Topic: Education

Clarksville Police offer ‘Teen Academy’

June 2, 2008 |

The Clarksville Police Department will be hosting TEEN Citizen Police Academy June 16th through June 20th, 2008. The course is free and the curriculum includes crime scene investigation, narcotic investigation, K-9 unit, mounted patrol and much more. The Teen Citizen Police Academy is for teens between the ages of 13-18. The times are 8:00 a.m. for Monday and 9:00 a.m. Tuesday through Friday, with pick up times at 3:00 p.m. each day.

The purpose of this academy is to create a better understanding between citizens and police through education. A copy of the application can be found at Police Headquarters, 135 Commerce Street, Clarksville, Tennessee. For more information you can contact Officer Joe Newman at 648-0656 ext 2304 or Officer David Cobb at ext. 2210.

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State priorities out of order

By Scott Beasley | June 1, 2008 |

With the recent budget shortfall the state is facing, I find it extremely ironic that the state government has prioritized a honky tonk party bunker before education. Perhaps the Governor fears a nuclear attack in Nashville. Perhaps he wishes Nashville to have a ballroom to host the next “Dancing with the Stars”. Perhaps he just wants a place where he can whine and dine future business prospects in the hopes of getting them liquored up enough to open up shop here. Who knows?

The nearly $20 million price tag, is only the projected budget, anyone want to bet it goes over? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for attracting businesses to the state, but what kind of a message are we sending here? The first highly hypocritical aspect is the state being forced to cut 2,000 jobs to meet the budget constraints next year. Would someone please tell me how this is supposed to work? We cut jobs, so we can spend $20 million on a banquet hall, so we can attract development in hopes of creating jobs? «Read the rest of this article»

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Where the elk and the bison roam …

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 29, 2008 |

Daytrips and Weekenders. As the summer months and the vacation/travel season approaches, we offer you, our readers, ideas for day trips and weekend excursions to places and events that can be done in a day, or maxed out over a weekend. Time and the high cost of gas fuel our efforts to find local entertainment and activities. This column will appear each Thursday through Labor Day.

Land Between the Lakes has a lot to offer, not the least of which a free roaming bison that, topping the scales at a ton (a very solid 2,000 pounds), leave no doubt as to who has the right of way on the roads in the prairie compound.

At up to 2000 pounds, adult bison can have the right of way ...

Discounting its paved road, the Elk and Bison Prairie is a step back in time to an age when these magnificent animals roamed free across the American landscape, the midwestern prairies. Though modern living and urban expansion has come perilously close to decimating native prairie landscape, many groups across the midwest are laboring intensively to save and/or restore these landscapes. It’s enviromentally sound and historically smart. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure, Education | No Comments

A little respect, please!

By Christine Anne Piesyk | May 26, 2008 |

How about a little respect, please! A show of good manners.

For the second time in as many years, I attended a local graduation ceremony for a grandchild. It’s been an eye opening experience on the issue of pride, respect, and just plain and obviously old-fashioned etiquette. The parental pride was evident. More so was the absence of respect and good manners towards other parents and the graduates they love.

Okay, maybe I am out of touch. But when a student about to graduate dons dress pants, a white shirt, a tie, or a new dress and shiny high heeled sandals, when they don the robes and the caps with tassels, when they walk proudly in to the strains of Pomp and Circumstance, it’s a powerful moment, their moment. «Read the rest of this article»

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CDF: Break the ‘cradle to prison’ pipeline

By Turner McCullough Jr. | May 24, 2008 |

Interest Group Meets with Children’s Defense Fund Staffers. See meeting as a call to end adult hypocrisy, neglect and abandonment of children and America’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline Crisis.

A lively group discussion among Clarksville citizens marked a meeting with organizational training representatives of the Children’s Defense Fund. Lissa McCloud, CDF Tennessee Organizing Director, led the gathering. She and Elandria Williams of the Highlander Research and Education Center are crossing the state to meet with local groups. Their mission: to gauge communities’ perception of and desire to address the glaring disparity in minority male youth who fail to complete high school and are subsequently being fed into the prison and judicial system. «Read the rest of this article»

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Memphis Sound taps local youth for summer internship

By Turner McCullough Jr. | May 24, 2008 |

Sponsors sought for Drum and Bugle Corps Ensemble internship

Jason Van Hodge is feeling pretty good about himself. The Kenwood High School student has been accepted for membership in the Memphis Sound Drum and Bugle Corps 2008 Summer Internship. He was selected from several hundred youth across the country for one of only 100 positions in this competitive performing ensemble. As a member of the Memphis Sound Drum and Bugle Corps he will serve as an ambassador for our community in this nationally touring ensemble.

The Memphis Sound Drum and Bugle Corps is a member of the Mid-South Youth Performing Arts Association, a 501(C)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the performing arts education of young people in the Mid-South. The mission of the Memphis Sound Drum & Bugle Corps is to release the full potential of today’s youth by promoting self-awareness, acceptance, respect, dedication, and teamwork through the participation in the competitive marching arts. «Read the rest of this article»

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Juvenile Justice Director raises the question: What about the children?

By Terry McMoore | May 23, 2008 |

The citizens of Clarksville were treated to a wealth of information at a recent community forum hosted by the Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) Task Force. The program was held at the Clarksville - Montgomery County Public Library and included a reception for speakers and guests. Ms. Debrah Stafford, Juvenile Justice Director for the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, opened the forum with a strong power point presentation titled What About the Children?

Every day in America, 540 children are arrested for various crimes, though in many cases there are mitigating situations that cause these children to come in contact with the system. Ms. Stafford suggests that we must not be “in such a hurry” to just lock up a child.

One major finding by juvenile justice professionals is that more attention should be paid to the mental heath of the child. Children in juvenile justice often have mental health and substance abuse problems, have a higher percentage of learning disabilities, have frequent histories of trauma abuse/neglect, violence in the home, and/or have parents with substance abuse problems.

«Read the rest of this article»

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General Assembly adjourns; approves ‘09 budget with “no new taxes”

By Tennessee Republicans | May 22, 2008 |

GOP Week In Review: General Assembly adjourns “Sine Die”

The 105th General Assembly adjourned “Sine Die” this week, concluding a contentious session in which lawmakers were forced to make difficult decisions regarding the lottery scholarship program and the budget. Ultimately, legislators came together to form compromise legislation that will greatly benefit Tennesseans by allowing more students access to college, passing a budget with no new taxes, and providing seniors with more healthcare options.

Budget passes both chambers at eleventh hour

The 2008-2009 budget was passed late Wednesday night, and is lauded by Republicans as a fiscally responsible one in which reasonable cuts in growth were made. The total budget, which includes federal dollars, for 2008-2009 is $27.5 billion, $245 million less than originally proposed in January. The 2007-2008 total budget was $27.75 billion, $250 million more than this year’s. The state portion of this year’s budget was $13.6 billion, a $200 million decrease from 2007-2008.

April 2008 was the worst month on record for revenue growth in Tennessee, and the third quarter of this fiscal year was the second worst quarter on record. Projections show that the fourth quarter—of which the state is halfway through—could be even worse. «Read the rest of this article»

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