news-record.com

A boost for Tdap boosters

A year ago at this time, about 1,000 sixth-graders hadn't complied with a new state law requiring students to have booster shots to ward off tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough. Talk about a pandemic of dog-ate-my-homework excuses.

This year, however, the number of students who failed to get a Tdap booster was down to 201 as of last Thursday. That's less than 4 percent of all of the county's sixth-graders as compared to 20 percent a year ago.

It's proof that the second year of a new program usually goes better than the first.

It's also proof that Guilford County Schools and the county Department of Public Health are doing better at getting the word out, and that parents are listening a little more closely.

Pigs on the playground

There's not much you can do but laugh when a herd of pigs mistake your schoolyard for a truffle farm and decide to start rooting around.

If you're a teacher at Stokesdale Elementary, where five pigs showed up last week, you try your best to keep teaching through the chaos. If you're Principal Amy Koonce, you call Guilford County Animal Control. If you're the PTA, you serve barbecue for your lunch with the principal. Ha, ha.

As for the pigs, they don't seem to follow directions very well. But judging from the front-page of picture in the News & Record, the pigs are crossing the street in a straight (more or less) line and appear as orderly and well-behaved as many students.

Hmmm. Wonder how they'd do on the state tests?

No penalty for passing buses

Everyone knows not to drink and drive, thanks to years of public service ads and the unflagging dedication of groups like MADD. And because public opinions have changed over the years, punishment for drunken driving is swift and often severe, especially when injury or death results.

Most everyone knows not to pass a stopped school bus. But some people for whatever reason do, and they face a penalty of five points on their license -- more than for speeding, reckless driving or running a red light.

But as the News & Observer of Raleigh, reports, only 20 percent of those ticketed statewide for passing a stopped school bus feel the full impact of their transgression. The rest either have pleaded to a lesser charge (our favorite: improper muffler), walked away with a prayer for judgment continued or got off entirely.

That's inexcusable. In a battle between a child and a motor vehicles, a child will lose every time. The punishment needs to reflect this seriousness -- and be enforced in court.

ALE leader needed to go

Last week in this space appeared an item on the Alcohol Law Enforcement's inability to keep track of its high-dollar and high-powered assault rifles. Two of the $1,500 firearms have gone missing in less than a year.

That might have been the thing that cost ALE Director Bill Chandler his job. Chandler resigned last week following news reports of the agency's fetish for pricey firearms.

Then again, it might have been the sheer number of weapons. All 104 of ALE's full-time agents carry these Sig Sauer guns. The Highway Patrol has just five.

Or it might have been Chandler's approval of the purchase of 150 new Kimber .45-caliber pistols for $1,055 each. ALE's current sidearms are just six years old.

Whatever it was, let's hope the new director is a little more cost-conscious and a little less image-conscious.