Something To Hang Your Hat On

.. is the name of a benchmark done by WSOC-FM, Charlotte afternoon drive duo Charlie and Debbie, and I first heard it when they did an eloquent tribute right after Steve Irwin's death. Now, here's the latest one from last Friday:

DON'T WE OWE OUR KIDS MORE THAN THIS

A 17-year-old Boulder, Colorado, high school senior faces a $250 fine for playing Hacky Sac. His offense: "releasing projectiles" in a fountain area outside the Boulder County Courthouse. The boy he and a buddy were lobbing a Hacky Sac back and forth in the fountain area when a police officer approached, asked for the footbag, and requested the pair come sit by him. The teens did as they were told, but asked if the officer had the authority to take their Hacky Sac. The officer informed them it was "evidence in a crime" and that you couldn't "Hacky Sac on the mall."

I bring this story up: 1. For its ridiculousness 2. The fact that this brilliant piece of police work occurred in Boulder, Colorado. The same Boulder, Colorado that botched-and continues to botch-the JonBenet Ramsey murder case.

Speaking of which did you happen to catch the latest news on John Mark Karr. You remember him, don't you? Pedophile in exile in Thailand, extradicted to this country on child pornography charges in California, claimed to kill JonBenet-that John Mark Karr. To catch you up: not only did Boulder have to let him go, but yesterday a California judge dismissed the child pornography charges after prosecutors said they didn't have enough evidence. This blight upon humanity is once again a free man.

All this in the wake of the funerals of the slain Amish school girls yesterday-the oldest of which is said to have stepped forward and asked her killer to "Shoot me first," in an apparent effort to buy time for her schoolmates. There is no depth to the bravery of her sacrifice nor the senselessness of all their deaths.

I know this all seems like disjointed rambling, but the point I want to make is this. Goverment, Moms, Dads, Teachers, Nieghbors...we owe our kids better than this. AND don't think for a second that, "Oh, that's happening in Colorado and Pennsylvania-not here." What do you think those states were saying when kids were shot in at school in Arkansas? Daughters kidnapped and held captive in South Carolina and Utah? I don't have all the answers or solutions-I, like you, am willing to help look-I just know, the children of this country-the greatest in the world-are entitled to be safe. Spend less time on inane "hacky-sac" patrols, and get it done. Period. And that's something we all need to hang our hat on.

Do your listeners know where YOU stand on the things THEY care most about?