I think it's the water

I'm convinced that all the trouble with the ground water in Rome, Georgia, has created some of the scariest minds I've come across in my 44 years. I could write a book (ha). This is just another (and more serious) example.

I tried to see if the Editorial Page Editor of the Rome News-Tribune would publish my plea to Rome or Darlington parents to contact Wasatch Academy if they had any information or experiences to share. After a lengthy exchange with him - which ended in nothing more than insult lobs (one he liked was about my not being "local" (that one makes me laugh, because he has no idea how grateful I am that I was able to escape the asylum that is Rome) - this is just one part of his last email.

I sensed a diversion of attention to the idea that kids die even on trips with their parents (to which I ask myself: what about the parents of Clay and Sean who had NO idea that the trip leader, Steve Hall, was going to put their children in the Atlantic Ocean in t-shirts and shorts and canoes and kayaks on a stormy day in February (48F water temp))?

And "what not"?

I'm not sure why "Rome" should "get involved" without there being a concrete reason for this. Certainly, you could try to address the general topic of whether parents should send their kids on such outdoor excursions no matter who is allegedly looking after them. However, keep in mind that before our society started relying so much on surrogates for parenting duties, lots of kids died on "camping trips" with mom and dad … drowning, fallen off cliffs, eaten by bears and what not. However, not having a reason to drag Darlington into this, except perhaps obliquely, I'm not sure how "local" the end result would be for someone removed from this area. (Whereas we would consider a local parent worrying about this, etc.).