Vigil draws crowd; sparks controversy

The vigil crowd before the anti-gun sentiment reared its head.

Vigil draws crowd; sparks controversy

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Tuesday, December 18. 2012

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A vigil downtown Tuesday evening in remembrance of the Newtown, CT. shooting victims drew a crowd of about 150 participants to the B-LC Library but also stirred controversy.

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#1 Randy Vining on 12/18/12 at 06:35 PM

Who made the comments?

#2 Randy Vining on 12/18/12 at 06:46 PM

Apparently Ms. Granum was just following the lead of the president. He did the same thing when he went to Newtown.

#3 Debbie Adamson on 12/18/12 at 07:54 PM

This was a time to give tribute to the children and adults who lost their lives on Friday. This was NOT a time to talk about gun control. I can't understand how someone could use this time of mourning, for a political agenda. Fox 5 was here in town tonight taping this service. I pray that the portion of the program that was directed as an assault on gun owners is not aired on TV. It was embarrassing. I was however proud of the way the others conducted the program. You all did a great service to the community with that one exception. Thank You For That.

#4 Richard Albert on 12/18/12 at 08:14 PM

I don't know this woman, but she must be living in happy land...

#5 AMERICA - IN GOD WE TRUST on 12/18/12 at 08:33 PM

I was planning on going and am now glad I could not. I have already heard what happened. It is heartbreaking to hear that people will destroy such a heartfelt event with this type of antics. Ms. Granum, you should be ashamed of yourself and I think you owe the whole public an apology for changing the direction of the vigil.

#6 Robert Tippin on 12/18/12 at 08:35 PM

It's a shame that people will pimp out tragedies to further their agendas. Shame on this for this behavior! It shows they really don't care about fixing the problem, just about getting their way. Shame on them!

#7 Woody Horst on 12/18/12 at 08:39 PM

Put God and prayer back in schools. you never of anybody killed when praying in school.

#8 Woody Horst on 12/18/12 at 08:42 PM

Put God and prayer back in schools. you never heard of anybody killed when praying in school.

#9 Earth, Wind & Fire on 12/18/12 at 08:55 PM

I left the vigil before that point, but if I had been (or ever am) handed an anti-gun petition, I'd have looked the person straight in the eye and respectfully declined - in honor of my late husband, who died in a gun accident. I agree with Paul that this tragic event shouldn't have been politicized.

#10 James Granum on 12/18/12 at 08:57 PM

my intention in speaking against legal ownership of ASSAULT WEAPONS if one is not in a war zone was just that. you can call it political if you want. to me it would just prevent SO MANY tragedies like Sandy Hook. There are now many elected officials from both parties who are calling for the same thing. How is that political?
also , just to clear the record - gun OWNERSHIP - was not mentioned at all.
e. granum

#11 Robert Tippin on 12/18/12 at 11:29 PM

Shame on you! Pimping a tragedy for political purpose. It was supposed to be a vigil and you used it for your own agenda. It was neither the time nor the place. Shame on you for using the bodies of those little dead children for your podium. Not one word from you about addressing those with known violent mental health issues or the failure of government to properly protect soft targets like schools. Shame on you! You were doing this to stop tragedies and it was obvious. You did it because you had the bully pulpit and decided to use it. Shame and shame!

#12 Ron Caouette on 12/19/12 at 02:04 AM

Anything can be an assualt weapon....a car, a kitchen knife. Look under your kitchen sink, I'm sure there are many things under there that can be an assualt weapon. There are feet and fists.
This assualt on these children and teachers was not about guns...it was about good and evil.

#13 native ofbarnesville on 12/19/12 at 05:00 AM

Mrs Granum,
I guess what we all are saying is there is a time and place for everything. This was not the time and place for your speech. This was supposed to be a memorial for the victims to honor their lives. Your speech made as much sense during a memorial service as bringing up abortion would have. You owe this town more than this statement you wrote above mine. I for one was totally upset this was on fox 5.

#14 Van Baker on 12/19/12 at 05:34 AM

Jim...simply said....regardless of your intentions, this was not the time nor the place to bring up such a controversial topic...totally inappropriate , it turned the focus away from why we were there. Van Baker

#15 David Nicholson on 12/19/12 at 06:19 AM

God has never left our schools. The people have left God. As tragic as this was, God was, and still is there. Teach your children to pray in their own way no matter where they are. God never has nor will he ever turn away from any of us.

#16 Robert Heiney on 12/19/12 at 06:32 AM

You apparently aren't aware of the purpose of the Second Amendment. It was designed to ensure that all Americans would be armed and prepared to defend themselves against predators and more importantly against a tyrannous government (like the British Empire in Colonial times and like the one we have today).

Gun restrictions would not have ensured events like Newtown wouldn't occur. Instead, gun restrictions ensure more citizens are helpless against predators and evil people in this evil world.

And yes, you did use this tragic event to (as Robert Tippin said) pimp your anti-gun agenda.

#17 Ilicia Daly on 12/19/12 at 06:34 AM

You most certainly knew what you were doing. There was a crowd and a TV camera. Perfect opportunity for a political agenda. You didn't take a stand just against assault weapons. You attacked the NRA. There are many card carrying members among the citizens of Lamar Co. You not only offended those members you offended every person there who came to simply say we are united with grief. YOU ruined the vigil. Shame on you. You should be mortified.

#18 Tom Rauch on 12/19/12 at 07:45 AM

There are two reasons I cannot joining the public lynching party:

1.) I didn't hear and understand what E. Granum said in the full context of what she said. The media is always declared unreliable, unless they say something we happen to agree with.

2.) I'm not sure what social edict or written law she broke.

What I do know is fair-is-fair. If we are going to defend assault weapons based on the second amendment, we should be equally passionate defending the First Amendment, and especially the Establishment Clause.

If people should not be using the massacre of children to discuss banning assault weapons or the power of the NRA, also should not be using this tragedy to rally their particular religious beliefs into public schools.

If people are such great supporters of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, they should equally and fairly respect and promote every aspect and not just what they prefer to be selectively enforced.

#19 WI John Galt on 12/19/12 at 07:59 AM

Ms Ellen Granum have you no shame? To politicize a memorial service for victims of the Newtown tragedy is utterly repulsive.

As a long-time life member of the NRA let me enlighten you that it is freedom loving people who are NRA members who stand between you and a potential tyrannical government. If and when the brown shirts come you will sing the praises of NRA members.

Now that we all know your thinking, you can take your leftist-leaning agenda and put it where to sun does not shine.

#20 Robert Tippin on 12/19/12 at 08:41 AM

Tom: No one is denying the right of free speech, but there is a time and place for everything. This was not the time or place. It was about as appropriate as if I attended one of the services for those children killed at Sandy Hook and started a tirade about the 2nd Amendment. It would be wrong of me and it was wrong of Ellen Granum. If at that same vigil someone had gotten up and started going on about that it wasn't about the guns or gun ownership, I would have been equally disgusted. It was not the time nor the place.

It was inappropriate. Don't be deliberately obtuse and try to recast the people here that are upset by what happened in some other light. I believe the people that are upset are so not because the speech was about gun control, but because it was out of place with what the gathering was supposed to be about. And if you think them saying what they did was not, do you think it was the place to start passing around a petition? If you do, shame on you too.

#21 TPF . on 12/19/12 at 08:54 AM

My husband and I were among those that left. It was ridiculous and Ms. Granum had her facts wrong. The assault rifle was found in the CAR and was not used in the school. He used pistols. Also, he did not spray the room side to side... this would have been an automatic weapon.

We came to honor the victims and instead were insulted by your speech. We are trying to show our children the strength in community and instead you ruined it and they learned nothing from the vigil.

We are in total agreeance with Mr. Daly. We have 2 children in the Elementary and Primary schools. They are defenseless against any assailant. ANYONE with ANY kind of weapon! Give our schools a fighting chance to defend themselves. Train our school officials or have officers there on duty at all times with their guns.

Also, what good will it do to ban guns? Isn't Meth banned too? But yet its still on the streets... Banning guns will only cause the EVIL people like Lanza to gain access to guns and leave us defenseless! These Evil people don't care about laws!

Just think if one of those victims had a gun in the school to defend themselves. Children may have been saved; Lanza may have been taken alive rather than being a coward and taking his own life. Have you heard of the Pearl High, MS shooting? I read about it yesterday. An Assistant Principal stopped a shooter from taking more lives in 97 by getting his personal gun from his vehicle. The shooter had already shot in the high school and was leaving to go to the junior high school. He was taken alive and is paying for what he did.

#22 Ilicia Daly on 12/19/12 at 08:56 AM

We are not discussing her first amendment right. Clearly she was not thrown off the podium or arrested for her views. Her rights were not in question. We are simply stating a fact that she used this tragedy to enhance her political agenda... She vented her views in Bad Taste!!

#23 AMERICA - IN GOD WE TRUST on 12/19/12 at 01:07 PM

If the Second Amendment is stripped away then the First Amendment will be next, etc!

#24 Kristen Albritton on 12/19/12 at 02:20 PM

Just FYI...according to the police reports, he used a pistol on himself. He killed his victims with a semi-automatic military style rifle.

#25 Charles Wheeler on 12/19/12 at 05:43 PM

I don't understand how the liberals brain works. Take the guns from law abiding citizens and let the maniacs think they will freely prey on the unarmed. I don't think so.

#26 Robert Tippin on 12/19/12 at 06:51 PM

According to the reports I have read, the semi-automatic rifle was found in the car by the police. It doesn't matter, either way. Does anyone really think that if he did not have the semi-automatic rifle with him that he would have said "Darn! Guess I can't go kill a bunch of kids today"? He was a criminal and a crazy person. He chose his target (the school) because he knew he would not face any real resistance. An armed and trained security presence would have stopped him from doing what he did before he even got to the school (because he wouldn't have gone there if he knew he might get shot).

This is not about guns, it is about criminals and violent mentally ill people that want to kill other people. It is about the government's (Federal, State and Local) failure to protect soft targets like this school.

#27 Dot Hamer on 12/19/12 at 10:43 PM

Unfortumately it was.

#28 Julia Heidbrink on 12/20/12 at 12:55 PM

Gun free zones and bans on weapons have never protected people. They never will and I will never agree with your viewpoint.

But the reason for my post is that you misrepresented your vigil. In its planning and in getting the word out, if you were going to use it for political purposes, that should have been disclosed to the people so they could have made a clear decision to attend or not, depending on political viewpoint.

Someone called Fox 5 and told them. Why could Barnesville not be told, so that people could make a fair decision?

NO ONE, with a political agenda, should misrepresent what they are doing. It is done all too often, but misrepresentation, along with the people doing it, loses the trust of the people very quickly.

Shame on you for sinking to the level of misrepresenting your event to the people of Barnesville.

Julia

#29 Charles Wheeler on 12/20/12 at 04:53 PM

Amen brother

#30 Cats on 12/21/12 at 06:22 AM

Enough already.
Too much time has been wasted criticizing this event.
Lets turn our eyes and attention back to Connecticut, and lets forgive Ms. Granum and move our hearts back to the victims.
If we consider ourselves a Christian nation, lets live it, please!

#31 Robert Tippin on 12/21/12 at 09:54 AM

I know I replied to your other comment, but since you replied in both places, so will I.

To me, until Ellen Granum apologizes publicly to this community, not enough time is spent calling her to task. My attention has not been away from Connecticut, but since I live here I am also concerned with events here. Forgiveness comes to those her are repentant. From what I gather, she is not repentant at all. She was not thinking of being a "Christian Nation" when she conned people and abused the public trust.

Instead of calling on people to forgive and move on, how about a call to her to apologize for her actions? I believe that a public apology from her would do more to allow people to move on than asking them to just ignore wicked behavior.

"‎Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing." - John Stuart Mill

Good men and women should shine the light on wickedness, not allow it to hide in darkness where it can grow.

#32 Cats on 12/21/12 at 02:37 PM

With all due respect, sir, we are called upon as Christians to correct someone's error but ultimately, it's God's place to forgive.
I think we've pounded this thing into the ground now.
Merry Christmas!

#33 Ken Stump on 12/21/12 at 09:24 PM

Inquiring mines want to know; Who is Ellen Granum?

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