Safe Travel?

Should COVID-19 vaccinations be required for air, train passengers?

This week the U.S. observed a grim milestone as the death toll from COVID-19 passed 800,000 lost.

This has some wondering what more can be done to stem the tide.

One suggestion is requiring COVID19 vaccinations for anyone traveling on a train or commercial aircraft. So many people in such a small space is a health hazard, supporters of idea say. Also, they believe it might encourage those who have resisted being vaccinated to take the plunge.

As of October 30, most airline and train travelers in Canada have had to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 before boarding. The requirement applies to those age 12 years and 4 months and above. Canada started with a transition period where proof of a negative test within the last 72 hour was accepted.

From all indications things have gone smoothly. But, it must be said, U.S. residents aren’t always so compliant by nature as Canadians.

We want to know what you think. Should train and airline travelers in the U.S. be required to show proof of full vaccination? Or are you against the idea?

Send your response (50 words maximum) to opinion@texarkanagazette. com by Wednesday, December 22. You can also mail your response to the Texarkana Gazette Friday Poll, at P.O. Box 621, Texarkana, TX 75504 or drop it off at our office, 101 E. Broad St, Texarkana, Ark. Be sure to include your name, address and phone number. We will print as many responses as we can in next Friday’s paper.

Last Week: Justice or Overreach?

Last week’s question was about Ethan Crumbley’s parents being charged as well after he was arrested in a Michigan school shooting. How much responsibility do parents bear for their children’s criminal actions? Were prosecutors right to charge Ethan Crumbley’s parents with involuntary manslaughter for failing to secure the handgun? Or is this overreach?

When an adult brings a child into this world they are duty bound to bring them into adulthood with a sense of responsibility to their fellowman and the knowledge that they should do no harm. Even his teacher saw his cry for help and the school tried to get them to take him home and get the help he needed. Charge them with child abuse at the very least and civil courts will make them pay. — B.G.M., Hooks, Texas

These parents are the worst and should be held responsible for the murder and injuries of these people. Your responsibility as a parent is not only in good times, it’s also your responsibility in bad, especially if you buy your child, who is having mental problems a gun. These parents really need to get more prison time then their son. To show how horrible these parents are after running away, they hired a high price lawyer, while their son has a public defender. Great parents, Not! — R.K., Texarkana, Texas

From facebook.com/texarkanagazette

■ At 15 I believe the parents hold equal responsibility. I also believe the school screwed up by not insisting this kid leave the school!

■ Prosecute them all.

■ On the contrary, this has nothing to do with a Biblical standard, much less stoning children. As much as teachers are trained, they do not hold the authority to send a child home. Now, administration most definitely should have sent this boy home. At best, the evidence may seem circumstantial — it doesn’t matter what I think. It matters if the evidence is actually present and certifiably convincing to judge and jury.

■ Should have taken their kid out of school after the school and teachers expressed their worry. As a parent if your kid is expressing interest in shooting up the school and actively searching for ammunition and the school calls you up there, how do you not worry and take them for the day to try and “help” The school, the parents and the shooter are all responsible in some way.

■ His mother also texted about “getting caught.” The parents are idiots, every adult in that kid’s life failed him and the kids who died.

■No. Parents can’t always control what their children do.

■ You want to own guns, fine. You should be held responsible for what happens with those guns. If we start holding irresponsible gun owners accountable for the damage that is done with them, maybe then they will store them correctly.

■ The state failed. Gun laws don’t protect anyone. They create victims.

■ Parents ignored the warnings given to them. They did nothing to stop it. Gun should have been locked up.

■ Over reach …

■ These parents are 100% culpable in this crime! They knew he was mentally ill and did not behave in school! The school knew he was nuts! This young man needed to be removed from regular population! He should have been where he could get help and that WAS their fault! So when you start holding parents responsible for their behavior, then we may change these problems!

■ If it’s your gun then you need to be held accountable for it. Almost all of these school shootings could have been prevented with locks or safes. The fact they knew he was acting crazy makes it even worse.

■ Yes the parents should be charged. Unless they are just stupid. They knew what was going to happen sooner or later.

■ It’s illegal to possess a handgun under the age of 21. I understand the parents bought the gun, but the parent should only allow specialized use under their supervision. Therefore, yes the parents should be charged.

■ n The charge was right and the parents had a huge responsibility based on all the information I’ve read and/or heard from multiple news sources

■ They should have never bought him the gun in the first place especially if they was already having problems with him, or they should have kept it locked up, now those other parents have to lay their babies to rest and all the one’s injured will have to remember this for the rest of their life so I think parents should be held accountable in some way.

■ When I was being raised by my responsible parents, “If you get in trouble as a juvenile, we get in trouble as you’re parents. That’s the way it should be in this tragic case as well as all criminal activity there kids are involved with. Perhaps parents would start raising there kids again instead of allowing others to raise them!

■ In every school shooting the minors got the guns from someone else. Whether they took guns from a parent or from someone else they got them and had them illegally. Whoever did legally own the weapons in each case did not have them secured. In this case it is not about whether the parents secured the weapon. It is about whether the parents were complicit in the knowledge of the shooting. From what I have heard about this case, so far, there is enough evidence for this to be a possibility.

■ The parents in this case should absolutely be charged and held responsible.

■The parents should be held responsible but they won’t be, Michigan has no laws requiring guns to be out of reach under lock and key away from minors. The Prosecutor is going to regret charging the parents with a law that doesn’t exist in Michigan.

■ Yes, all guns should be locked up around under age kids. This situation was worse because the parents gave their apparently mentally ill son a gun. The signs were all there and this was preventable. ■ Parents need to be held accountable! ■ Wake up Texarkana it can happen anywhere

■ What about the schools responsibility to its students & staff that day! The counselor, or principal or both should have not let him out of the office after finding the note/ paper. They should be held accountable as well! Just my opinion

■ The parents are not guilty.

■ They are negligent but not responsible. ■ I feel the school is also at fault for not pulling that student out of class when they found that note on his desk…he wrote, ” the thoughts won’t stop, help me? My life is useless”.. this kid needed help.. so sad that these kids received the brunt of his cry for help..

■ When parents are notified of alarming behaviors exhibited by their children and they fail to take action to prevent harm from being done, they too should be held responsible. Parents should take more aggressive action in monitoring their children’s behaviors to help prevent these tragedies from happening. Such a sad situation.

■ Also, the turn around time from the time the warnings were received by the parents, to the time their child committed the murderous acts seems critical. They had inadequate time to act, ie to be able to take their child to a mental health professional. It would be unreasonable to legally expect this be done by them immediately. … I do think however that the child should have been barred from attending school until this occurred. They allowed him to go back to school, and so did the school! Does this constitute parental negligence? Not if the school allowed him back in.