fair use educational purposes only

Yough students learn what to do if they find a gun
By Jennifer Reeger
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, November 2, 2007

Eddie Eagle swooped in to Mendon Elementary School to offer a special safety message to kindergarten and first-grade students.
His message wasn’t “stop, drop and roll” or even “look both ways before you cross the street.”

Eddie flew into the Yough School District Thursday to reinforce a message about gun safety that teachers have been telling the students this year.

“Tell Eddie what we learned,” Paul Yackovich said to the kindergarteners.

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“Stop. Don’t Touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult,” they screamed in unison.
Yackovich, a Yough maintenance employee who sponsors the high school’s Outdoors Club, brought the Eddie Eagle program to the elementary school.

The program, developed in 1988 by the National Rifle Association, doesn’t promote gun ownership. Instead, it tells kids what to do if they find a gun. More than 20 million children nationwide have participated.

It’s the first time the program has been offered at Yough. It will be repeated at H.W. Good Elementary today.

Yackovich said that the program is timely because of the onset of hunting seasons.

“They’re more likely to see guns now than any other time,” Yackovich said. “If dad comes home and leaves his gun they would know — stay away.”

Yackovich said teachers have been incorporating lessons into the curriculum about safety and the difference between toy guns and real guns.

Yesterday, Yackovich also showed them an Eddie Eagle cartoon that offered examples of situations where kids might find a gun, such as in an attic or a closet in their house.

“You know guns aren’t child’s play,” the cartoon’s narrator said. “You must not touch, no how, no way.”

Yackovich showed the kids pictures of different people — a crossing guard, a coach, a bank robber and a child — and asked which of those people they should tell if they find a gun.

Then the “real” Eddie Eagle flew in to say hello, clapping and flapping his wings.

The kids got a chance to shake Eddie’s “hand” or give him a hug.

“Eddie’s true identify cannot be revealed, but myself and Jason Kramer sponsor the high school Outdoors Club,” Yackovich said, chuckling.

And while the message is simple and told in a fun way, Yackovich said it’s also deadly serious.

“If I can keep one kid safe, that would be enough for me,” he said.

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !