(UT) Poster pulled of gun-toting football players

[Drizzt]

Poster pulled of gun-toting football players

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KANAB -- A poster featuring members of the camouflauge-clad Kanab High School football team toting automatic weapons and a high-powered rifle has been pulled after some complained it was inappropriate.

The picture featured seven senior-class members of the team decked out in bulletproof vests and military helmets with weapons borrowed from the Kane County Sheriff's Office.

The poster was supposed to show the team's determination and toughness, the school's principal, Doug Jacobs said.

The idea for the poster's theme came from the students.

"Most the time (the poster) is not even noticed, but this time it has the potential to be a catastrophe," said Jacobs.

Nearly 40 businesses paid $50 each to have their logo placed on the annual poster, which carries the team's schedule.

Jacobs said he had reservations, but approved the poster.

"When I saw it, my reaction was at first mixed, then hesitant, then cautious. The last thing we want is something that could be misconstrued."

A new, toned-down version of the poster was printed on Friday and will be distributed, he said.

Each year team members try to outdo the previous year's poster. Last year team members dressed like Cowboys -- the team's nickname -- and toted guns, but that photo raised no eyebrows, Jacobs said.

Football coach Buckey Orton said he wasn't bothered by this year's effort because it was intended to display a sense of toughness and lend positive support to U.S. troops.

"The seniors wanted to do something along the lines of the Marines," he said. "Something like 'the proud, the few, the seniors.' "

Sheriff Lamont Smith approved the use of weapons and vests from his office.

"They (the weapons) were meant to just be props," Smith said. "They were all unloaded and someone from (the Sheriff's Office) was there to supervise their use when the picture was taken. It surprises me that people would take offense."

Traveling for a game on Friday with North Sevier High, team members were not available for comment, but one mother said her son was disappointed.

Lisa Livingston said her son Matt, a wide receiver, was surprised anyone would find the material questionable.

http://www.newutah.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=63588

...and in a fine example of irony, on the same page as this story is an ad for the production of Annie Get Your Gun..... :banghead:

 

[yorec]

Yeah... PC marches on.

Those posters are supposed to be fun. That one probably was.

 

[TheOtherOne]

The poster

 

[GT]

That's a great poster.

We need to get copies of the original before they wussed it out.

G

 

[LaVere]

Thats a great poster. The foot ball team supporting our soldiers.
reminds of a wwII poster or Norman Rockwell.


I would like a jpg copy of it.

 

[Spot77]

Wow....the Sheriff's Dept sure packs some serious hardware up there!

 

[LaVere]

Norman Rockwell look alike

 

[Geno]

This one is quite simple.

Lest anyone accuse me of touting my degree, my education or anything else, my intent here is to explain the why of the error to the decision. I have been an educator for 21 years, with a Ph.D. in K-12 Educational Administration. It is that same which I instruct as a university professor. I also was a public school teacher and high school/middle school principal for many years.

A recent as 1993, this poster would have caught attention , some complaints, but in most of school not much more. However, after the mid-1990s gun legislation, even possessing a firearm on campus became illegal. For my part, we took a different view. Most of my middle school and high school students were hunters. Especially during pheasant season, it was impossible to drive home, retrieve your shotgun and other supplies and arrive to hunt. So, our students used to leave their firearms locked in their trunks. That all changed basically overnight. The new word..."ZERO TOLERANCE!"

Many administrators take legislation to be God's gospel. Not because it is, but because they fear decision-making. They fear having to wear their personal conviction on their sleeve for all public to see, and to stand up and say, this is the law verbatim, this is my interpretation of the law, this is the alleged infraction and this is my assessment and prescribed punishment (if any). Believe me you, you would be hard-pressed to find any administrator who was more strict than I was. I disciplined every infraction by the book, but tended to prescribe minimal amount of discipline.

I interpreted the law. Other administrator do not. ZERO TOLERANCE means ZERO TOLERANCE. They do not understand the law. Now, more than ever, our nation's schools are plagued, and I chose my word correctly, "plagued" by administrators who have very little education, very little experience, nearly no common sense, and nearly no tolerance to public criticism. Just because I student walks into shop class toting a hunting knife does not mean he brought it to school knowing it to be illegal. It does not mean he brought it to kill someone. In fact, he brought it to shop to repair the broken handle. He brought it directly to my office to report the fact. Factually, I could have expelled him. a strict interpretation would dictate that I was obligated to expel him. Factually, no.

Here, we have a case of an administrator who lacked the strength to say to the students, this is what is going to happen. Their will be complaint, even if one person. We do now have zero tolerance laws that are to be enforced. The idea is interesting, I see and agree with your point, but I can not permit such a poster to be generated for display on school grounds.

What I am saying is, the administrator failed to read his community. He should have known better, and if not ask around the school to others. I personally and professionally am surprised that he did not see this one coming. I have viewed the poster and can say certainly it was tastefully done, supervised and all. But, with today's ZERO TOLERANCE, guns, pictures of guns, objects made in the shape of guns, or even talk of guns on school grounds will not be tolerated.

Personally, and related to “firearms,” I believe it's a shame that schools are being forced to close their competitive shooting teams. And Hunter Safety, which I instructed in our school, is being cut back severely. But there too, the type "weapon" we used for H.S. was not the assault rifle. So, my take, an unfortunate waste of the businesses money. Once again, local control, as should be in education, has been turned over to the state, or worse to federalism. The ultimate oxymoron is the "U.S. Dept. of Ed." per its failure to appear in our Constitution. That aside, this administrator messed up.

He should have seen this one miles away under the guise of ZERO TOLERANCE. It appears that he did not have the strength to say to the team and coach, "We can not have this." He even notes hesitance at first. That was his common sense speaking. He should have heeded the warning. In every section of the Educational Leadership courses that I instruct, I hear a remarkable number of cases very similar to this.

Doc2005

 

[Sistema1927]

Zero Tolerance = Zero Intelligence

 

[t driver]

Zero Tolerance = Zero Intelligence

Absolutely.

The team last year toted guns and there was no problem. Why now? People are ignorant and want to force their choices on others.
Come on. this is a poster, (darn cool in my opinion) done safely, under supervision, with good intentions. Take it for what it is and leave it at that.

 

[GunGoBoom]

Seems to me that the most important fact has not yet been addressed in this thread (unless I missed it): WHERE was the location at which the picture was taken? If it wasn't school grounds, then what school policy is invoked (whether zero tolerance or otherwise)? Or, is there actually a rule that no pictures of guns can be present on campus? In which case, it's time to purge the library of books about war which have pictures.

And, in the toned-down version, what did they do - just photoshop the rifles pink and baby blue or what?

 

[Spreadfire Arms]

nice! fingers off the triggers too......

 

[Greg L]

I noticed that as well Spreadfire, someone has been training them well. More likely the entire community, if not active shooters, is at least quite familiar with them. It makes the whole putting up with the zero tollerance that much more puzzling.

 

[357wheelgunner]

I had no idea they made bullet proof vests that big

 

[Car Knocker]

Another article with a bit more depth:

Gun-toting poster misfires in Kanab
By Mark Havnes
The Salt Lake Tribune





Seniors on the Kanab High School Cowboys football team are dressed in military gear and carry weapons in a promotional poster that has caused some controversy in the town. (Mark Havnes/The Salt Lake Tribune)

KANAB - A poster featuring members of the Kanab High School football team decked out in camouflage bullet-resistant vests, military helmets, khakis and holding a variety of automatic weapons and a high-powered rifle is destined to become a collectors' item.
On Friday the principal said the posters will be pulled back from the businesses where they were distributed this week and replaced with a toned-down version.
"No more guns," declared Doug Jacobs of the poster featuring seven senior-class members of the football team. The photo was meant to show determination and toughness.
Some 38 businesses in the southern Utah town paid $50 each to have their logo placed on the annual poster that also features the team's schedule. The money goes to support the team.
The decision to pull followed complaints that showing the heavily armed students was inappropriate.
"Most the time [the poster] is not even noticed, but this time it has the potential to be a catastrophe," said Jacobs. "We have fixed the problem."
He said he had approved the poster - with some reservation.
"When I saw it, my reaction was at first mixed, then hesitant, then cautious. The last thing we want is something that could be misconstrued."
The new poster, printed Friday, pictures members of the team dressed in their red-and-white uniforms.
Team members try to outdo the previous year's poster in conveying a sense of toughness, said Jacobs. Last year's poster featured team members dressed like Cowboys - the team's nickname. They also wore guns, but it did not raise eyebrows.
Football coach Buckey Orton said the poster did not bother him because he knew the message it was intended to convey: positive support for U.S. troops.
"The seniors wanted to do something along the lines of the Marines," he said. "Something like 'the proud, the few, the seniors.' "
He said the seniors came up with the idea and arranged to get the weapons from the Kane County Sheriff's Office.
"It was just intended to be fun," the coach said.
The football team was traveling Friday for its game with North Sevier High and members were unavailable for comment, though the mother of one team member posing in the poster said her son was disappointed with the recall order.
"He was surprised by the reaction," said Lisa Livingston, of her son, Matt, a wide receiver.
"He said, 'Mom, I didn't think people would find the material questionable,' " she said. "My guess is that those offended by [the poster] are in the minority."
Sheriff Lamont Smith said he approved the use of the weapons and vests used by his office's SWAT team.
"They [the weapons] were meant to just be props," Smith said. "They were all unloaded and someone from [the Sheriff's Office] was there to supervise their use when the picture was taken. It surprises me that people would take offense. It was just meant to show the team was tough."
But some who saw the picture did take offense and called the city's newspaper to complain.
Dixie Brunner, editor of the Southern Utah News, said she received several calls from residents expressing concern that the poster was in bad taste.
"What kind of statement do guns send?" asked Brunner, who passed on those concerns to the principal, Jacobs. "It is not appropriate for the school to promote guns."
Marina Johnson, whose 17-year-old daughter, Danielle, is a senior at the school, had not seen the poster, but said Friday from its description, it sounded extreme.
"Books and candy are OK. Automatic weapons are bad for school," said Johnson. "You don't need weapons to play football, or you wouldn't have much of an opponent."
The Shell gas station in town still had a poster displayed on its counter at noon, but clerk Susan Bray said she did not see a problem with it and customers have not complained.
"Not even those passing through," she said.
Station operator Aaron Bonham had not even noticed the poster, but quickly summed up the controversy when he heard about it.
"Only in Kanab," he said.
[email protected]

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2997782

 

[zahc]

I'm with GGB. I've encountered this many times in my professional student 'career'.

There is, as has been explained, a tendancy to go by the letter of the law and show no personal judgement and go by the rules.

"I would like to let you do that, and I don't like the rules either, and you are not hurting anything, and you had no ill intent, and the spirit of the law was not violated, and I realize all this, but you know what, I'm going to fine/suspend/confiscate/write up whatever you anyway. I have to, it's my job, I'm not allowed to use my personal discretion."

However a parallel problem, is that if you are going just by the book, there had better be a damn good book with every possible rule spelled out in legalese exactly what is allowed--and there almost never is. And if you are going to use a zero intelligence policy, then I am justified, and should be allowed to do whatever is NOT in there-but I almost never am!

So many want to say 'I'm just doing my job, I have to enforce what the rules say' without recognizing the converse consequence, and that is, when you tell me I can't do something, I want to see exactly where in the book it says I can't. Because you are not allowed to use your personal discretion remember?

I should not be expected to use common sense, courtesy and respect for authority to govern my behavior in an environment where you don't use common sense, courtesy and respect for my liberty in enforcing infractions. I do anyway, because that's my style. It's not a level playing field.

What it boils down to is authority figures using their power to both discretionarily sanction those under them in the traditional manner of 'because you are expected not to do that', and then ALSO in situations where their discretion might cause them to let it slide, using the rule book as an excuse to sanction them anyway, because they like flexing whatever power it is they have.

 

[bogie]

Looks awful like our evil military to me. Methinx a few of our currently serving soldier among us need to drop the local paper some nasty e-mails.

Bogie
Former PR Hack

 

[Kim]

Thas is one cool poster. Only now in this poor PC country of ours it is censored. I want to buy one NOW.

 

[Standing Wolf]

...it has the potential to be a catastrophe...

Thousands slaughtered for no good reason, I'm sure.

 

[Correia]

This is especially stupid if you've ever been to Kanab. It is a tiny town. And everybody, and I mean everybody is armed. In rural Utah, if you don't have a gun, you must be some sort of godless communist. Fingers are off the triggers because probably most of the kids in that picture have popped a few coyotes after football practice. Depending on the town, probably 80% of the male teenagers in rural Utah know how to shoot a rifle pretty darn well.

 

[dasmi]

"When I saw it, my reaction was at first mixed, then hesitant, then cautious.

What a feeble little man.

 

[Old Fuff]

I think I see where the objections came from ...

>> Dixie Brunner, editor of the Southern Utah News, said she received several calls from residents expressing concern that the poster was in bad taste.
"What kind of statement do guns send?" asked Brunner, who passed on those concerns to the principal, Jacobs. "It is not appropriate for the school to promote guns." <<

Sometimes it isn't always the school administators a by themselves.

 

[Wayne D]

Dixie Brunner, editor of the Southern Utah News, said she received several calls from residents expressing concern that the poster was in bad taste.

Just how many are several? Two or three or hundreds? Did the complainers even have children in the school? The problem as I see it, is that nobody will stand their ground. A few people whine and everybody jumps through their butts to make them happy. Just once I'd like to see someone stand up and say no.

 

[GT]

Yeah it's all bollocks.... but I want a poster.
Any Utahans able to snag a few?

G

 

[Chrontius]

Hm. If they want to make it suddenly PC again, add a big yellow ribbon with "Seniors Support Our Troops" in the background. Try to take that down will you, Mr. Principal.