I’m not sure anyone else has noticed but Decatur Indiana’s only newspaper, the Decatur Daily Democrat seems to have forgotten to update their domain registration.  In this day and age of Internet news and web savy users, I’m suprised they let this happen.  Surfing the web first thing in the morning for updated news and information is one of the mainstays of my life.  The Decatur Daily Democrat was one of the first sites on my list of many to review.  Perhaps the owners of the paper here in Decatur, IN. dont realize that there are many of us that utilizte the online version of the Decatur Daily Democrat.  If they dont decide to renew their domain name, I may just have to look into purchasing it for myself. Just curious but am I the only one out there that uses the online version of the Decatur Daily Democrat?

I was surfing the web today for further information on the Bellmont High School Student that brought a gun to school.  It is amazing how much is actually being published about this topic.  Its not only on Adams County local sites but national news forums as well.  One respose I found was from a user named Bellmont Staff.  I am assuming from this poster’s comments the he or she is an actual teacher from Bellmont High School or the North Adams County School Board.  Here is that user’s response to a forum on topix.com :

“Just wanted to let everyone know that the staff was not told of the situation either. We still have not been officially told anything. The only information we have to go on is rumor. In fact, one “rumor” that has not been put in print is that the student brought the gun and loaded clips to school to sell them. I’m finding it disturbing to see the whole situation reduced to a student being curious. This is not a 5 year old child we are talking about here.
The school was not put under lockdown because the situation was “under control”. With what criteria did they use to determine that the situation was “under control”—a 15 year old that had just brought a gun and loaded clips to school? The only way to be reasonably certain of the situation is to follow the procedures set forth for a lockdown and search lockers and backpacks. The comments I have been hearing from students and staff sounds eerily familiar to all the other situations that have ended with dead bodies instead of a loaded gun and clips. “

Obviously since the post is by “Bellmont Staff” I cannot say for certain it was written by a teacher but sure sounds like it to me. I can’t believe that Bellmont School Staff wasn’t fully informed about the goings on at their own school.

 The internet isnt the only place to hear about the gun incident at Bellmont School.  It has also been widely covered on local radio stations like WOWO and all of the local Fort Wayne T.V. news reports. Its a shame the only time Decatur, In gets recognition is when a kid takes a gun to school or a grandmother gets beaten by her grandaughter and friends. 

An Adams County teenager takes a gun to school.  Decatur police were called to Bellmont High School after receiving a tip that a student had a gun in his locker.  Decatur police found a small calibur handgun in the teens locker.  The gun was unloaded , however there was a clip loaded with ammunition found with the gun.  Students at the Adams County School were unaware of the incident until after the gun had been seized.  School officials thought it best to keep it quiet so as not to create a panic among the other Bellmont students.  Has Decatur, IN caught up with the big cities? Should the Adams County School Board consider installing metal detectors at Bellmont High School like the schools of larger towns?  What happened to the days when we only worried about our kids smoking and drinking at parties?

Just in case you havent noticed on Feb 25th Google adsense made an update to their terms of service agreement.  They now require you to have a privacy policy posted on your website:

“We’ve also added some specific requirements that make it necessary for publishers to post and abide by a transparent privacy policy that users see. According to this policy, publishers must notify their users of the use of cookies and/or web beacons to collect data in the ad serving process. This change relates to advertisers’ use of innovative products and features like Gadget Ads and other offerings in the future.”

Unfortunately this is a bit vague as to exactly when they need to be on your sites and what specific wording should be in them.  You can see the a sample of the privacy policy I will be using at : American Idol Concert Tickets.

There have been many postings on the Google blog asking how users of blogger’s free web blogs should go about getting a Privacy Policy on their page.  As you can see from my example it is very simple to do.

1. Create your privacy policy
2. Create a new post on your blogger blog (note: select post options and change the dated posted so that it doesnt show as you latest post)
3. Create a link list at the bottom of your blog and ad the link to your privacy policy.

This may be an over reaction on my part but I’d rather be safe than sorry as I dont want to loose access to the revenue generated by Google’s Adsense

The Bellmont Brave Generation Show Choir will host the Winter Spectacular this weekend Feb 23rd.  Show choirs from throughout Indiana and surrounding states will come to Decatur, IN to compete and show off their musical talent.  As the host choir, the Bellmont Brave Generation will not compete, however, they plan on performing an exhibition of their show. This year marks the 40th year that Decatur’s Bellmont High School has been in existence.   Their performance this year has already received many awards which just adds to the excitement of the 40th anniversary hoopla.  If you have the opportunity and are looking for a day of exciting entertainment head on over to the Winter Spectacular at Decatur.

In Decatur, In  the North Adams Community School Board announced that at the end of this school year they will have to cut 12 teaching jobs from the local schools.  The site the reason as being a decrease in the number of students enrolled in North Adams school district.  This decline in enrollment directly relates to declined funding from the state for the North Adams Community Schools.  Budget concerns due to the reduced funding is primary reason for the job cuts.  In addition, there are several other teachers that will be retiring, including the principal of  Bellmont Middle School.  It is unfortunate that these job cuts must take place. We hope all of those displaced find suitable employment in other schools within the Decatur area.

The Brave Generation, Bellmont High School’s show choir traveled to Waterloo, IN this past weekend to compete in the Dekalb Show Choir Invitational.  During this competition they won best instrumentalists and vocals, in additon to being named the Grand Champions in the small show choir division.  The Brave Generation performed a show comprised of late sixties music including Proud Mary, Hair, Dust in the Wind, Leader of the pack, and Aquarius. Congratulations Bellmont Brave Generation for another fine performance.  On a side note Bellmont vocalists will be sending 8 students to ISSMA State Finals after they recieved Gold Medals during the regional competition held at Bellmont on Feb 2nd.

Bellmont High school will be hosting the ISSMA ( Indiana State School Music Association) district competition Saturday Feb. 2nd.  For those of you with children attending remember this can be a stressfull event for them.  For some of those competing, it will be their first time in a solo event,  help them be prepared by reviewing all the requirements at issma.net  Make sure they get a good nights sleep and breakfast the in the morning before the competition. 

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Bellmont Middle School Swim team which is comprised of 6-8th grade boys and girls will open their season tonight.  Tonights meet will be against Adams Central Middle School and begins at 5:30pm at the Bellmont High School pool.