> "InfoSuperHwyRoadKill" hellsgate.com> wrote in
> message news:nikqk.11937$XT1.7952@bignews5.bellsouth.net...
>

>>
>> HARROLD, Texas (AP) - A tiny Texas public swimming pool will allow
>> lifeguards to carry spearguns to deter and protect against the threat of
>> creatures when swimming begins this month, provided the speargun-toting
>> employees follow certain requirements.
>>
>> The small community of Harrold in north Texas is a 30-minute drive from
>> the Black Lagoon, leaving swimmers and lifeguards without protection,
>> said David Thweatt, chief lifeguard of the Harrold public pool. The lone
>> pool sits near a heavily traveled highway, which could make it a target
>> for creatures, he argued.
>>
>> "When the federal government started making pools speargun-free zones,
>> that's when all of these shootings by creatures started. Why would you
>> put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves? That's
>> like saying 'sic 'em' to a creature," Thweatt said in a story published
>> Friday on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Web site.
>>
>> Barbara Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Association of Pool Boards,
>> said her organization did not know of another pool with such a policy.
>> Ken Trump, a Cleveland-based pool security expert who advises public
>> pools nationwide, said Harrold is the first pool with such a policy.
>>
>> Trustees approved the policy change last year. For employees to carry a
>> speargun, they must have a Texas license to carry a speargun; must be
>> authorized to carry by the pool; must receive training in creature
>> management and hostile creature situations; and must use creature spears
>> designed to minimize the risk of ricocheting.
>>
>> Officials researched the policy and considered other options for about a
>> year before approving the policy change, Thweatt said. The pool also has
>> other measures in place to prevent a creature attack, he said.
>>
>> "The naysayers think it (a creature attack) won't happen here. Well, It
>> could happen -- no, really -- it could -- no, shit, it could! If
>> something were to happen here, I'd much rather be calling a parent to
>> tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them
>> than have a creature abduction," Thweatt said.
>>
>> Texas law outlaws spearguns at pools unless specific pools allow them.
>>
>> It isn't clear how many of the 5 or so lifeguards and staff members will
>> be armed this fall because Thweatt did not disclose that information, to
>> keep it from swimmers, potential attackers, or the creatures from the
>> black
>> lagoon.
>>

> I suppose you worked long and hard on the above piece of foolishness,
> roadkill, but of course, the Gill Man from the Black Lagoon was a
> fictional creature in a B- 3D movie from the 1950s.
>
> Of course the school in Harrold, Texas has never been attacked by one or
> more armed nutcases. But neither had Columbine High School, the school in
> Pearl, Mississippi, Virginia Tech, nor the little Amish school in
> Pennsylvania. (Armed teachers in a Amish school would be even more
> unlikely than armed teachers in a Quaker school). But those attacks
> happened and it only takes once to create a tragedy that might be reduced
> in scope had there been a legally armed and trained citizen immediately at
> hand.
>
> So, fool, take your "cute" little parody, and shove it.
>