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Petition Tag - henderson
1. We want a playing field for Henderson Green! 
Norfolk County Council are going to buy the derelict land next to the school, but they are unwilling to pay the money needed to transform it into a school playing field.
2. Town of Henderson Fair, Honest and Open Government Petition
For too long, some of the representatives of Henderson Town government have chosen to keep information from the citizens of our town. Recordings of town meetings have been discontinued and minutes of those meetings have been inaccurate, to the detriment of citizens.
Town Board members have voted on issues with which they clearly have conflicts of interest. Documents have been withheld from agencies and committees, making it nearly impossible for them to be able to carry out duties in a manner for the betterment of the citizens. This obstructionism is unacceptable.
After all, government is suppose to be working FOR the people, not for what a handful of covert individuals want.
3. Justice for the Henderson Family
In November 1981, 29 years ago almost to the day, a seventeen year old kid named Paul “Poncho” Henderson was found dead on the catwalk under the Centennial bridge in Miramichi, New Brunswick. And for 29 years his family have been denied both respect and justice in the loss of their son and brother.
From the time the body was discovered the police appeared determined to shrug this boys death off as some sort of accident or the result of misadventure. The head investigating RCMP officer at the time attributed the cause of death to a “fall” despite the fact that the body was positioned in such a way that no fall could result in and in a spot where there was nowhere to fall from. Add to that the discovery of this kids sneakers neatly placed about 50 meters from the body further along the catwalk. Paul’s family were poor…his mother, a single mom, was struggling to raise her 5 sons on social assistance.
The “lack of justice” system ran right over this woman and her family… they weren’t even given the dignity of being asked to identify the body of their lost son and brother and the funeral home where Paul was prepared for burial took the liberty of sealing the casket before the family even got to see the body. I doubt you or I would accept such disrespectful and hurtful treatment if it were our lost loved one.
On a Wednesday morning on August 5th, 2009, numerous students of Henderson County High School were sent home or otherwise disciplined for violations of the dress code, including but not limited to: Piercings, tattoos, and torn clothing. The reasoning behind this code, as stated by the staff of said school, is because such things are a distraction to classmates. This is, quite simply, untrue. All of these things are commonplace in this day and age, therefore lacking any significant ability to distract peers.
What is incredibly distracting, however, are arms wrapped in duct tape to cover tattoos, pants with shiny silver duct tape patchjobs to cover the slightest of tears and adhesive bandages covering eyebrows, lips, and other piercings. Far more distracting, and in opposition to the educational purpose of the school, is having to sit in an office for hours on end - missing classtime in the process - over something so trivial as a torn pair of pants rendering one's kneecap visible.
For the past four years, such things as piercings and tattoos have been allowed. The same applies to torn clothing (granted, within limits) and colored hair. For four years, these things provided no significant distraction. It is a far more potent distraction to have the students all wrapped in tape and bandages - and it certainly doesn't help them focus on academic work if they're all riled up over the dress code rules.
Taking into consideration the counterproductive nature of the current dress code, as outlined in the preamble of this petition, I move that the school board review these rules of dress as quickly as possible and REMOVE them. The distractions of the school's so-called "disciplinary procedures" are far greater than the distraction of a couple of rings in one's lip - a sight which is all too common to students these days, thus bringing its alleged status as a "distraction" into serious question. Henderson County High School is a public school - not a private school - and therefore should not have such strict guidelines. The sole role, in practice if not in theory, of this code is angering students and parents alike, keeping students out of class to deal with petty "disciplinary" issues, and rendering the HCHS building void of any and all physical signs of individuality and free expression.
Such trivial obsession over the students' physical appearance distracts from their education. Pulling students out of important classes for hours at a time does nothing to prepare them for the real world nor does it allow them to complete any work. If you check the planners students are required to carry, there are two to five lines - possibly one full page, tops - discussing the school's standards and goals for education. The remaining ten or twenty pages related to school conduct are devoted mostly to discipline - at least three pages of which is in regard to the dress code. A school is supposed to be an educational establishment, not a conformity-obsessed discipline center.
The staff and school board - along with whoever else aided in the formation of these new rules - clearly have their priorities out of order. As many members of the HCHS staff have pointed out themselves, there will be plenty of time to take part in a uniformed work-collective during one's career, so why eliminate what individuality is available during school years?
5. Against Henderson's chapter 4.60 banning teenage dancehalls and nightclubs
The city of Henderson has recently added a new chapter banning teenage dancehalls, nightclubs and other matters relating thereto where as the addition of such places has shown a decrease in teen violence, drug use, and other matters surrounding young people by giving them a safe environment to socialize and dance.