20
Dec

CROSSFIT SUFFOLK: Powered By SPARTAN PERFORMANCE

NO 11:15-12:15 session TODAY!

 

For time:

20 push-ups

20 hollow rocks

20 air squats

200 meter run

20 push jerk 95/65#

20 walking lunge steps

200 meter run

20 wall ball (20/14#)

20 burpees

 

IMG_8339

 

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 Schedule Modifications

 NO 11:15-12:15 session on Thursday, December 20th–BE ADVISED.

Christmas Eve, Monday, December 24th 9-10am, 10am-11am ONLY, NO early morning session, NO evening sessions

Christmas Day, Tuesday, December 25th  NO SESSIONS

Wednesday, December 26th 8:30am-9:30am, NO other morning sessions, Regular evening sessions

Thursday, Friday, Saturday:  Regular schedule

Monday, December 31, 9-10am, 10am-11am, 11am-12pm ONLY, NO Early Morning or Evening Sessions

Tuesday, January 1, 2013 NO SESSIONS

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Interested in having the supplements you like delivered to Spartan Performance for you to pick up?  Interested in making one less trip to the store you currently use for supplements?  Dan S., crossfitter and the owner of Supreme Blends in East Islip may be able to help you!  Speak to us for more details.

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Thoughts On The Horror at Sandy Hook

We keep getting asked about our thoughts on the horrible murder of young children and staff members at Sandy Hook last week.  Most of the people asking know of my and Lisa's former profession and want to hear the insight of a former law-enforcement official, I guess.

I understand the questioning isn't about what I think of the mass murder, but what I think the solution might be.  The long term solution is difficult, time-consuming, expensive and nearly impossible to make largely successful.  The long term solution is figuring out how to cure or rehab the violent mentally ill.  Some are in prison.  Some are in other institutions.  Many are walking amongst us.  Who is responsible for the violent mentally ill?  The family members?  The state?  The mentally ill individual?  Once responsibility is assigned what are the family members or state allowed to do?  What is the mentally-ill individual allowed or not allowed to do?  However you answer these questions executing a sound plan will not work in real life as it reads on paper.  This topic is entirely too long and complicated for this blog post, but it needs to be addressed.

The short term solution is to arm security guards and select teachers for training and to carry a firearm.  There, I said it.  In America the thought of armed security in schools shocks the senses.  I didn't just come to this conclusion after Friday's event.  I have thought this for some time.  In fact several years ago I was hired by a private school in….guess where….Connecticut, to assess the school for security issues and how to address them.  When I sat down with several staff members and administrators to offer my suggestions I asked the administrator presiding over the meeting if she considered employing an armed guard on the school grounds.  I was told that it would never happen and that she didn't want the school to look like an institution. Lisa and I trained the staff for strategies in dealing with hostile and violent people on the school grounds, but firearms were not permitted to be a part of the plan.  I was not asked to return and I didn't attempt to get more work of this nature.  It was a tough pill to swallow knowing that political correctness and naivety were, and are, overruling common sense.

If a madman comes to your child's school and begins shooting people the options are few.  Most options are a form of hiding or calling for help and waiting for someone else to rescue you.  These are two options I don't care for.  The hiders often get caught and their hide positions don't lend themselves to a quick getaway or to fight.  The "wait-for-a rescue" strategy places your destiny in someone else's hands.  Police officers with the best of intentions cannot make it to a school in time enough to prevent a shooting.  It's just not possible since, usually, the first indication of a school shooter is someone being shot.  Unless the police are already in the building the response time, at best, will be a few minutes.  A few minutes is time enough for a whole lot of violence.

The best option strategically, logically, morally and responsibly is to have some of the folks working in the building trained and armed.  This option would ensure a quick response by a person or team that knows his/her/their way around the building.  During the chaos this is invaluable.  There is no sound reason NOT to exercise this option.

For those of you who believe banning all firearms is the best choice, think again.  If the gun-grabbers were successful at confiscating every gun ever made, the "bad guy" would use a knife, explosives or something else. How do we know?  Its happened before:

*  On June 8th 2001, at 10:15am, 37-year-old former janitor,  Mamoru Takuma, entered Ikeda Elementary School armed with a kitchen knife
and began stabbing numerous school children and teachers. He killed
eight children, mostly between the ages of seven and eight, and
seriously wounded thirteen other children and two teachers.  It's nearly impossible to get a gun in Japan. 

 

*"The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927, which killed 38 elementary school
children, two teachers, and four other adults; at least 58 people were
injured. The perpetrator first killed his wife, and committed suicide with his last explosion. Most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7–14 years of age[1]) attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest mass murder in a school in United States history.[2]

The bomber was the school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe,
age 55, who was angry after being defeated in the spring 1926 election
for township clerk. He was thought to have planned his "murderous
revenge" after that public defeat; he had a reputation for difficulty on
the school board and in personal dealings. For much of the next year, a
neighbor noticed Kehoe had stopped working on his farm and thought he
might be planning suicide.
During that period, Kehoe carried out steps in his plan to destroy the
school and his farm by purchasing and hiding explosives."—-Wikipedia

 

Please offer your suggestions, ideas or just comment. —George

 

5 Responses

  1. Lauren

    I agree with you 100%! After this CT incident, I am sick to my stomach, thinking about those helpless, scared children. I am worried about my daughter, who is in kindergarten, all day. I used to look forward to her getting on that bus for the day, now I am terrified. I think about those brave teachers who tried their very best to save all those children and did not succeed. I do believe that if they were armed, especially the principle, this would NOT have happened. This has happened way to many times, something needs to change!

  2. Scientist

    Well said George and Lauren! I agree the solution is extremely difficult, it would require society to re-think and change our ways. Since that isnt going to happen we will just go ahead and try to legislate the problem away which will fail to provide meaningful improvement. Armed security and citizens will go a long way in providing a meaningful deterent. There is a reason why crazy cowardly people choose soft targets, lack of resistance. When was the last time a nut job attacked a police station, gun store, or shooting range?

  3. Joanne Paye

    George thank you for your insight. I agree with you 100%. I know that I, as a mother, would feel much better about sending my daughter to school if I knew that there were teachers and staff members armed and trained in a chaotic situation such as the ones you have mentioned. Especially, after Fridays terrible tragedy, I DO NOT feel at all comfortable sending my daughter off to school anymore. It’s a terrible and poweless feeling that I cannot protect my daugther when I send her to school where I believe she will be safe. I am so sad for all those families that are going through so much pain in loosing there precious babies. I cannot begin to imagine what they are feeling it brings such a sadness to my heart.

  4. A lot of districts have made some kind of security change since Friday but its nowhere near enough. The first line of defense for a lot of these districts is the same buzz in policy that the nutcase in Newtown got through and the main security guards checking people into the buildings aren’t exactly menacing (we have a very sweet old lady responsible for checking you in at the district I’m working in now and the last building I was in guests were greeted by a very funny but overweight middle aged man). Look at the security guards, features and policies at your child’s school. If you are unhappy with what you see, take it to your local school board. They are the ones with the power to make the changes you want, and you are the ones who give them that power by electing them. Don’t be afraid to remind them of that. The best thing you can do for your kids is stay involved.

  5. George

    Every incident that involves violence against the most innocent and most helpless amongst us is disgusting, shocking and disturbing.
    We can’t or shouldn’t live in fear though. We should be concerned. We should be alarmed. We should be more aware. We should not live in fear.
    The answer to fear is taking action. Amanda’s suggestions were very helpful. If you’re not satisfied with your children’s security at school then let the powers that be know. Let them know often.
    My son’s high school always had excellent security. The entire security staff is comprised of active and retired police officers and firefighters. I know some of them personally and they are good men. They understand the realities of life and death situations. They understand the dark side of people. Most important of all, they understand taking action. The school district where I live is fortunate to have these men. The situation would be made so much better if the school district made it mandatory for these men to carry their firearms while they were on duty as school security.
    I’m reasonably sure that the security staff is not allowed to carry firearms. This is such a waste of experience, training and skill. My hope is that the cops, active and retired, of the security staff are carrying a concealed firearm even if they are not allowed. Should a bad man enter the school with the intention of destroying lives it will be one of these security guards who puts an end to it. How quickly and how efficiently will be determined by whether they are armed or not.

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