My congratulations to all of the award-winners recognized at Tuesday’s school board meeting. I was really impressed with the accomplishments of our students. It’s great to hear such good news about our hard-working students after having to report on so much delinquency elsewhere.

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I left at the break before I had the chance to hear Charles Richardson’s remarks condemning English teacher Jennifer Fitzpatrick for dishonoring the American Flag during one of her classes several weeks ago. Asked by a student why the flag was rolled-up on her desk, Ms. Fitzpatrick picked it up, waved it at her class, told the students that it was “only a piece of cloth”, threw it on the floor and stomped on it. She is alleged to have said that she had a legal right to do so, and challenged the class to take her to court, where, she assured students that she would win. Pastor Leslie R. Lanier also wished to make a face-to-face statement regarding this infamous incident but Ms. Fitzpatrick left during the break.

I’ve been under the weather these past several weeks and am, once again, short of time and space. Mr. Richardson’s statement can be found at fillmoregazette.com and page 2, Letters to the Editor. So much is happening these days at the local, state, and national level, I hope to have more opportunity to comment next week.