IT'S ABOUT THAT TIME

IT'S ABOUT THAT TIME...... the end of the 2011-2012 school year is finally here. We have been through a lot this year: we lost a Family Member ( Derica), we've lost two teachers, we lost a great principal, we've been broadcast on the local news numerous times, but through all the bad there have been some great times: we gained a new principal,Mrs. Kymberli chandler, who i love dearly. we've gained a new teacher LTC Fred F. Persechini in our JROTC department and we've gained two new school officers, officer Yancy and officer McGee, through all our troubles and downfalls we've managed to turn everything around and succeed. i cant speak for everyone else but if it had not been for my English teacher Mrs. Day pushing me like she does i probably wouldn't have made the 20 i did on the ACT or i wouldn't be prepared to ace this AP Lang. and Comp. exam on Wednesday. even though i have failed miserably in class that isn't a reflection of her that's a reflection of how lazy i have been all year in her class. it took her failing me for me to finally realize that unlike all my previous teachers in the past she actually cares enough to make actually try, she's not going to just pass me through because I'm smart, she's actually making me work.  and for that, i will always love and respect Mrs. Day, even though she i am failing her class miserably. but back too the topic at hand, Class of 2013 it's finally our time top leave a legacy here at Sheffield High School. It is up to US  rather we want to leave a good final lasting impression in the minds and hearts of everyone here at Sheffield High School. The choice is yours!

HOW COULD YOU STAB YOUR OWN MOTHER?

Assuming the police accusations are correct, how could a son violently attack his mother like that, leaving her dead with stab wounds to her head and face?  Elaine Walsh, 55, was found dead in her East Memphis home early Saturday morning April 21,2012 . Her 22-year-old son, William Walsh, has been charged with first-degree murder in her death. The confrontation started about 1 a.m. Saturday at the Walsh family home in the 5400 block of Gwynne, according to police.About that time, Elaine Walsh went to speak with her son about about noise he was making in the house.
John Walsh, her husband, told police he went to bed, assuming she would join him after talking to their son. However, she never returned. Sometime between 5:30 and 6 a.m., William Walsh came into his parents' bedroom and, according to the police affidavit, told his father that he had done "something terrible" and that he had "killed someone." John Walsh then walked out into the living room and found his wife, dead on the sofa. How could you kill your mother? The woman who gave you life, the woman who raised you and nurtured you.

ARE THEY SERIOUS?

The tragic shootings on the Virginia Tech campus, in which a student killed 32 people and wounded 25 others before committing suicide, occurred nearly five years ago.Since then, some states and their universities, including Mississippi, have thought about changing their on-campus gun laws. The thought is that a law-abiding person carrying a firearm could have a positive effect in a situation like a school shooting. What on earth would make them want to do that? In the weekend of the 26th of March Late Saturday, 21-year-old John Sanderson of Madison, Miss., was shot to death in a Mississippi State University dormitory, though the killing appears to be isolated, according to university officials and early Sunday, a 19-year-old freshman at Jackson State University died from being shot in the face and killed at an off-campus apartment pool party in Jackson. Police identified the victim as Nolan Ryan Henderson III of Atlanta. After two shootings on campus Mississippi colleges are still considering changing their campus gun laws? What is it going to take, more innocent students dying at the hands of "LAW ABIDING CITIZENS"? How would campus officials know who is a "LAW ABIDING CITIZEN" and whose not? They can't tell so basically they would be assuming that the students carrying firearms are legally allowed to carry them. They should just leave possession of weapons to Law Officals and that's it.

WAS HE AS IT SINCERE OR WAS IT JUST A POLITICAL STUNT?!

On Wednesday, May 09,2012 President Barack Obama said  he supports same-sex marriage, raising the political stakes on an issue over which Americans are evenly split. Obama said in an interview with ABC News, "At a certain point I've just concluded that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married." Many Americans are wondering if this how he really feels or if this is a political stunt to stay in office, because the announcement was the first by a sitting president and put Obama squarely at odds with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who on Wednesday said during an appearance in Oklahoma, "I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman." the thing that really raises eyebrows is the fact that Obama once opposed such marriages. Why the sudden change? He later states, "I had hesitated on gay marriage, in part, because I thought civil unions would be sufficient," the president said. "I was sensitive to the fact that -- for a lot of people -- that the word marriage is something that provokes very powerful traditions and religious beliefs." the thing is if Romney had not made that statement would president Obama have still changed his ideals about same- sex marriage? The jury is still out on that one, but its looking kind of shady that president Obama has been in office for four years and now all of a sudden, after Mitt Romney, one of his toughest opponets, makes a comment about his dislike for same sex marriage, the president is "singing a different tune" it seems kind of shady to me. I believe its just a political stunt he's pulling just to get the homosexual group's votes in his favor. What do you think?

STAND YOUR GOUND LAW

A stand-your-ground law states that a person may use force in self-defense when there is reasonable belief of a threat, without an obligation to retreat first. In some cases, a person may use deadly force in public areas without a duty to retreat. Under these legal concepts, a person is justified in using deadly force in certain situations and the "stand your ground" law would be a defense or immunity to criminal charges and civil suit. The difference between immunity and a defense is that an immunity bars suit, charges, detention and arrest. A defense, such as an affirmative defense, permits a plaintiff or the state to seek civil damages or a criminal conviction but may offer mitigating circumstances that justifies the accused's conduct.
More than half of the states in the United States have adopted the Castle doctrine, stating that a person has no duty to retreat when their home is attacked. Some states go a step further, removing the duty of retreat from other locations. "Stand Your Ground", "Line In The Sand" or "No Duty To Retreat" laws thus state that a person has no duty or other requirement to abandon a place in which he has a right to be, or to give up ground to an assailant. Under such laws, there is no duty to retreat from anywhere the defender may legally be. Other restrictions may still exist; such as when in public, a person must be carrying firearms in a legal manner, whether concealed or openly. The stand your ground law is now being scrutinized in the Treyvon Martin case. According to George Zimmerman he shot Treyvon out of self- defense even though the teen was unarmed and virtually posed no threat to Zimmerman, and because of this Stand Your Ground law Zimmerman wasn't arrested immediately. On the night Martin was killed, police questioned Zimmerman for five hours at police headquarters. The police report noted Zimmerman was "bleeding from the nose and the back of the head." Police did not administer a drug and alcohol test or an immediate background check on Zimmerman, although they did both on Martin.  Had the roles been reversed, would Trayvon  have been treated differently because he was black? No question to me or anybody else in America. Had Trayvon had been the person who pulled the trigger, he would have been arrested that day on the spot and would still be sitting in jail. But because he's half- white and this stupid Stand your ground law zimmerman got special treatment.I Guarantee you if Martin Had been the shooter he would have not only been arrested and charged on the spot the case would'nt have gotten so much media attention.

racial injustice

If George Zimmerman were a 28-year-old black man who shot and killed a 17-year-old white teenager under the same circumstances as alleged in Trayvon Martin's death, would he have been immediately arrested?I can unhesitatingly say, "Of course." Herein lies the cultural and racial inequity which has largely led to the polarization and division over culpability in Trayvon's death. Although Trayvon Martin's killing is a tragedy at the highest level, his death and the prosecution of George Zimmerman symbolize so much more. The issues they raise belong in the public discourse, but should not influence or cloud the facts or outcome of the case. Many African-American men have been killed since Martin's death and undoubtedly more will follow. It's likely that none of their names will be well-known. But Trayvon Martin has become a rallying cry for all the wrong that still exists in America regarding race and unequal treatment in the criminal justice system. It's rare that a person of color in America hasn't experienced some sort of bigotry or profiling. Most of them, their families or friends have experienced unequal treatment, bigotry, sneers, insults, misplaced suspicions or police misconduct that was racially motivated. Martin's shooting death represents an opportunity to express and address the injustices which still regularly happen but mostly remain unanswered or unaddressed.Racial equality has advanced far from where it was, but the struggle is not over. African-Americans know injustice still exists and will exists for awhile.

WAS IT SELF- DEFENSE OR NOT?

Bang, the sound of a gun as it ends the life of another one of our youngsters. Every time you turn on the news there is a story about another teen's life ending early. Around 7:25 pm Sunday Evening, February 26, Trayvon Martin joined the statistics of innocent young black men shot and killed at an early age. George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch captain, shot Martin in self defense, or so he says. Around 7:00 p.m that night Zimmerman called 911 to report "a suspicious person" in his gated community. Zimmerman tells the 911 operator that he is following the teen after he started to run, the dispatcher tells him," we don't need you to do that" but Zimmerman purses Martin anyway, but then he states he lost sight of him. according to phone records around 7:10 Martin was on the phone with his girlfriend when he saw Zimmerman while returning from a convenience store to the home of his father's fiancee. At a News conference on March 20, the Martin family attorney says Martin's girlfriend heard someone ask Martin what he was doing and Martin asking why was the man following him. she then gets the impression that there is an altercation, during which the earpiece falls from martin's ear and the connection goes dead. According to a story later confirmed by the police, Zimmerman tells authorities that after Zimmerman briefly lost track of Martin, the teen approached him, and after the two exchanged words, Zimmerman says he reached for his cellphone , and then martin punches him in the nose. My question is why was Zimmerman reaching for Martin's cellphone, what did the phone have to do with him? After he gets punched Zimmerman claims martin pins him to the ground and begins slamming his head into the sidewalk. I believe Zimmerman is leaving some of the story out because it makes no sense for Martin an innocent teen who was unarmed and minding his own business, to out of the blue pin Zimmerman on the ground and start banging his head on the ground. Another question is why, after he saw that Martin was unarmed, Why did Zimmerman shoot Martin? At the time of his murder Martin was carrying only a small amount of cash, a bag of skittles, and a can of Arizona iced tea. Zimmerman claims that he shot Martin in self-defense. How was it self defense if the teen was unarmed and not dangerous? This is basically a case of right or wrong was it wrong for Zimmerman to assume that, just because Martin was a black male wearing a dark pull over, Martin was armed and dangerous?

NO JUSTICE FOR HIPHOP LEGEND

According to an interview with VH1's behind the music former LAPD detective Greg Kaden reveals evidence proving Marion " Suge" Knight orchestrated the brutal murder of hiphop legend Christopher" Bigge smalls"Wallace out anger towards because of the earlier death of his artist Tupac Shakur. According to Kaden, a young woman told him Suge ask her to have one of his fellow gang members, poochie,  kill Biggie and he would pay him $9,000 if he successfully carried out the murder. With that confession the case should be reopened right? NOPE, the LAPD never reopened the case so we will never know if Suge Knight really had biggie killed as long as his buddies at the LAPD keep the case a cold case.

AN ANGEL WENT HOME ON X-MAS

Sunday December 25,2011 around 2:30 am. Three ignorant, inglorious, ignominious, ignoble bastards, Rico Fleming, Coriey Albright, & Christopher Collins, decided to drive up & fire an AK-47 into the car of my fellow Sheffield High Knight & friend Derica Patterson & four others. Derica, unfortunately, was the only causality in the shooting. She died instantly; the other four were wounded, one seriously. What is wrong with today's society? When did it become acceptable to unconsciously fire a military grade assault rifle into a vehicle on a busy highway. When did it become ok to transform a simple argument into a violent shooting. Another thing, when did it become ok to grant bail to a man who violated his parole & shot up a house that had a 15- month old baby in it? I don't only blame Rico for Derica's death i blame the TN justice system, how can they justify a man who got sentenced to 19 years for 4 felony charges INCLUDING: ATTEMPTED SECOND DEGREE MURDER, out in less than a year; then, turn around & great him bail after he fired 19 shots from a rifle into a Fayette county home, TEN DAYS before he murdered Derica. If they would've kept that demon locked up the first time Derica may have still been here & her family and friends lives wouldn't be in such an uproar.Rico you say you are innocent; like Derica's mother said, you ran because you are guilty if you were innocent you would have stayed in Mississippi & tried to explain your self. Please believe this time there will be no plea deal this time your not getting out. You told your aunt that they would never catch you alive but sorry to rain on your parade but they got you alive and kicking. You killed in Mississippi, you are not in Tennessee anymore my home state isn't so lenient with murderers especially children murderers. I know Derica will forever be in our hearts & be with us in spirit but it will never be the same as seeing her face everyday at school. I hope & pray this time they lock Rico's murdering behind up for good & throw away the key. If possible i hope they execute him. He doesn't deserve to live after he brutally murdered my friend. I HATE YOU RICO FLEMING & i hope you get everything you have coming to you, you BASTARD!!!!!!!
#REST IN PARADISE DERICA