he retires, he will be taken care of for the rest of his life.  That's a small thing for saving the lives of so many children, don't you think?

Posted by Staff at 1:09 AM