Kids making trouble for kids who appear troubled. How stupid can you get?! Of course he's going to come back and shoot you! You're less than worthless to him. People look to others in times of need. Kids need to start recognizing other kids that need comforting and start being more inclusive and compassionte toward them. Thats what we did when we were in school. Wake up kids!! Parents and teachers? You better start teaching these young people how to treat each other with sensitivity and compassion or else you know whats coming. More of the same...

Kern county with any available funding needs to upgrade its mental health system. Too many people in that area and town need it. Lots of potential there.

Mental Health Collaborative of Kern County meeting on January 16, 2013, at 4 p.m., 3300 Truxtun, West Training Room In light of our recent local Taft High School shooting tragedy yesterday, the timing seems appropriate that dialogue continue at our community level. Our first responders and especially the heroic Taft Union High School Staff responded swiftly and with law enforcement coordination that exceeds expectations! We agree with the Bakersfield Californian, "We got lucky with this one." (January 11, Our View) Our heart and thanks goes out to all of those directly involved in this incident. But where do we go from here? As this story immediately went national on the news wires, we can be proud to know that our local collaboration and education is the key to minimizing future like tragedies. However, early intervention and additional community education, policy examination and collaboration is necessary, we believe, to prevent and reduce the number of future events. Pro-action in addition to our coordinated immediate response, we believe, is the key to success in this local and national debate. Our citizens deserve our leadership and non-partisan efforts to find solutions! Please join us in this effort. Please distribute to your staff and community contacts on your email distribution lists as you see appropriate. Thank you, -- Russ Sempell, MS Educator-Consultant-Advocate rsempell@gmail.com (661) 831-4706 Fawn Kennedy Dessy, Esq. dessylaw@aol.com (661) 322-3863

Youngblood said the suspect alleges the two students he targeted had bullied him for more than a year, but the sheriff couldn't confirm the allegations. "Certainly he believed that the two people he targeted had bullied him, in his mind. Whether that occurred or not we don't know yet," Youngblood said. Now Youngblood sounds like a bully.