You Go Kid! Kyle MacKinnon Brings Back Pledge of Allegiance to Wellesley Middle School

A breath of fresh air amidst so much politically correct garbage these days. Gives me hope and makes me believe the generation coming up is smarter than we know.

8th grader leads Pledge of Allegiance back to Wellesley Middle School

by By bbrown | Published: May 28, 2013 in The Swellesley Report

Students at Wellesley Middle School, starting today (Tuesday, May 28), have the option of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to start the school day.

Most 8th grade students, in response to a survey orchestrated by classmate Kyle MacKinnon as part of a yearlong effort to bring the Pledge back to the school, indicated they wanted the option to say the pledge, and now every classroom is outfitted with a flag.

MacKinnon was inspired to bring the pledge back to WMS (it’s unclear when it went away) after an old and worn American flag was replaced in the courtyard at the urging of a former WMS student. MacKinnon’s mother, Beth, says “Kyle realized that it would be really  great for the students to recognize and respect the flag.  Bringing back the Pledge of Allegiance was the perfect solution.” She credits “the countless hours” that Principal Mark Ito put in working with Kyle to make the student’s effort succeed.

The principal, who says the Pledge had not been recited during his roughly 10 years at the school as a teacher and administrator, met with Kyle multiple times throughout the course of the school year. “Not knowing the outcome, I wanted it to be a learning opportunity about initiating a request, researching/polling, proper steps, communicating with appropriate parties,” Ito says.  “I wanted to focus on the process more than the outcome. I believe Kyle gained much along the way.”

Here’s Kyle speech from Friday, before the Memorial Day Weekend, at a school assembly:

I first came up with the idea to get the Pledge of Allegiance in Wellesley Middle School when the old American flag was replaced in the courtyard.  Someone had seen that the American flag in front of the school was in need of replacement.  At first I didn’t think much at all about the event.  After a little while a question had developed in my mind….”Why would we replace our American flag but not properly show it our respect?”  At that point I knew I wanted to do something.  I talked with some members of my family and discovered that I should work with the faculty of WMS and bring back the Pledge of Allegiance.  I started emailing Mr. Chisum the principal, at the end of 7th grade.  2 or 3 months later it was summer vacation.  Mr. Chisum then moved to the high school, and Mr. Ito became principal of WMS.

This year I worked very hard to make progress on my mission.  My first big step was when I sent out a survey to all of the 8th grade students.  95% of students said they would feel comfortable saying the Pledge at any time.  If you don’t want to say the Pledge of Allegiance that’s okay because you always will have the choice not to say it.

I really want students at WMS to understand what the Pledge and the flag really mean.  I see the Pledge as a way to give back to our country and to respect it.  Think about what you can do in America every day and how fortunate we are to live here.  America protects you from people who don’t think we deserve what we have, and would want to take it away from us. But most importantly it gives us our freedom, freedom which people have protected for generations and even sacrificed their lives for.  We have many brave men and women that help protect our country’s values so that we can always be free.  We need a way to say thank you, I am in your allegiance.  When we say the Pledge of Allegiance, we are not saying that America controls us, we are saying that we are proud to be American.  Even if you were not born in this country or maybe you have dual citizenship, you are a citizen of the USA and as a citizen we have duties.  One of them is showing respect for our country.  I think that over the years people have lost the realization of how great this country is, and by saying the Pledge every day, starting now, we will come to a deeper love and understanding of our country, the United States of America.    

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

And to the republic for which it stands, 

One nation, under God, indivisible,

with liberty and justice for all.

Separately, Wellesley High School began reciting the Pledge of Allegiance during morning announcements following April vacation.

Superintendent David Lussier says it’s actually state law to recite the Pledge at school, so when students at the high school and middle school noted its absence, the schools worked to re-introduce it. “For me, the issue has far less to do with complying with the law and much more to do with supporting values related to citizenship,” he says.

Benghazi, AP, Fox, CBS, IRS...What's Next?!

Many in my circle are calling Obama's second term: The Age of Soft Tyranny. Frankly, I am not so sure it is all that soft. The idea of what's next isn't just kind of scary to me, it feels closer to evil.

Over the past several weeks and months, it has come to the nation's attention that our DOJ might be fibbing. I find it funny how no one, not even many of the GOP politicians going on Fox and other network opinion shows almost nightly, have the guts to come out and call it like it is: that the Eric Holders, WH staffers (can you say Jay Carney) and the Obama's of the world are willing to lie and spin to achieve their progressive socialist agenda. It's just that simple. 

So it appears the IRS has made tax-exempt status requests for ONLY Tea Party / conservative groups a tad <wink> more difficult to obtain for maybe 100s of conservative groups...and possibly hundreds more.

As the most powerful "non-partisan" agency in government, the IRS and its Cincinnati-based, allegedly low-level scapegoats appear to have taken sides. Adding to the "you have to be kidding" factor: Lois Lerner's ability to testify at her council's recommendation and take the "Fifth" all in the same breath.

SERIOUSLY, THIS HAS TO BE A SICK JOKE! 

While the IRS scandal certainly made fundraising in 2011 and 2012 (who knows just when it all started) just a tad easier for Democrats and progressive left-wing ideologues who supported Obama, it was an egregiously and likely illegal tactic that we can only hope will haunt Secretary Timothy Geithner, Doug Shulman, that other acting IRS guy Steven Miller who just resigned, and Lois Lerner (currently on "PAID" leave) until the end of time (or their careers, whichever comes first).

To me, it remains kind of comical how mainstream media has become so uppity all of a sudden. They don't appear to mind so much the cover-up and mysteriously changing Benghazi talking points or how obliterating to liberty, not to mention illegal, oppressing those who differ in opinion can be. But boy, when it comes to spying on journalists and their parents and friends, watch out, the media wakes up! Sort of.

I suppose mainstream might wake up at some point. At this point, it's still a unknown. Who knows, maybe the ABC networks are trying to figure out how to smooth over the scandals with the "court of public opinion" on behalf of Obama yet again. Been done before. Or, maybe this internal attack on journalists will become a day of awakening for all media. While I have friends that are more cynical, I am still an optimist with the hope that "objective journalism" will make a comeback sometime before 2030.

Scandal and outrage, the underpinnings of today's soft tyranny movement, seem to remain on the radar — let's just pray the IRS, AP/Fox/CBS and Benghazi are more than just fleeting headlines for the families of those murdered who served this nation with honor and our entire country's sake.

Requesting Smart Preservation of Salt Lake City's Sugar House (NO Streetcar on 2100 South & 1100 East)…What’s Left of It!

We acknowledge the forecasted population growth for the Wasatch Front, the increasingly poor air quality, and need for a thoughtful public transit system. But the questions also beg: Do Sugar House residents need to be solely responsible for the entire East Bench’s reduction of car pollution? Why have bus routes been reduced along other local east/west corridors? Why do the large buses carry so few passengers; why not use smaller buses? And why isn’t there a proposal to turn the UTA fleet into low emission-only transportation? 

Where is the residential and transportation impact study that our neighbors are requesting before a streetcar route is approved?

Little more than one month ago, the fate of our dear neighborhood was decided at the Sugar House Community Council (SHCC) April meeting by about 24 SHCC trustees and government representatives. No prior notice was given for the straw poll they held that night. So, a few of us turned out at the Board of Trustees meeting on May 7 to express our concerns.

Sugar House is special. But don’t tell that to the SHCC trustees who told us not to clap or express our opinions outwardly during the meeting’s 20-minute “Public Comment Period” where a few were granted permission to talk about the biggest concern to address our community in months…which wasn’t even on their agenda!

We were supposed to have known about the agenda. “Don’t you receive our newsletters?” exclaimed SHCC 1^st Vice Chair Judi Short.  And, “Everything’s posted on our web site.” 

By clicking on the “SHCC Development Map” pinhead posted on the SHCC’s main page, what one does find is a mere mention of the “Sugar House Streetcar, developer SLC/UTA;  to run along the old rail line along Sugarmont Ave. The streetcar will run from the 300 W Trax station and end at McClelland St.”  Who knew it was supposed to end?! News to those of us thrust into a street-against-street fight to keep the ill-conceived extension beyond McClelland off our front lawns.

The Sugar House Master Plan (SHMP) specifically calls out “policies” by which we entrust our SHCC to uphold.  Among these is “Evaluate methods to preserve and enhance the character of residential neighborhoods in Sugar House.”  The SHMP also defines a “gateway” as a prominent entrance, important since they provide visitors and residents alike their first visual impression of the community.  The SHMP also states that “gateway streets (defined by the SHMP as 1100 East and 2100 South) should be visually uncluttered, their views unobstructed,” and that “overhead power transmission lines along streets in gateway and vista areas should be removed.”

Ms. Short and her gang of trustees are quick to tout the benefits a streetcar will bring to the businesses along both 1100 East and 2100 South.  Has anyone checked out the Sugar House Business District Proposed Boundary Map?  It ends at 1300 East abutting Sugar House Park, and to the north along 1100 East goes no further than Hollywood Ave.

And, what will happen to Sugar House Park?  Where will the funds come from to maintain this over-used and well-loved swatch of greenery due to the increased crowds the streetcar is expected to bring? Questions it appears many who live on 2100 South are asking but the Salt Lake Tribune chooses not to: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/56268756-82/east-streetcar-1100-route.html.csp. 

Shame on the Salt Lake Tribune Op Ed editorial staff who support one route over the other, baiting Sugar House residents off of one another.   

How are any of the current streetcar proposals consistent with the current SHMP? Unless of course there are plans in the works to change the SHMP…maybe we just haven’t received our meeting notice from our respective councilmen yet?

Needless to say, there’s federal grant money that we don’t want to slip through the City’s fingers. It seems for this reason alone—because at the end of the day it really is all about the money—that we’re making such a hasty decision.