This has nothing to do with prep sports, but it sure is alarming and close to home: Covina High Students accused of planning shooting

We need to teach our youth to respect those around them as well as them selfs,Yes love,hugs,comunication all important.And all worthless when you consider that for to many years,we have straid from teaching our children respect for the sanctity of life.Hope in Devine providence,belief in one true God.We live in a TOUGH WORLD and its only going to get Tougher.These two did not plan a shooting,from reaction to blogs.They did not get the weapons from there parents.They broke in,they invaded someones home.There criminals and should be dealt with as such.

Admin Parent; Very well said, but I think you meant to say good job WEST Covina PD.

This is the first time that ive read blogs on a subject and every single comment was positive. If this is what we needed to wake us up then so be it. Lets not let the moment escape us. Lets make it a moment to define us. Its our childrens world, we're here to guide them. Good luck and god bless to all.

Tragedy narrowly averted... parent them up ladies and gents. Be involved, and be there for your kids. It's a mad world with lots of choices. Help our kids make the right ones every day.

I heard about this on the radio this morning, and to tell you the truth, it really got me scared to realize that this sort of thing could happen in our community.

SGV softball Fan, I could'nt agree with you more. Our public officials deserve a a big hand of recognition here. Because of these fine folks, a tragidy was prevented from occuring on our very door steps.

To all those that were involved in preventing this, thank you, for what you did.

I happened to be watching an old movie by the name of THE BREAKFAST CLUB. I am sure many have seen it. In that you have an athlete,princess,brain,wierdo,and a rebel.Funny they all have a similar problem .Pressure either from peers or parents .From peers to hang with the right crowd or from parents to perform at the top level. Due to one thing or another they wind up at Saturday detention. What they all find is that though they are totally different they have the same problems. The pressure kids face in todays world are far more the we the parents ever faced when we were growing up . I'd advise parents to become more involved as was written here before me and try to understand the pressure not only you but some of their peers are putting on your children . With all the talk of transferring to improve the chances of an athlete or scholar getting that scholarship just think of the pressure you are putting on that child to perform to an ability higher than anyone else and for who's benefit . Your's or their's.It is very hard to take an honest look at your child and maybe say that they just don't have what it takes to play at that next level which is mainly for the athlete but could pertain to that B student who is trying their best and just can't get the A student level. As we see in todays pressure filled world it does not take much to push someone over the fine line . Someone also wrote about knocking these athletes performance on the blog . Maybe we all should think twice before being so critical towards the kids because they do read these blogs and do not need the added pressure of an anonymous poster knocking their performance.

This is my daily prayer that GOD will intercede when some one decides to pick up a gun to do harm. I am truly blessed that he answered the prayer on this one. I will continue to pray for the children and there safety and hope that others that believe in the LORD will do also. Yes this is a wake up call and I hope that parents encourage there kids to speak up sooner if they see or suspect something wrong with one of there friends. Please keep praying for our youth and keep loving them as much as you can. Give them a hug once in a while and tell them you LOVE them, they will never get to old for that.

Fred,

This sickens me to read. I am a parent of three student/athletes in local schools and I am also a public school administrator. Although this does not have anything directly to do with athletics, it would have a major impact on a campus. There are a few things I would like to address and for the parents out there to reflect on. First, the access to guns. If there are guns in your home, lock them up, better yet, get rid of them. Surrender them to the local PD. Nobody thinks of tragic incidents like Columbine until it happens, but by that time it's too late. Innocent students/staff are dead. Secondly, there are not enough social services on a campus to deal with the number of students that require service. This must change. As the economy worsens and families struggle, students come to school depressed and act out behaviorally and in the worst cases violently. Lastly, (LISTEN UP PARENTS)parents need to become active in their childs life. Don't ask for permission just get involved. All too often parents come to schools looking for teachers and admin to raise their children. That is not our responsibility! Our responsibility is to provide a free and appropiate public education for all students. Parents your job is to love and respect your children, talk to them, question where your child is going, know who they are hanging with, know who they are texting/twittering/instant messaging/emailing/calling. You should know what they have in their rooms, drawers, closets, under their beds or mattresses. If you need to, search their rooms/cars/backpacks do what ever you have to to know what is going on in your childs life. Many of their problems are problems that start at home and then make there way to a campus. I don't mean to tell parents how to raise their children, but parents have lost control. I know some bleeding heart is gonna say, "I don't wanna violate their rights", guess what? They don't have any rights! it is your home, your money that provides for them so take control. The next time some tragic incident happens on school you think about this, think about the innocent victim that lies on the floor dying just because parents don't want to take control. I am not talking about hitting or spanking, what I am speaking about is getting deeply involved with your child. Thanks to the Covina PD for the fine job you did!

studentathleteparent:
Well said, I dont think there is anything that I could add to what you wrote.
Hug our kids let them know that they are loved no matter how they perform on the field, track or court there our children trying to make there way and lets remember they hear and see how the adults act and we should be better to make a difference for them! Like you said lets keep the blog going without the back stabbing.
Thank You to the police department for prevnting this from happening to anybodies child!

Well said

Fred, I think that your idea of including this news on your blog was a good one. Perhaps some bloggers that only come onto the blogs to criticize and put down some of our daughters and sons, all student athletes, will realize that there are more important things to worry about. Perhaps realizing that we have avoided a potential atrocity will open some eyes to the important things in life. I’m referring of course to some of the blog entries … I sometimes ask myself; would this person actually say that to the player’s parent’s face? It’s like an online version of road rage, but worse, because it’s regarding kids.

Does everyone realize how close we came to having Columbine happening in our own community?? Does this make you realize that we should be hugging our children more, picking our battles, helping them deal with the difficult choices they have to make as just a regular adolescent high school student? If these suspects had managed to pull off their plan, how would “Anonymous Blogger” feel if a player he/she slighted on this blog just so happened to be one of the students murdered by these two suspects?

Fred, you say this has nothing to do with Prep Sports…however, I think, indirectly, it does. Should this incident that they were planning had occurred, our children’s PYSCHE would forever have changed. The repercussions would have traveled like tentacles reaching from Covina HS to Northview, to West Covina, to South Hills, to Charter Oak, to Bonita, to Los Altos, and on and on. Even now I’m sure Covina HS students are in shock realizing that they literally “dodged a bullet”. Even now I suspect that several of our student athletes at Covina HS may be upset, disconcerted and thrown off balance.

I say we Thank God for having allowed this plot be foiled. Thank you to the police department, and to all those that helped prevent this disaster from taking place. But I also say, Parents, please, support our student athletes, keep it positive, be there for your kids, hug them as often as they allow you to, and let them know you love them.