Gotta love small town USA

[jbkebert]

I was thinking about a recent thread. It was talking about the joys of states ticking off the Bradey campaign.

My kids go to a small school here in NE Kansas. The school had their annual history fair yesterday. Since I have been laid up for a couple weeks after a accident at work. Man this little fair was pretty cool with a huge plus. Walking around the gym and outside at the diffrent displays I counted 23 firearms. A 7th grader posing as the sherriff was carrying a Walker. Another Civil War era soldier a 6th grader was carrying a 1860 new army.

At the frontiersman display a complete camp to include knives, a custom made .36 caliber squirel rifle. The civil war camp had two cannons several muskets, including two Pedersoili flintlocks and a Pedersoili Sharps rifle.

The buffalo hunters has a pair of .72 caliber flintlocks. Among many other misc peices.

The pony express station included a couple misc ball and cap revolvers a cattlemans carbine. The kids acting as the pony express riders rode thier horses to school.

Nice to see in this day and age something like this still goes on. No problems no mass murders, plenty of firearms and black powder. The cannons were fired a few times through out the day. Just a bunch of folks going through learning about history the kids did a great job.

I purchased a couple things that I have never seen before and thought they were cool. The first was Cartouce candy. A wrapped up peice of paper you ripped the end off with your teeth and found a root beer ball. Then the powder charge was some sort of fun dip type stuff. Interesting item.
The other was a nice hiking/walking staff. Made a local man who is part of the local Potawatomi tribe. The top of the staff has been carved into what I would call a Indian wooden flute. It came with my choice of a hand carved totum. This guy could play it like magic. Me however not so much.

You really have to love small towns. The school trophey cases are full of football, wrestling, basketball trophies. Then other cases are full of livestock judging, rodeo, and agricultural trophies. A small town is good enough for me.

 

[TexasBill]

You don't live in a town; you live in a time warp. Sure sounds nice, though.

 

[9MMare]

Nice! I'd sure live further out of town if I could make a living that way (or get to where I make a living). I live in a rural community that is now a 'bedroom' community for Seattle metro area. It's now a mix of both and my 3 acres isnt near enough to give me the 'elbow' room and privacy I'd like and that small town flavor is mostly gone.

I do love that in your fair, kids were exposed to guns as part of life back then, in the context of their jobs, as the tools that they are/were.

 

[liberty -r- death]

I guess my kids are luck in that regard as well. While my experience was not the exactly the same we don't have the issues to deal with that many folks have in the city.

A couple of years ago for my son's science fair he and I built a trebuche' catapult large enough we had to take it to school in the back of the pick up truck. There were several other projects that would probably have been prohibited elsewhere. One was a spud cannon, another a model rocket bazooka, and another was a ballista. They had us all set up for full operation just off to the side of the playground equipment. It was a blast. I couldn't believe it when I asked teacher if we could build the catapult to the scale we did and she said yes as long as it was safe to use.

Still keep it in our garage to get out and play with once and while.

 

[AZ]

Sounds like a real nice place to grow up. If you took a pocket knife to the school I went to you were bound to be expelled.

 

[secamp32]

In my town, SWAT would have raided the place and arrested all those kids for possession of assault weapons.

 

[jbkebert]

I grew up in a similar sized school. Around 50-55 kids per grade. Not per class but per grade. I was expelled for 3 days in high school for fighting.

After the principal got through chewing me out about fighting. He asked if we had any deer and turkey on the old family farm. I spent my 3 day suspension hunting with the principal and drinking beer (after the guns were put away). Boy did I ever learn my lesson.

 

[GWARGHOUL]

I recall back in the 90's, when I was in school in Florida.. one could get suspended for 3-7 days for having a plastic gun on their key chain. True story.

 

[Rocketmedic]

Burroughs HS, in Ridgecrest, CA, had lots of rocketry and missile-related stuff for science fairs. Part of being next to China Lake NAWS. We also got free flyovers from the USN.

 

[Ky Larry]

Back in the late '60's when I was in high school, my friend and I would take our guns to school in his car so we could go hunting after school. The math teacher and the shop teacher hunted with us. Nowdays, schools will expell students for writing poetry they find objectible. We seemed to be a better nation when every home had a gun and a Bible in it.

 

[jbkebert]

I was in high school in the mid 90's not so long ago. The parking lot contained enough firepower to start a small revolt. No problems ever. We hunted before school, after school. Hell sometimes in the middle of the day a few boys would disapear. The opening day of deer season they may as well just cancelled class all together. I would assume somewhere in the neighborhood of 60% of the school came down with some illness that day.

Things are tougher now. The school bulletin board carries pictures of the kids and successful hunts. I think the picture of Keigans first buck has been up for the last 2 years. There are a few anit type teachers but for the most part hunting is still a viable issue. Its not tolerated during class but in the lunch room and other free times its fair game.

 

[KenW.]

In the '70s in my central school (graduating class of 35 students) in rural western new york I always had a rifle in the back window of my pickup. Never knew when you'd see a woodchuck that needed shooting.

Kept a buck folder on my belt in the school too. Farmboy ya know.

 

[medalguy]

South Carolina, 1962, social studies class. We were discussing the Civil War (an ever popular subject in SC) and I brought an 1863 Springfield musket to class and we discussed the guns of the time and why there were so many limbs missing adfter the war, the effects of large caliber bullets. I brought he gun to school on the bus in the morning and I was the hit of the bus. Left the rifle in the principal's office during the day until last period when I had social studies. Took it home with me on the bus again. Imagine that today.

 

[Readyrod]

The kids acting as the pony express riders rode thier horses to school.

Too cool.