Will Possum Killer Be Tried as Adult?

Local schools like to claim bragging rights for various sports and activities. If one of those is animal abuse, Deshler High in Tuscumbia now owns the Shoals. A 16 year-old and a 14 year-old have been arrested in the crime of killing a small possum, albeit as juveniles. That simply means they may or may not be tried as adults and that, if tried as juvies, their names will not be revealed in records made public by the courts.

We understand the 16 year-old already has a previous felony conviction as a juvenile. Yes, you read that correctly. He's 16 and has a felony to his credit. He probably won't be given juvenile status this time. We sincerely hope that he isn't, but for our purposes such a designation simply keeps names out of public records, not the press if it so chooses to publish them. We do and we will if anyone has names for these two. 

Yes, if you have proof of who these two touching Tuscumbia troglodytes are, send us their names. The older one may never see the hallowed halls of Deshler again, but we have no hopes of similar punishment for the younger one who's claiming innocence by way of being too dumb to know what was going to happen to the doomed marsupial. 

Lest any of you are in favor of a second chance, may we presume if the duo's next victim is one of yours, even a human member of your family, you're not going to object then, are you? What? We didn't quite catch your answer to that..

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Our usually misguided not so daily newspaper has seen fit to publish an editorial from Los Angeles about the harm of keeping schools on lock down as a precaution against shootings. It might do more harm than good, the L.A. Times says.

Just which editor du jour picked that little ditty for Shoals consumption? No one wants to see metal detectors in schools, but no one wants to see dead kids lining the halls either. If children can live through duck and cover and become functioning members of society, then they can live through 13 years of moderate security they won't even notice after two days. The operative word there being moderate. Neither does one want to see Miss Dessie the cafeteria lady armed with a bazooka.