Portland, Tennessee Blog

As far as I know I`m not ever going to do that . I know for sure that when I become a grown-up & have to make that choice,I`m not going to do that!

Mr. Anonymous,

Do we have a bit of a chip on our shoulder or what? Sorry if you had a bad experience but that much negativity isn't healthy for anyone. As for the police officers using drugs...that is obsurd. I don't believe for one minute that you have seen "much of the police force" in Portland using drugs. Give me a break. I'd like to know what you were on when you saw all of this!! Oh, and since we are correcting the mistakes of others, the i in I'm should be capitalized.

Oh, and for the record, SRO stands for Student Resource Officer. SO saying SRO Officer is kind of pointless. Student Resource Officer Officer? Psh.

I think that this is completely and utterly misguided. The entire staff at PHS are facist. And the government in Portland are nothing but facist pigs/hypocrites. Much of the police force use drugs. Literally. I've seen it.

The whole government system is terrible. You need to focus on the police force using drugs and the government in Portland breaking the laws that they are supposed to enforce a little more than you need to be focused on an 18 year old man using a perfectly legal tobacco substance.

Thank Bhudda for the First Amendment.

For the record, i'm a little bit late on this post and I know it. Only about 8 months...no big.

Oh....and one last thing. Go to www.google.com and
when the page loads, type in the word "failure" and then click on the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Can you imagine what would pop up?

Some helpful links:
www.anti-neocons.com
www.myspace.com/portlandpunx
www.myspace.com/isupport
www.myspace.com/vegexpress
www.savetheinternet.com

While I do agree that it is very gross, and don't want my boys doing it, I am not so sure that just because a coach or teacher is seen doing it, that it will effect their students/players in any way. Your beliefs and convictions should come from your parents/family and start early on. Me or my husband neither smoke or use tobacco. From the time my boys were little they knew how we felt about it and they know how unhealthy it is for them. But, by the time they are 18, they are old enough to decide whether it is something they want to do or not. If it is illegal to use on school grounds though, EVERYONE needs to respect those rules. If you are old enough to decide for yourself whether you want to do it, you are also old enough to follow any rules regarding it. Teaching your kids about smoking, drugs, alcohol etc. needs to be taught by parents, as well as the community. But I have to agree with the teen, by the time they are 18, they are old enough to make their own decisions. If they obtain it and use it legally, there is really not anything we as a community can do about it.
(Illegally is a whole different issue) If their parents have a problem with it, they are the ones who need to step in and correct it, not the community.

I agree with the person below me. As I am a student in highschool as well I dip also. Because I dip just like the person in the picture we have made headline news all because we use a tobacco product in which I might add that does no harm to anyone around them UNLIKE smoking. You people should be more worried about teenage kids and adults who get out on public streets intoxicated who might actually cause harm to the world, but no you people sit here and speak your opinions on how it's disgusting. DISGUSTING!!! Are you kidding me dip does no harm to the people that is around them and only does harm to the person that is using it and I think by now since we DO dip that we might actually know the side-effects. Just like the person below me teenage kids that are in highschool as well as 18 yr. olds are not going to listen to "authoritive figures." The time to start is younger as I recall I had no-one preach to me about it when I was younger until I entered highschool. Oh and for Brian...GET A LIFE!!! Stop criticizing people on doing something just because you don't like it!

the kid in the picture is 18 years old and i know him very well. if he's old enough to fight for his country then he should be allowed to dip wherever he wants. at least its not affecting the people around him. legally he's a grown man! if dipping is the worst thing a person of any age does then who cares. you should be more concerned about drinking and driving and illegal drugs, not a can of skoal. yes in the long run it can cause harm but i think you ought to focus more on more serious drugs then about kids or adults in the students case, who use smokeless tobacco. these students are in high school. there not going to listen to what teachers and "authoritive figures" say. the time to preach is in elementary and middle school. in high school they have already made up there mind and are old enough make their own decisions. theyre not going to look at a coach or teacher and say gee, that makes me wanna start dipping. theres no encouragement there. you need to find something else to write about other than a can of skoal brian.

If you have lived in Portland for any length of time, if should be quite obvious that the football coaches are not required to follow the same rules that the other teachers are. Heaven forbid the team should lose because the coaches had to follow rules and set good expamples for the kids they're supposed to be leading!!!

Oh, and the coaches aren't the only ones using the stuff - a lot of the kids do, too.

Besides being very bad for you it is also very ugly to see a man spitting gross brown stuff out of his mouth.I have never understood the appeal of smokeless tobacoo and did not see the common use of it until I moved up here.I saw a lady the other day walking and spitting.I just think it is very gross......

I agree with Brian that as adults we should be leading by example.
One problem we could solve is the selling of tobacco products to minors.
For some reason we let tobacco products slide and focus on alcohol, but the message we send to the youth is that its ok to dip and to smoke.
We need to start confronting these kids when they are out in public.
I have several in my teen class that smoke and dip. We talk about the problems these products can cause, but they say they just cant quit.

If I am not mistaken, Sumner County Schools prohibits the use of any kind of tobacco products by anyone (teachers, students, bus drivers, parents,etc.) while on school property. This includes the schools, school buses, stadiums, athletic fields, lawns, driveways, etc.

Apparantly, the rule is not being enforced. Brian is absolutely right in his concerns.