Group still planning to let Sessions speak in Reno
A spokesman for a national school law enforcement group won’t bow to pressure from a coalition of progressives in Nevada who want it to withdraw its invitation to Attorney General Jeff Sessions to speak at a school safety conference next week in Reno.
Sessions is set to address the National Association of School Resource Officers at the Peppermill Resort on Monday. Leaders of more than a dozen labor, religious and minority groups sent a letter Thursday asking the association to rescind its invitation.
Association spokesman Jay Farlow said in an email to The Associated Press on Friday that Sessions has important information to share with school resource officers as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. He says Sessions’ message is especially important in the wake of recent shootings at several schools. strategist Paul Begala asked on CNN why Trump doesn’t have “a meeting with families of people who have been killed by right-wing white nationalist extremists.”
Another parent, Sabine Durden, talked of her background as a legal immigrant who spent five years to become a citizen. “I didn’t drag him over borders, through deserts,” she said of her son Dominic. “I didn’t place him in harm’s way.”
Dominic was 30 years old when he was killed by a drunken driver. According to the Press-enterprise in Riverside, California, Juan Zacarias Tzun was in the country illegally at the time of the accident and had two DUI convictions but remained in the United States.
“The public needs to know, and they deserve to know, that this could happen to each one of you at any given second,” Durden warned.
Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal. com or 202-662-7391. Follow @ Debrajsaunders on Twitter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.