Friday, October 29, 2010

Over 63,000 South Carolina Students Pledge Against Gun Violence

COLUMBIA—United States Attorney Bill Nettles said that by close of business Friday of this week, members of the U.S. Attorney's Office and their law enforcement partners will have met with 63,000 students from 131 schools across the state as part of the ninth annual Student Pledge Against Gun Violence. Middle and high school students are signing a voluntary pledge promising that they will never take a gun to school, will never resolve a dispute with a gun, and will use their influence to prevent friends from using guns to resolve disputes. Elementary school children are making a simpler commitment, pledging that if they see a gun they will not touch it, they will assume that any gun they see might be loaded, and they will tell a teacher or a trusted adult.

The effort is part of South Carolina’s Project Cease Fire and the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods, both federal programs aimed at reducing gun violence. The Student Pledge Against Gun Violence is a national program honoring the role that young people, through their own decisions, can play in reducing gun violence. This campaign against youth gun violence culminated on Wednesday, October 27, 2010, in a Day of National Concern About Young People and Gun Violence. The program provides a means for beginning the conversation with young people about gun violence. Students from around the country join together in pledging to do their part to end gun violence.

“The response to the pledge campaign this year has been tremendous, perhaps in part due to the renewed awareness of the threat of school violence after a high school student in Conway shot at a Student Resource Officer just last month,” said Mr. Nettles. “Over 63,000 students from 131 schools across the state agreed to take part in this year’s pledge.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office worked with law enforcement agencies throughout the state to make the pledges available to the schools. In addition to providing the pledges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office coordinated with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to provide speakers to go out to schools across South Carolina and talk to students about what they could do to reduce gun violence.

The following South Carolina schools and law enforcement agencies participated in this year’s pledge. For additional information concerning the national pledge, visit the National Student Pledge website at www.pledge.org.

Participating Law Enforcement Agencies

Anderson County Sheriff's Office
Anderson Police Department
Barnwell County Sheriff's Office
Beaufort County Police Department
Beaufort County Sheriff's Department
Bennettsville Police Department
Blacksburg Police Department
Bluffton Police Department
Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department
Charleston County/North Charleston
Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office
Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office
Chester County Sheriff’s Department
Columbia Police Department
Conway City Police
Coward Police Department
Darlington County Sheriff’s Office
Darlington Police Department
Denmark-Olar Police Department
Dorchester County Sheriff's Department
Easley Police Department
Fairfield County Sheriff Department
Gaffney Police Department
Great Falls Police Department
Greenville County Sheriff's Office
Greenwood Police Department
Greer Police Department
Hampton County Sheriff Department
Hartsville Police Department
Hemingway Police Department
Lake City Police Department
Laurens City Police Department
Laurens County Sheriff’s Department
Lee County Sheriff's Department
Lexington County Sheriff's Department
Marion Police Department
Marion Sheriff’s Office
Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office
Mount Pleasant Police Department
Mullins Police Department
Myrtle Beach Police Department
Newberry Sheriff’s Office
North Charleston Police Department
Oconee County Sheriff’s Office
Pagland Police Department
Pickens Police Department
Richland County Sheriff's Department
Ridgeville Police Department
Society Hill Police Department
South Carolina State University Police Department
Spartanburg Public Safety Department
Summerville Police Department
Sumter County Sheriff's Office
Sumter Police Department
Union Department of Public Safety
Williamsburg County Sheriff
Woodruff Police Department
York County Sheriff's Department

Participating Schools

A.R. Lewis Elementary School, Pickens
Alcorn Middle School, Columbia
Alice Drive Middle School, Sumter
Anderson Cunty Alternative School, Anderson
Andrews Elementary School, Andrews
Annie Burnside Elementary, Columbia
Arden Elementary School, Columbia
B.D. Lee Elementary School, Gaffney
Barnwell Primary School, Barnwell
Batesburg-Leesville Elementary, Batesburg-Leesville
Batesburg-Leesville High School, Batesburg-Leesville
Beech Hill Elementary, Summerville
Bell Street Middle School, Clinton
Bennettsville Middle School, Bennettsville
Blacksburg Middle School, Blacksburg
Bluffton Elementary School, Bluffton
Bluffton High School, Bluffton
Bluffton Middle School, Bluffton
Bridge Creek Elementary, Elgin
Britton’s Neck Elementary School, Gresham
Brookland-Cayce High School
Burgess Elementary School
Burke Middle School
Burnside Elementary School
C.A. Johnson High School, Columbia
Calhun County High School, St. Matthews
Carver Junior High, Spartanburg
Castle Heights Middle School, Rock Hill
Caughman Road
Elementary, Columbia
Chapman Elementary School, Spartanburg
Chester Park Elementary Center of Literacy Through Technology, Chester
Clay Hill Middle School, Ridgeville
Cleveland Elementary, Spartanburg
Clover Middle School, Clover
Darlington High School , Darlington
Davis Elementary School for Technology, Cayce
Denmark-Olar Elementary, Denmark
Donaldson Career Center, Greenville
Dreher High School, Columbia
East Clarendon High School, Turbeville
East Cooper Montessori Charter School, Mt. Pleasant
East Elementary School, Dillion
Eau Claire High School, Columbia
Edith L. Frierson Elementary, Wadmalaw Island
Estill High School, Estill
Ewing Middle School, Gaffney
Felton Labortory School, Orangeburg
Flowertown Elementary, Summerville
Forest Heights Elementary, Columbia
Forest Park Elementary, Union
Geiger Elementary, Ridgeway
Gibbes Middle School, Columbia
Great Falls Elementary, Shironda Brown
Greendale Elementary, New Ellenton
Greer Middle School, Greer
Grove Elementary, Greenville
H.B. Rhame, Jr. Elementary School, Columbia
H.E. McCracken Middle School, Bluffton
Hand Middle School, Columbia
Hemingway High School, Hemingway
Honea Path Middle School, Honea Path
Hopkins Middle School, Hopkins
Horry CountyEarly College High School, Conway
Hyatt Park Elementary School, Columbia
J. C. Lynch Elementary School, Coward
John E. Ewing Middle School, Gaffney
Johnakin Middle School, Marion
Kelly Miller Elementary School, Winnsboro
Ladson Elementary School, Ladson
Lady’s Island Middle School, Beauford
Lakewood High School, Sumter
Laurens High School, Laurens
Laurens Middle School, Laurens
Lewisville Middle School, Richburg
Limestone Central Elementary School, Gaffney
Logan Elementary School, Columbia
Lower Lee Elementary School, Mayesville
Luther Vaughan Elementary School, Gaffney
M.C. Riley Elementary, Bluffton
Macedonia Elementary, Blackville
Macedonia Middle, Moncks Corner
Malcolm C. Hursey Elementary School, North Charleston
Manchester Elementary School, Pinewood
Mary Ford Elementary, North Charleston
Mary H. Wright Elementary, Spartanburg
Mathews Elementary School, Greenwood
McCants Middle, Anderson
McKissick Elementary School, Easley
Mitchell Elementary School, Charleston
Mullins High School, Mullins
Myrtle Beach High School, Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach Middle, Myrtle Beach
Newberry Elementary School, Newberry
Newington Elementary, Summerville
North Aiken Elementary, Aiken
North Myrtle Beach Primary School, N. Myrtle Beach
Northside Elementary School, Seneca
Northwest Elementary School, Gaffney
Oakwood-Windsor Elementary, Aiken
Park Hills Elementary, Spartanburg
Pate Elementary School, Darlington
Petersburg Primary School, Pageland
Pine Ridge Elementary, W. Columbia
Piney Grove Elementary, Columbia
Plainview Elementary School, Patrick
Pocalla Springs Elementary School, Sumter
Pritchardville Elementary, Bluffton
Red Cedar Elementary, Bluffton
Riverside Middle School, Pendleton
Robert Smalls Middle School, Burton
Rosenwald Elementary/Middle School, Society
Sandel Elementary, Columbia
Scranton Elementary School, Scranton
Southside Middle School, Florence
Southwood Middle, Anderson
Spartanburg Charter School, Spartanburg
Spartanburg High School, Spartanburg
St. Mark Elementary School, Kingstree
Tamassee-Salem High School, Salem
Tamassee-Salem Middle/High School, Salem
V.V. Reid School, Columbia
W.A. Perry Middle School, Columbia
Walker-Gamble Elementary School, New Zion
West-Oak High School
Westwood Elementary, Abbeville
White Knoll Middle School, Columbia
Whittemore Park Middle School, Conway
Wilder Elementary School, Sumter
Williams Middle, Florence
Woodruff Elementary School
York Middle School

No comments: