Autumn Leaves

 Ah, Fall. Rich with tradition and color. The autumn leaves. The days getting shorter and baseball playoffs beginning. Football takes hold in earnest and around the country, college and high school campuses prepare for the annual ritual of Homecoming. Welcoming former students back to their alma mater, celebrating with parades, dances and big games. 

And mass shootings. 

If your school colors happen to include blood red, then it's all part of the pageantry. In Leland, Mississippi this past weekend, six people were killed and twelve more injured when a "suspect" opened fire after the big game against Charleston High. 

Down the road a piece came news of two more people shot and killed at a different high school homecoming celebration. In Heidelberg, gunfire erupted after their big high school's football game. 

As is our way in these times, no motive was immediately apparent, and townspeople were shocked by the violence that rocked their little towns. Shocked, but not necessarily surprised. John Lee, Mayor of Leland said after the attack, “We definitely need to crackdown on gun violence. These guns need to be taken off the streets.” These guns that one local suggested were "easier to get than a job." 

No word yet as to when the National Guard would be descending upon Mississippi, bringing their own guns to the fracas. 

Meanwhile, South Carolina had its own shooting party leaving four dead and twenty injured at a bar in Beaufort County that was hosting a high school alumni event early on Sunday morning. 

No word on who won that game. 

Happy Homecoming!