SCHOOLS LOOK FOR WAYS TO MAINTAIN SAFETY

The summer has been busy at public schools across the nation as districts have stepped up security measures. The Columbine High School massacre last April and a May shooting rampage at a suburban Atlanta school remain fresh on the minds of students, parents and school officials.

Missouri schools are also working to comply with a 10-point safety checklist from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to keep the states children and teachers safe.

Many schools will transform much in the way federal buildings have beefed up security since the Oklahoma City bombing. But schools must not only battle outside terrorists, they must also deal with the enemy within.

School shootings have usually involved students. Troubled teen-agers have turned guns on familiar faces and often themselves. But many new security measures that schools nationwide are embracing are aimed at outsiders.

Perhaps thats why parents and staff have embraced a new police resource officer in the Cape Girardeau School District. These officers know the students and can help students watch for warning signs.

Missouris 10-point safety checklist makes sense, as long as it is understood that no amount of preparation will protect a school from every possible tragedy.

The checklist includes zero tolerance on bomb threats. Authorities should deal with these threats swiftly and harshly. Bombs are no joking matter. Such devices as caller I.D. and other technical means could help schools, although too many people know how to block identification. One of the guidelines suggests that schools make up class time lost to bomb scares or other kinds of disruptive action. In too many cases, phony threats require buildings to be evacuated, which might be seen by perpetrators as a way to get out of class. If students know upfront they will have to spend more time in class if there are phony threats, they might be less inclined to make the threats in the first place.

Understandably, school officials across the nation are shoring up security measures and working to make buildings safer. Parents, teachers and students need a greater peace of mind as the start of school approaches.

Perhaps the most frightening aspect of these student shootings is that it is not a problem of urban schools. Paducah, Ky., and Jonesboro, Ark., are school systems not much different that Cape Girardeau or Jackson.

It provides a stark reminder that everyone parents, teachers, students and law enforcement must be on the lookout for warning signs in young people. In this case, proactive training of all parties may be time well spent. Its everyones responsibility to help identify student time bombs well before they explode in anger. That may be the only effective way for schools to battle the enemy within.

Thriving downtown Cape throws a party

On a recent Saturday night, parts of downtown Cape Girardeau were transformed into a beach party. Party-goers could be found doing the limbo in the sand. Although the evening offered lots of fun and frolic for several hundred attendees, the festivities had a serious purpose.

The Downtown Merchants Association raised more than $20,000 from its 12th annual fund-raising auction. This years event was a record-setter, both in attendance and funds raised.

The merchants will use the proceeds for several key projects, such as its $1 million pledge for the proposed River Campus, restoration work in the downtown and replacing lights for the annual Christmas Lights parade.

In many towns, downtown business districts are floundering. But not so in Cape Girardeau. Cape Girardeaus busy downtown of shops and restaurants is the result of many years of dedicated work by both business people and volunteers. This successful auction is just another example that downtown business is alive and well in Cape Girardeau.