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Y2K: MARINES, NAVY HOLD MARTIAL LAW EXERCISE IN FLORIDA MIDDLE SCHOOL On Thursday morning, March 25, 1999, platoons of U.S. Marines, Navy and Coast Guard personnel occupied the Hobbs Middle School in Pensacola, Florida (population 58, 165) According to the Pensacola, Fla. News-Journal, "The sleepy atmosphere that pervades the grounds was broken at Hobbs Middle School on Thursday morning by the sound of Marines, Navy and Coast Guard pilots marching through the school's halls." "While sixth graders in Lynnette Whitfield's geography class were watching CNN reports of a NATO airstrike against Yugoslavia, they heard a voice bark over the intercom, 'Military personnel, take your classrooms.'" "The mock takeover of Hobbs Middle School by pilots and flight students from Whiting Field was a way to illustrate what martial law is all about, said Lt. Troy Beshears, a Coast Guard pilot assigned to Whiting Field Naval Air Station" in Pensacola. "But once the sailors and Marines were in the classroom, their mission was to teach for a day subjects such as math, science, history and geography and give teachers a break." "'We're going for the shock value initially,' said Navy Lt. Dan Deutermann, 29, but in the classroom, we're showing the students practical applications for what they're learning.'" "Several students brought up questions about the Kosovo situation." "Seventh grader Corey Keenlan selected Yugoslavia when a Navy ensign teaching geography asked students to name their favorite European country." "One of Whitfield's students, Julie McCool, said the presence of the military personnel in her school made the news she'd been watching from Yugoslavia seem a little more real." "'I just don't want it to get much worse,' said Julie, (age) 12." "The visit is part of Whiting Field's Adopt-A-School program controlled by Breshears." All personnel participating in the "visit" were reportedly volunteers. (See the Pensacola, Fla. News-Journal for March 26, 1999, story by Jenny LaCoste.) (Editor's Comment: Were I a property-owning taxpayer in Pensacola, I would be burning up the telephone lines to City Hall, inquiring why my taxes are paying a teacher $25 per hour to sit around twiddling their thumbs while military personnel do the teaching for them. But worse than that is using those children as "Serbian stand-ins" for a martial law training exercise. Adopt-A-School Program, indeed. Sounds like something Madeleine K. Albright dreamed up.)
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