By Melanie Brubaker Mazur
Two recent events have brightened up this yucky time of year.
On Saturday, the U.S. Air Force Academy Band performed at the Bayfield Performing Arts Center, filling the 400-plus seat venue.
I'd heard that our service bands are good, but I didn't know they were this good. The show was excellent, with a varied selection of band music and vocal tunes. How often do we get to see Broadway music performed in Bayfield? And it was free! The service members looked really snappy in their dress uniforms, too.
If you missed this show and get the opportunity to see another service band, I would truly recommend attending.
This also was a chance for us to show off our newest school facility, the performing arts center. When Fort Lewis College didn't have space available during the band's available dates, the tour manager heard about Bayfield's facility and checked it out, and he was impressed. People attended the concert from other towns in our area, and I hope they enjoyed their visit to Bayfield!
On a more serious note, the Bayfield School District hosted a School Safety Night on Jan. 30. While it dealt with some tough issues, I think it's better that we acknowledge the risks and try to prepare for them instead of taking the easy way out, saying "oh, that won't happen here."
I'm sure the communities at Columbine High School and Sandy Hook Elementary thought the same thing.
As frightening as it is to think about an attack in our schools, as parents and community members, we know the chance of this happening is small. So safety night also focused on things that do happen in our communities, which are bullying and suicide. Both of these sad events have taken place in our schools, and I applaud the school district for giving us some tools to deal with it.
The director of Safe2Tell, a statewide program where teens and adults can call in concerns about bullying, violence and other issues, said most of its calls are about possible suicide attempts.
Just knowing someone is listening and someone cares can help prevent a suicide.
Safe2Tell can be reached at (877) 542-7233. All reports are anonymous.
Thanks for reading.