Man voted against school levy after district paid for armed guards
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RIDGEFIELD, Wash. – Several Clark County school districts are asking for money to run and keep their schools in shape, but recent decisions by one district has some longtime supporters rethinking their votes.
David Dansky, in particular, is not happy about armed guards at Ridgefield High School.
Dansky taught for decades in a tough Bay Area high school. He says he called the Ridgefield superintendent's office to talk about the gun issue. He was told he'd get a call back, but it never came. That led him to do something he’d never done before, which was to vote against a school levy – the first time in his 75 years.
"I didn't feel good doing it, but I felt it was something I had to do," he said. "Let's say they needed $40,000 for an academic program: I could just hear the superintendent saying, 'I'm sorry, it's not in the budget.'"
Dansky wonders where the district got $40,000 to hire armed security guards.
He used to own a security company. He's not anti-guns, but he doesn't really like them on campus. But more than that, he doesn't like the way the district went about putting them there: without talking to voters and local police.
When his opinion went online, "I actually got about five or six phone calls from people who said we're in the same boat," Dansky said. "We're strong supporters of public education, but we don't feel good about the way this was handled."
Ridgeview hardware store owner, Scott Hughes voted "yes" on the levy and thinks there are other ways to address the gun issue.
"But to vote 'no' on a levy, especially an operating levy, to give us books and things like that for the schools, it's just unfortunate," Hughes said. "I understand some people's frustrations with things."
From the looks of it, the three-year, more than $14 million levy will pass. And even though Dansky voted against it, "I almost hope it still passes, believe it or not. I don't want to hurt the kids, but I hope there is enough of a 'no' vote, at least, that the people in charge will take notice and think about things a little more carefully before they make these decisions," he said.
Dansky talks about dealing with kids the way Mr. Kotter used to deal with "The Sweathogs" on the show "Welcome Back Kotter:" By using your mouth instead of a gun.
The results from the Ridgefield vote and other districts will start coming in after 8 p.m.
At least the high school did something rather than just talk about it and do nothing. If they can come up with a better solution to keep the kids safe then do it. Until then be glad for what you have.
Did I get redirected to The Onion?
Local Area Man changes mind after things are done that he disagrees with.
Oh, it's just news that isn't.. news. Gotcha.
I don't think this guys experience teaching in a 'tough bay area school' a million years ago is relative to the current environment.
If slow thinking folks like this are going to stop common sense measures that can protect our children then maybe they should be held accountable when another monster shoots up the next gun free zone.
Just another attempt by the media to run every ant-gun story they can find.Â
Dansky, "use your mouth instead of a gun."  Good luck with that next time an armed gun man runs rampant in the hallways. Infact Mr. Dansky I vote you to be the one to use your mouth on that person. Perhaps at that time in your life will you realize how foolish you sound. Â
 @jpdx00 That's how the police captured Christopher Dorner, dontcha know. They used their mouths instead of guns. Just like the Marines in Beiruit who weren't allowed ammunition because the State Department didn't want to offend the citizens.
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WHo the F cares what this mans vote or what motivated it is.  Is this what news has come to now. Lets go out get one mans opinion, that matches our ideology btw, and write a story about it as though its news? KATU has to keep guns in the news. Isnt it about time for another negative sweet cakes story?
Here we go again - likening the ideal utopia of what the world SHOULD be to a TV comedy. No wonder we've lost sense of reality.
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Maybe the school can get their money from the NRA.
 @correct I'd much rather they tax the Democrat party to death, you guys should be paying for all my gun stuff. Cleaning supplies, bullets, range membership, etc. I personally think since I made the choice to get involved with guns and now I have the gun-cancer, I require you to carry some of the financial burden since I can't afford all the new guns I need.Â
Maybe we can start selling off all your hot air and donate it.
 @Jeepers Maybe we can hold a raffle, with the proceeds going to correcting his icon.
I'm really hoping that Mr. Dansky wasn't a social studies teacher.  He'd realize that every time the school board needs to make a decision they don't put it to a vote of the people.  He voted a representative to the school board to do that for him.  If he doesn't like the way they're handling the business of the schools then next time they're up for reelection you vote for the other guy.  If enough people agree with you then things will change.  Now go whine somewhere else.
David Dansky is entitled to his vote, he is entitltled to vote it in any way he feels necessary. This isn't news. I applaud him for casting his vote.
NO new money for schools, budget the money like everyone else is doing.. NO NO NO...
I am all for armed guards in schools if they tax every bullet sold at about $1 each. That hopefully would cover the cost of 10,000 guards at $40k/year.
@dynamited77 so you think only rich people should shoot guns? Are poor people to stupid to shoot guns in your opinion?
I voted no because I have no use for the corrupt teachers' unions who are responsible for destroying the education system in this country. Â Maybe he and people like him are the reason for this problem. Â Being a teacher, or ex-teacher, and voting yes everytime proves he doesn't care about education, just his personal income. Â Now if the armed guards became members of the teacher's unions, we wouldn't be seeing this story.
 @ShadowÂ
God. Â Seriously, why do people like you even bother to post your opinions? Â You think the teachers are the problem? Â Because...freedumb? Â There's nothing okay with your opinion. Â It's neither logical or factual, and it's certainly not responsible. Â Crawl back under your rock, wouldya? Â You're nothing but a revenant of the Tea Party, that collection of Know-Nothing Party imitators who have nothing but bile and spite to offer in any policy debate. Â America's had enough of you guys. Â Move along.
@Diogenes @Shadow And your post is different than that in what way? Please make sure to polish both of those jack boots to a high gloss. The rest of us cringe at your approach oh master of the opine!
@agateriver
Well, first of all, I rarely make claims I don't also support with evidence. Second of all, I notice you didn't say I was wrong about you and your ilk. The end.
So what?  I've  been voting NO on bond issues my whole adult life... no one ever wrote an article about me.  see, no i have to go sulk.
Joe English....Are you using this article to shill for gun control?
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 @Mr. Carbon Footprint He's paid by the AP - it's a requirement.
"Dansky talks about dealing with kids the way Mr. Kotter used to deal with "The Sweathogs" on the show "Welcome Back Kotter:" By using your mouth instead of a gun."
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Well next time there is an insane shooter bent on killing as many as he can we will call you and you can put your mouth out there and protect the kids for, oh, about 0.5 seconds as the shooter blows your brains out.
 @RalphCramden Yeah, that is exactly what happen about three weeks ago when a Oregon teen shot a bullying classmate and a un-armed school staff talked him out of harming anyone else. Shezz, who would have thought level heads would prevail over gut instincts?
 @dynamited77  @RalphCramden I discount ONE lucky incident  where a fool took a mouth to a gunfight and by the will of God , survived. This situation was COMPLETELY different than what happened in New Town ,Springfield , VA tech , Columbine . I am sure there were  people there that tried to talk these guys down but dies in the process. Â
@RalphCramden @Civ @dynamited77 Yep but liberals don't mind comparing apples and oranges and calling them the same thing or even maybe the same color...
 @Civ  @dynamited77Â
It was a case where the kid only wanted to hurt one person so talking him down was easy since the kid was already predisposed to being talked down.
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Those who want to kill as many as possible and don't really care who they are will just shoot those who want to talk them out of it.
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dynamited77 thinks that irrational folks can be reasoned with. He has no experience with irrational people who just want to hurt others.
In case any of you 2nd Amendment fans are interesting, my spidey-sources tell me that Colorado is looking to ban high-caps, and Magpul just announced that in preparation for the fact that the state is preparing to effectively drive them out of business, they have already prepared facilities elsewhere and are ready to ship out without supply interruption. Magpul employs around 1000 employees and provides tens of millions of dollars to the Colorado economy.
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Naturally, other states are ready to receive them. It's up to Magpul to decide now whether they'll even do business with the state of Colorado after this hassle.
 @Playanekes Interesting. I'm currently watching Midway, trying to score some pmag 20 m3's. Magpul just can't make them fast enough.Â
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On another note, hoping Remington leaves it's NY site, and then refuses to sell to it's old state.
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 @trololol  @Playanekes Sure, project some more. And while you're at it, how about a big cup of STHU?
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Respectfully, of course.
 @PlayanekesÂ
Barrett refused to do business with California and won't even supply parts or service to police after they banned his guns to civilians.
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Cheaper Than Dirt will not sell to anyone in California either.
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What would be cool is if all the firearm and ammo dealers refused to sell to NY and California.
@RalphCramden @Playanekes What would be cool is if these gun companies refused to sell their weapons of mass destruction to ANYONE!
@NotAChance @peckishpete @Playanekes @RalphCramden I'm already a British citizen as well as an EU citizen, an American citizen and a Canadian citizen. I have a lot of options when civil war breaks out in this country. Do you?
@peckishpete " . . . only 35 gun-related murders . . . " That in spite of the fact that no one in England has guns. Gun bans really prevented gun violence 100%.
@peckishpete@Playanekes@RalphCramden
I used to live in the UK, and I can tell you that "bobbies" can carry weapons, but not all of them carry. The police on foot patrol rarely carry, especially if they are just monitoring the Friday night madness in the nightlife districts. However, in some places where crime is bad (because of the drug gangs who actually DO use firearms), police are allowed to carry weapons. In Bristol, most police I saw were armed. The Special Police Group, the British version of SWAT, also use weapons. Go to Scotland Yard and witness the number of British police sporting side arms and SP5s along the perimeter of the building. Make no mistake: British police do carry guns, and they are trained to use them.
As far as civilians go, they cannot own handguns, but they can still own long guns for hunting, as long as they are not semi-auto. I know this, because I used to go deer hunting with a couple of guys from a Para regiment. I even owned the rifle (Weatherby, of course) I used.
All this talk about how the UK is so great because the civies don't have guns is a bunch of ballyhoo. Many Brits feel that the government overreacted to the Dunblaine massacre since now only criminals sport handguns (the black market for guns is busier than ever). Even my pacifist friends across the pond think that the gun ban will not do much to deter crime.
 @NotAChance  @peckishpete  @PlayanekesÂ
Funny...8-}
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It used to mean something but no longer. I was watching two girls at the 7-11 and they were joking around. Once wanted to get one kid of beer and the other wanted another kind of beer. Finally one girl called the other girls a racist. Both were white and I laughed out loud over her comment.
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The left can take a serious word and make it a joke in just a few years.
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The latest word they will make cheap and worthless is toxicologist. I am sure that a real toxicologist will not appreciate his medical degree being made to look cheap by the left.
 @peckishpete  @Playanekes  @RalphCramden I hear England has a fairly open immigration process.
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Perhaps you should consider it.
 @RalphCramden  @peckishpete  @Playanekes Racist!
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Sorry, couldn't help myself...
 @peckishpete  @Playanekes Â
Can't compare one country with another without looking at the culture and demographics.
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If you want to compare countries then the US is every safe compared to most African countries where the murder rate is off the charts. Most are not even recorded.
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Piers Morgan is an idiot who clearly has an agenda and can't think things out. He is emotionally driven which is why the left is attracted to him.
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First of all the US has 5 times the population of the UK. So comparing numbers is really lying and Piers knows this.
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Second of all most of the murders in the US are committed by blacks. The Justice department and FBI statistics back this up.
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Being that we have 4-5 times the number of blacks in the US compared to the UK based on the US census and UK census it would be expected to see more gun crime in the US.
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Third, the US has a serious gang problem versus the UK. A very high percentage of the deaths are gang related. Take that out of the picture and the US is much safer than the UK.
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Many of the blacks in the UK have been assimilated into society and don't see whites as the enemy. The UK also is more civilized that the US. If you look at the history of the UK is was very violent in the past and over time their culture has evolved.
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I fully expect to be called racist for presenting facts that anyone with any internet skill sets can find to be accurate but then again, everyone is a racist who doesn't speak the leftist company line. I really don't care what some lunatic leftist says.
@Playanekes @RalphCramden I don't know Playanekes. The "bobbies" in England don't need guns for law enforcement. I wonder why. Perhaps its because no one has guns in England so the "bobbies" don't have to worry about getting shot. As Piers Morgan pointed, there were only 35 gun-related murders in England ALL of last year. Maybe we should take a lesson from England and other countries than have banned guns.
 @peckishpete  @RalphCramden  @PlayanekesÂ
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What would be cool is I could flap my arms and fly around the moon. Go tell the police and DHS to give up their weapons of mass destruction, because they're among the biggest customers.
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Why do the Portland police carry weapons of mass destruction, Pete?
 @peckishpete  @RalphCramden  @Playanekes yeah especially those pesky criminals that seem to ignore laws, that will surely fix everything....
 @RalphCramden  @Playanekes It's happening more and more - quite a few companies are putting it where it matters!  Love it!
Up your nose with a rubber hose, Mr. Kotter !
Oh my god someone voted no on a school bond. God forbid!!!!!!! Terrible story k2 you guys are bored
 @Fuelman76 Gotta keep the gun rhetoric going.I refuse to vote for a Democrat or for a school levy ever again, but, nobody's interviewing any of us, are they? That's 'cause you and me aren't going to tell the public what the anti-gun publishers wants the public to hear.
I am trying to figure out why this is even news! Joe blow decides to vote no, ok,well, not everyone votes yes. Very interesting!
@stoneloc I'm with you. Isn't there a weiner dog on the loose somewhere to report on?