Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream? Hardly.

That black people lack proper leadership is most notable again in Ferguson, Missouri. That a young life was lost is always regretable. Did this adult black male create a robbery and bully the small buisiness owner or manager? The security camera APPEARS to verify his tragic actions. Was the report of the robbery the cause of police officers quick arrival on the scene? That APPEARS to be the case. Did the dead youth resist questioning? That APPEARS to be the case. Did the dead youth start the violence by shoving the policeman back in his vehicle? That APPEARS to be the case. Has not a witness come forward to claim the young black started the violence? That APPEARS to be the case. Is that witness under 7/24 police protection. I hope so and I hope that witness phones are tapped to prevent intimidation which is as certain as night is succeeded by daylight. Did the officer shoot the youth in the back as he moved away? That is the claim by some. IF this was the case, the officer should get a minimum of 20 years. Did the officer have a Taser? If not, why not. If so why didn't he use his Taser instead of a gun? Let all these incidents be sorted out by proper authorities. Not by the violence, itimidation and claims of people's rights being denied by those not worthy to lead. How would have Peoria's Carl Cannon handled the situation? What is he saying to his elite core of young mostly black youths? Surely, not what Charlie Rangel, Maxine Waters, Gene Robinson and others on the site are saying. One woman is shouting that the people in this community need jobs. Of course they do. But to even get a job let alone hold a job requires that one has learned enough through education and observation to qualify to be INTERVIEWED AND SUBSEQUENTLY hired and HOLD the job. Companies of any reasonable size will open in an area where demographics prove there will be a stable and qualified work force. The shout "we need jobs" is not enough. Smart Peoria leaders have been shouting to the rooftops that we need qualified workers, not just people who "need a job". Starting back in 1993, I started visitng schools and observed what went on in the classroom. I even ran for the board where there were 6 candidates for one position. The JSEB endorsed candidate won, unfortunately for the ccommunity. She was a good woman but unqualified for the task of managing a system with a $120 million budget, much bigger today. As of now few qualified people want to serve 5 thankless payless years on #150 board of education. Almost all of my visits were dispointing, not only to me but to some of the tachers trying to keep order and teach at the same time while kids slept, played tic-tac-toe, roamed around the classsrooms and only waited until they could get out of the classroom and school building. I read up on the success of vocational schools while #150 Board President Linda Daley was trying to push every student to go to college. NOT EVERY KID SHOULD LEAVE HIGH SCHOOL AND GO TO COLLEGE. MANY OF THEM CAN'T EVEN READ WELL AS PROVEN BY THE KIDS GETTING SCHOLARSHIPS THROUGH PEORIA PROMISE. She and subsequent board chairpeople and superintendents have been wrong. The vacated Woodruff High School was finally designated as a vocational school. I am told by authorities it has some vocational trades such as an abundance of Cosmoetolgy classrooms, some tech and the rest a hodge-podge of anything but vocational. Years ago I had a two hour visit at Pekin's vocational school and came away extremely impressed. I talked to the President of the Board of Directors of Dist. #150 and asked him if he had ever visted Pekin's Voc-Tech school and his answwer was, "no, why should I". It has been and is a major problem with #150 and IS a major problem with most public schools across the nation. I pitched the idea to one of the communities leaders suggesting that the houses on the east side of North street across from Peoria High be bought, demolished and a new Voc-Tech Center be built there. The schools would be connected by an overhead runway over North Street. He said he never thought of that which is typical of much of the leadership advising #150. Suspodedly the dead black youth was going to go to college. Was he enrolled and if so when and where? If not, why not? Why was he going to college? Did he have a goal or was he like so many kids today who see that colleges offers a place to party, buy and sell illegal drugs and meet more liberal minded individuals who would rather protest than get a balanced education. I understand that getting a balanced education is difficult today as many of those teaching are social liberals. So many unanswered questions in Ferguson and across the country but incited mobs usually take over when some real or imagined hurt is inflicted on a mostly ethnic community. Then most reason flies out the window. Too bad but the country needs more adept leadership helping train our kids, white, Hispanic, black, etc. to think, read and learn before striking out in anger. And yes I believe their is a lot of pent up anger in this country because of the lack of real thinking and acting leadership most everywhere. So sad. No spell-check. Sorry.