community

Did you know there is a proposed amendment to the Florida Consitution for Religious Freedom?

Let's take a quick look at it:

"An individual or entity may not be barred from participating in any public program because of religion."

That looks reasonable but then the amendment goes on to remove this next section, a prohibition of using state funds as follows:

"No revenue of the state or any political subdivision or agency thereof shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution."

For years our schools have been teaching our children to read, to write, and other subjects to provide them with the necessary knowledge to successfully graduate from High School.

However, crucial subjects which are part of every citizen's life, have been left aside not considering the fact that without these "subjects" our kids are growing in complete ignorance of the laws that rule our society. Rules that will affect them soon or later, in one way or another.

We teach our kids what is right and wrong, the same way our parents did to us 20 years ago! The truth is that, ever since, the laws have become more and more complex and they have extended to touch the limit of juveniles too.

A woman in Middleburg has been killed by her own Pit Bulls, and her son was attacked as well but not seriously hurt.  I can recall as a child when German Shepherds were the dangerous breed, then came Dobermans, Rotweilers and now Pits.

I love animals but I do not like this breed.  No doubt there are those out there who love them, but for me personally I just don't like them.  People will say "it is all in how you treat the dog" and I disagree with that too when a particular breed has just been so overbred.  Like I said these cycles with aggressive breeds of dogs has been here before.  These dogs had never caused a problem before, and they turned on their adult owner.  Both dogs are dead now. 

One more time a predator gets away from punishment! It was on the news tonight: a 9 year old boy was brutally raped by a predator and now this criminal is walking free on the streets again!

The boy was selling magazines for his school door to door. No names were revealed but does it really matter? It could have been your child or mine! It is an every day new in our communities, one more child, one more life ruined for the victims and their families.

What is it going to take to stop these monsters from hurting our precious children? No precautions are enough to prevent a tragedy like that family on the news tonight. Some predators even have the audacity of entering the victim's homes to abduct them!

As a police officer, one of my duties is to inform and protect the children in my community. I have been giving presentations for the kids at school since 2003, and I can see how their safety guard has changed from a naive attitude to an awareness against predators. I believe that everything we can teach them is worth, especially if these teachings might save their lives one day.

About a week ago I came across Ms. Pamela Bennett who is the Victim Advocate , Section Chief for the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit in Jacksonville. She works for the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Florida and I knew through her that an enormous effort is taking place at this time to catch these criminals and remove them from the streets so our children can live without fear.

Quigley House will hold its Annual Meeting at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27. The event will take place at the Orange Park Woman’s Club, 130 Kingsley Ave. in Orange Park.

The public is invited to attend what executive director Sharon Youngerman describes as “the state of the union” meeting. She will install new officers, discuss what the shelter has accomplished in the last year and where they hope to be next year.

The comprehensive domestic violence and sexual assault shelter has received some press lately for its addition of an on-site kennel, making it the second in the state and one of few in the nation to provide facilities for abused women’s pets. Animals often bear the brunt of abuse after a victim leaves.

From now through Sept. 30, going out to eat is an easy way to help kids with cancer.

Chili's Grill and Bar has partnered with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in the fourth annual in-restaurant Create-A-Pepper to Fight Childhood Cancer campaign.

Eating at Chili's counts for more on Monday, Sept. 24, when they will donate 100% of its restaurant profits to St. Jude's. Last year's campaign raise a combined $5.2 million for the research-based hospital.

Other ways to help:

* Make a donation directly to St. Jude in restaurant and color a pepper
* Purchase customizable Create-a-Pepper t-shirts, dog tags or gift cards (St. Jude's will receive $1 from every $25 card purchased).
* Visit www.createapepper.com for more information and opportunities.

Congratulations to the Green Cove Springs Police Department for putting together their second Teen Summit, at the Jr High School.  I hope the kids who attended learned good life lessons. We appreciate that fact that the police department is keeping our kids in mind.   

'Young and pretty' are valued qualities in more than just pop stars and models.

Animals beyond the universally cute baby stage often find themselves looked-over if they should find themselves in a shelter or at animal control facilities.

Take Marisa and Melinda, for example. Both girls are domestic short hair (DSH) 'torties', with a multi-colored swirl in their coats. Both have been at the Safe Animal Shelter in Middleburg since 2005 as very young kittens. And both are still at the shelter today.

There's nothing wrong with them. They're just different.

As Paul Bowker points out in his Friday, 14 Sept. column, Halloween is already in the air - or at least in the candy aisles.

Seeing signs of the holiday is not that surprising, with the eagerness of children and corporations alike anticipating October 31. But I started seeing talking pirate heads and spring-loaded skeletons in the second week of August. Even a major All Hallow's aficionado like myself has to admit that could be jumping the gun.

But it did get me thinking: Where do the boys and ghouls in Clay County go come October 31?

I want to work some magic and serious fun, photos and events into the My Clay Sun issues leading up to Halloween, provided Clay County bloggers can tell me where the good stuff is!