Thursday, April 25, 2024 | St. Lawrence County, NY
By CRAIG FREILICH POTSDAM -- A March For Our Lives rally is set for March 24 beginning at Potsdam High School, joining many such rallies around the country in reaction to the recent killing of 17 …
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By CRAIG FREILICH
POTSDAM -- A March For Our Lives rally is set for March 24 beginning at Potsdam High School, joining many such rallies around the country in reaction to the recent killing of 17 high school students in Florida.
Marchers will meet at the school at 1 p.m. and commence their roving rally at 1:30 with a walk on Leroy Street over to Market Street, where they will linger for a while before continuing up Market Street and then back to the school.
Such events are planned al over the U.S., and Western Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand, in Japan and South Asia.
Organizers describe the effort as people taking to the streets “to demand that their lives and safety become a priority, and that we end gun violence in our schools and communities.”
These events are part of the reaction to the killings of 17 students Feb. 14 at a high school in Parkland, Fla., spurred largely by students from the school who organized protests, including one in the state capital demanding gun control legislation.
The school shooting and the students have generated momentum in discussion and some legislative action on the issues of school safety and gun control to a higher level than at any time in the last several years.
It has also resulted in closer attention to perceived threats and to students as potential offenders, with several cases of alleged threats being brought to the attention of school personnel and police, including reports of threats in Gouverneur, Ogdensburg Free Academy, Canton, Norwood-Norfolk and St. Regis Falls schools, which were vigorously investigated by law enforcement.
A Potsdam woman sent an email describing her feelings about the march.
“I am a parent of a 11th-grader, grandmother of a pre-schooler, a first-grader, and one in Head Start. All attend Potsdam Central schools, and every day there is fear in my heart of sending them to school, knowing that they and every other student is not protected from but pretty much open to an occurrence of gun violence in their schools. Our children's safety must become a priority within schools throughout America,” wrote Jennifer Baxtron in an email.
