On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks.

‘Ms.. Cothren, where are our desks?’

She replied, ‘You can’t have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.’

They thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s our grades.’  ‘No,’ she said.

‘Maybe it’s our behavior.’ She told them, ‘No, it’s not even your behavior.’

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, thirdperiod. Still no desks in the classroom.

By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms.Cothren’s classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats onthe floor of the desk-less classroom, Martha Cothren said, “‘Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom.”

“Now I am going to tell you.’”

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-nine (29) War Veterans, all in uniform, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk.  The Vets began placing the school desks in the classroom, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall … by the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those students started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned…

Martha said, ‘You didn’t earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it’s up to you to sit in them. It is your  responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They and their comrades paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don’t ever forget it.’

This has been verified on Snopes and is a true story.
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/nodesks.asp

When contacting the Xplornet Support Center, the new Milton dedicated toll free number is 1-866-317-1871 and is available 24/7.

Xplornet is also reaching out to our Milton customers who have contacted our Support Line recently to advise them of this new dedicated toll free number and will continue to contact these customers to ensure they are aware of the importance of their requests, inquiries, etc.

We can’t just sit back and wait for government to do the job.  Listen to what Obama’s saying, “We all have to get involved, help each other, teach and learn from one another.”

That premise is as applicable in Canada today as it is in the United States.  And there is no end to the opportunities to contribute.  Whether one has only a few minutes or a few hours over a week or a month, whether possessing a specific skill set or just a will to help in any capacity, by coming together we will make a difference.

This is not to ignore the fact that many people are already involved in the community but it needs to be stressed that more help is needed.  There is a huge demand on a few volunteers.  Can you spend a few minutes in your community?  Let me know, there are a great many options.

Question: would you support an increase in Milton’s share of property taxes if it could be clearly established that our quality of life would be improved?