Kossuth Students: They Beat a Duck...

Photo of ducks in Spring Park courtesy of T. L. Martin Sr. Visit his page on Flickr.


Kossuth is a small community in Alcorn County, Mississippi. According to Asst. Supt. Wayne Henry, due to academic requirements in place at this time, there's little opportunity for field trips. For an end of year treat, the Kossuth Middle School took such a field trip--to Tuscumbia's Spring Park.

According to news reports, the group was large. According to Mr. Henry, there were chaperons. Henry states that the majority of the six involved were 13 years-old--old enough that they should not have needed constant supervision. Yet, six of these students managed to acquire a plastic baseball bat and beat a duck. That's right--a duck! Let us say this again: Six Kossuth Middle School Students beat a duck with a baseball bat.

From accounts in the TimesDaily, the duck lived and is supposedly recovering. If the children belonged to any of us, they would not be faring so well.

Henry went on to tell us that the students had been disciplined under the guidelines of the school handbook; he could not elaborate further due to school policy. Any additional punishment will be decided by the Tuscumbia/Colbert Park authorities and the Colbert County Juvenile Probation Office. Oh, and of course he added the parents of the children...

Children? They were mainly 13 years-old--teenagers. Calling a spade a spade, they were little thugs who should not be allowed in public again until they learn some common decency. How long will that take? In their case, it may be too late already.

Will the Kossuth School District be returning to Colbert County, or any county in the Northwest Alabama area for future field trips? Mr. Henry isn't ruling anything out.

We liked Wayne Henry. We also felt sorry for Mr. Henry, who stated that it should be the parents' job to teach ethics and morals while the school teaches math, science, etc. Very true words, Mr. Henry, but whether the fault of your school district or not, Kossuth has left a lasting impression on the Shoals and it's not a good one.

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Trader has a new restaurant evaluation posted. If you've been thinking about visiting the Rice Box in North Florence, you need to check out his latest blog.

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