Safety of our kids must be top priority

By Editorial Board
Bemidji Pioneer

Nothing is more important than guaranteeing the safety of our children, and this past week has not instilled a feeling that all is well in the world for our children.

Schools are supposed to be safe havens for our kids, yet violence erupted in three schools in three distinctly separate areas of our nation, resulting in the loss of life. While we grieve with those parents who have tragically lost their children, we hope that our need to secure our children doesn’t reach as far as arming teachers in the classroom, as some have suggested.

Yet we must redouble our efforts to make our schools safe again and, more importantly, teach society that school is not a place to take out aggression, that we will not tolerate those who wish to put our most vulnerable at risk.

We are also concerned this week with yet another scandal in Washington, D.C., in which a sitting member of Congress preyed upon teen-age pages. In what is supposed to be a learning environment for our youth in civics turned into a nightmare for some boys, as former Rep. Mark Foley of Florida apparently used electronic mail and text messaging for extremely suggestive and inappropriate suggestions.

We are disturbed that House Republican leadership may have long known something wrong with Foley’s interaction with male pages — Foley has now admitted he is gay — but chose to do nothing about. We are glad that a House panel now is actively investigating, and that the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation.

Patty Wetterling spoke to the issue in her Democratic response Saturday to President Bush’s weekly radio address. While Wetterling is a candidate for U.S. House, she has standing in the issue as the mother of a son who was kidnapped 17 years ago and never seen again. A new law calling for a national sex offender registry bears her son, Jacob’s, name.

“Too often, even well-intentioned people stand by when there is a suspicion of child abuse because they don’t know what to do and they hope that the problem will just stop or go away. Too often, there is more concern over protecting an institution than protecting our children. That is precisely what happened here,” Wetterling said of Congress.

“Secrecy is the common ingredient in all child sexual abuse. When we have reason to believe someone is sexually abusing a child, we must act. When a child has the courage to come forward, we must not become part of the secret. We must make the protection of our children the highest priority,” she said.

There are just too many ways our children are at risk today, including the Internet. And, more and more, not even the halls of our schools are safe.

We must continue to do all we can to protect our children and prevent harm, starting with being personally accountable for the safety of our children and taking the time to talk to our kids about personal safety.