Axtell, Tx – A still from a video only seconds long of a driver speeding past this place of business on Hwy 84 while spraying the building with pistol fire resembles descriptions of the 1943 Japanese psy-op known as the “Washing Machine Charlie” raids on Guadalcanal.
Enemy pilots would drop “daisy cutter” bombs from twin-engine Betty bombers, their engines timed out of sequence to give the aircraft a chugging vibratory affect as they evaded anti-aircraft fire.
It was a daily occurrence designed to get on everyone’s nerves, especially at night, when tired servicemen really needed their sleep.
This and numerous traffic incidents involving irate drivers have frightened the boy’s family badly. It’s his father’s belief that the social pressure he is experiencing is entirely political, a result of the pressure applied by state government to place adequately in the competition to return acceptable academic scores, as proven by testing.
Cornel Marton is fighting back.
A WEEK SPENT among the Romanian enclave – a population of about 150 who are all related to one another – in this rural suburb of Waco shows what conditions of a civil war of nerves will probably resemble as cultures collide in hard times.
Previous articles have detailed the educational saga of his youngest son, who is physically challenged by an orthopedic condition known as spinal bifida; its crippling effects render him unable to walk without the use of extensive braces.
Because of this challenge, Axtell school district officials have managed his academic career with an adroit administrative zeal to isolate him from the main part of the student body in special education classes euphemistically labeled “resource” platoons in which every student is instructed in “life skills” at their own particular level. This includes dishwashing, bed making, toilet training, everything it takes to get through the day as an adult.
They point to tests that they say prove the boy has a low level of cognitive ability, something that qualifies him for special education that has kept him on a second and fourth grade level in various academic disciplines such as math, reading, social studies – the core curriculum.
His father has protested this practice so vehemently that he is permanently enjoined from entering the school grounds on pain of arrest for criminal trespassing – at a public school.
The disastrous result is further isolation that leaves him helpless to get through swinging doors without assistance.
His orthopedic condition renders him incapable of perceiving pain in his lower extremities.
When he resorted to kicking his way through heavy swinging doors, he developed a festering sore on the sole of his heel. The resulting infection threatened to cause an amputation before doctors were able to reverse the trend.
During an extensive hospitalization at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children he was instructed by Dallas school officials on an age appropriate eighth grade level. His academic level increased by at least two grade levels in academic.
When he returned to the Axtell High School, however, his performance “regressed,” according to school officials.
They have determined they must place him back in the special education classes in order to prepare him for standardized academic testing which determine their professional accreditation.
We of Radio Legendary were invited by Mr. Marton to sit in on the ARD meeting that enables them to make their administrative decision.
The father’s arguments and observations of the youngest son’s predicament voiced by an older brother seemed to fall on deaf ears.
Listen carefully to the edited tape of an hour-long meeting that took place on Thursday morning, Jan. 10. It appears the panel had made up their minds before they sat down.