The Bluffer - Red Bluff, CA
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/171165
The Bluffer Volume CXV Issue 2 September 13, 2013 Serving Red Bluff High School since 1901 Varsity/JV Volleyball-Page 5 Our Little House-Page 3 'You're Next'-Page 4 District discusses possibility of Weekend Forecast drug dogs Friday: High 99 ° Low 66 ° Saturday: High 95 ° Low 59 ° Sunday: High 91 ° Low 57 ° Car Wash On Saturday, Sept. 21, the band and choir will be going head to head in a car wash in order to raise funds. It will be at Home Depot from 9 to 3 p.m. Pre-sale tickets can be bought for five dollars from band and choir members. Bluffer/Marissa Chase traces of gunpowder and weapons. Hopefully, the presence of dogs that are able to detect such illegal substances would discourage use on campus. This could lead to a much cleaner Every high school at some point deals with campus for Red Bluff High drugs on campus. Drugs School. can be very hard to control, There has been a pretty This is a big change for the but Red Bluff High School school which has never taken steady documented may soon take a step in the such costly and extreme right direction. The school presence of drugs on measures to limit drugs on board is currently deciding campus...We want to campus. While drugs may whether or not drugnot be a mainstream problem change that." sniffing dogs will make an at Red Bluff High School, appearance on campus this -Mr. Barriga they are still, unfortunately, year. These dogs have been a problem. But the staff of specifically trained to sniff Red Bluff High School is not out illegal substances and oblivious to the schools' drug Josiah Vasey Editor-in-Chief Hawaiian Rally The Hawaiian Rally will be today, September 13, in the large gym at the end of the school day. The rally, encompassing this year's first dress up day (green and gold/ Hawaiian apparel), will begin at 2:42 p.m. Friday's schedule will therefore be adjusted and the class sizes will be slightly smaller. To view Friday's schedule, students can check out the Daily Bulletin or talk to teachers JV/Varsity Football This Friday is the first home football game for both the JV and varsity football teams. Both games are against Anderson and will begin at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Admission is five dollars for all spectators and free for students who have already purchased ASB cards. Since students have not received ID cards, the receipt from the purchase must be brought along in order to gain access into the games. " problems. " There has been a pretty steady documented presence of drugs on campus," said Associate Principal Miguel Barriga. "We'd like to change that." But this isn't a crackdown intended to get students in trouble. "It's not about busting people. We want to help our students," said Dean of Discipline John Schwabauer. "The whole concept is prevention, not cracking down." This program is being considered more for prevention than for getting students arrested. Drugs are a huge problem, especially among older students. According to drugabuse.gov 17 percent of tenth graders smoke marijuana, while the statistic for seniors is 22.9 percent. But marijuana is the least dangerous drug out there. It can serve as a gateway drug to such drugs as heroin and cocaine which certainly pose much more serious dangers, along with prescription drugs, which actually kill more than heroine and cocaine combined. Though less prevalent than marijuana, these drugs pose much more serious consequences. But there are more dangers than just drugs on campus. There have been far too many school shootings recently, and one could even happen here at Red Bluff. Drug sniffing dogs would help to prevent all of these dangers from coming on campus. With drug sniffing dogs on campus, students might think twice before bringing drugs close to the school. With dogs on campus, the risk might be too high to bring drugs and reduce the amount of drugs on campus. If a student were to be caught with illegal substances or even weapons on campus, the authorities could be notified and the student might even be arrested. The on campus officer, Aaron Murry, does have the authority to make an arrest if needed. The school board will soon make a decision on drug sniffing dogs. If they decided to go through with it, then a company would be hired to provide drug sniffing dogs because it is illegal for the police to bring in dogs without probable cause. School takes safety precautions with student parking lot Marissa Chase Editor-in-Chief Although much speculation has led people to believe that Red Bluff High would be fenced in entirely by the end of this school year, this is, in fact, just a rumor. While ideas have been bounced around and preliminary discussions have been taking place over the course of this school year, Red Bluff High will not gain a fence around its campus any time soon. However, as this fencing idea is just in its early stages, another one is just around the corner. After extensive planning, on August 21, 2013, Red Bluff High's School Board just approved many safety additions that will shortly be added to the student parking lot this school year. These changes include making it safer for students to cross from the shop area to the main campus, ensuring a safe exit when students come from school to the parking lot, and making it safer for students driving out of the parking lot. Miguel Barriga, Associate Principal at RBHS, was the first to identify these safety concerns all the way back in 2009. From there he worked on trying to get others to notice the same problems he saw. "It has to be identified by more than one person," stated Barriga. "It's not a simple process and it takes a long time." Safety additions include the positioning of barriers alongside the east and west ends of the walkway that connect the shop area to the main campus. Also, barriers will be put in on the south side. After these barriers, the east side of the parking lot that runs parallel to the campus will be fenced in. This will help ensure safety when students are moving from campus to parking lot and vice versa. Besides this safety precaution, it will help eliminate encounters of moving vehicles and students. The final area of improvement will be the elimination of the northernmost lot of parking spaces. According to Barriga, this will help avoid accidents caused by the bottle neck design of the parking lot. Bluffer/Marissa Chase Barriga feels as if this will greatly improve student safety. "It is hard to put a measure on making something safer. You can only measure the bad incidents that occur as a result of reckless driving," said Barriga. Other than these changes that will occur over a short period of time, long term adjustments will eventually include the parking lot being redesigned and re engineered. It will cost a lot more money, but early plans have been drawn out. This change will greatly affect the flow of traffic and improve it overall, according to Barriga. Barriga stated, "If one person gets hit that is too many. You can never eliminate people being careless, but you can always make it safer."