Tag: school shooting

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Tennesseans Respond Online to Actions Against the “Tennessee Three”

Credit: Rep. Justin Jones/Twitter I A screen cap from a now-viral video shows Tennessee Rep. Justin Lafferty (R-Knoxville) filming a protest inside the House chamber moments before Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) said he "pushes me and grabs my phone."

A GoFundMe, an open letter, and a viral video that some say constitute “assault” against a Nashville lawmaker are swirling online in the wake of a gun-violence protests at the Tennessee Capitol and a move to expel some Democratic lawmakers. 

All of it follows the April 27th shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School last week that left three children and three adults dead. A massive protest brought hundreds to the Capitol the following Thursday. 

On the House floor that day, Reps. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis), Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), and Justin Jones (D-Nashville) supported the protesters. During the legislative session, Jones spoke through a megaphone holding a sign that read “protect kids, not guns.” The three then moved to the Speaker’s well and “began shouting without recognition” and ”proceeded to disrupt the proceedings” from 10:50 a.m. to 11:42 a.m., according to a House resolution. 

Republicans filed three resolutions Monday to expel Pearson, Johnson, and Jones — the now-called “Tennessee Three” — from the state House of Representatives. The three were stripped of their committee assignments, and access to the garage, doors, and elevators at their office buildings. 

This brought hundreds more to the Capitol Monday to protest with some yelling “fascists, fascists!” at Republicans from the House gallery and many more to yell “Fuck Bill Lee!” outside the building. 

A viral Twitter video from Jones (below) shows the fracas inside the House Monday. In it, Jones films Rep. Justin Lafferty (R-Knoxville). As he closes in on Lafferty to apparently film what is on his phone, Lafferty turns, Jones’ phone camera moves erratically, and someone can be heard saying, “hey, get your hand off of me!” Jones posted the video at 8: 30 p.m. Monday. So far, the video has been viewed nearly 5 million times. 

The video prompted numerous responses like these: 

House members are expected to vote on the expulsions Thursday. Many online organized a GoFundMe Monday evening to help with expect legal fees to fight the move. As of Tuesday morning, the fund raised $10,537 of its goal of $25,000. 

GoFundMe

“Democracy is at stake due to the extremely unfair and unconstitutional behavior of [House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville)],” wrote donor Amanda McDowell. “He should be the one being ejected, although we all know hell has a better chance of freezing over first. 

“The [Tennessee] Three should be commended for actually caring about their constituents and the children of this state. They ran for office to serve the people, and it truly shows. They have my gratitude and full support.”

Some urged Twitter users to sign a digital open letter to their leaders in the legislature. The letter pulls no punches, callings Republicans’ actions “shameful,” and warning that “elections will be coming soon.” 

”You all should take this opportunity to make Tennesseans feel better instead of putting armed guards in public schools that you refuse to properly fund,” reads the letter. “Expelling these Democrats will make you all the infamous Republicans who tried to squash democracy in Tennessee.”

Finally, some news reporters on Twitter reminded users that the state GOP refused to vote to expel Rep. David Byrd (R-Waynesboro) in 2019 after allegations surfaced that he had inappropriate sexual contact with teen girls in the 1980s. 

The resolution to expel him was sponsored by Johnson, who now faces expulsion for her part in the gun protests.  

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Governor Lee Unveils $205M School Safety Package

Credit: state of Tennessee/YouTube

Tennessee Republicans rolled out a $205 million school safety package Monday, one week after a shooter killed six at Nashville’s Covenant School. 

The package includes funding to place an armed security guard at every Tennessee public school, boost physical school security at public and private schools, and provide additional mental health resources for Tennesseans, according to a news release from Governor Bill Lee’s office. 

Lee’s initial budget proposal (outlined before the shooting) included $30 million for 122 Homeland Security agents for schools in every Tennessee county. Lee also highlighted school safety in his State of the State address in February. 

“There is nothing more important than our students safely returning home each day,” Lee said in a statement Monday. “As Tennessee grieves the tragic loss of six precious lives in the Covenant shooting, we are taking additional actions to significantly boost safety measures at every school with highly-trained guards, physical security enhancements, and mental health resources.”

The new, enhanced legislation: 

• Enacts a multi-tiered accountability plan to ensure exterior school doors are locked while students are present, with opportunities for corrective action. State and local law enforcement will be authorized to check for unlocked doors.

• Requires that private security guards are held to a high standard and receive active shooter training prior to being posted at Tennessee schools. 

• Requires every school district to establish threat assessment teams, a nationally recognized best practice to ensure students are connected to support services and behavioral health professionals, when appropriate.

• Requires every public and private school to develop annual safety plans, which must include a newly required incident command drill for school leaders and law enforcement to prepare for what to expect in various emergencies. 

The new bill’s budget includes: 

• $30 million to expand a statewide homeland security network with 122 agents serving students at both public and private schools.

• $140 million to establish a School Resource Officer (SRO) grant fund to place a trained, armed security guard at every public school.

• $20 million for public school security upgrades.

• $7 million for private school security upgrades.

• $8 million for additional school-based behavioral health liaisons across the state.

“Hardening security at our public and private schools can no longer be just a priority, it is now an imperative,” said Senate Speaker Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge). 

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Governor Lee Vows Action on Nashville School Shooting, Offers No Specifics

Credit: state of Tennessee/YouTube
State of Tennessee/YouTube

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee addressed the shooting at Nashville’s The Covenant School in a YouTube video issued Tuesday evening.

Lee said, “We will act to prevent this from happening again.” But he laid out no specific next steps and said, “Prayer is the first thing we should do” and that “there will come a time to discuss and debate policy.”

Here’s the transcript of Lee’s full address:

“Tennesseans, I want to say a few words about what our state experienced yesterday. What happened at Covenant School was a tragedy beyond comprehension.

Like many of you, I’ve experienced tragedy in my own life, and I’ve experienced the day after that tragedy. I woke up this morning with a very familiar feeling, and I recognize that today many Tennesseans are feeling the exact same way — the emptiness, the lack of understanding, the desperate desire for answers and the desperate need for hope.

All of Tennessee was hurt yesterday, but some parents woke up without children, children woke up without parents and without teachers, and spouses woke up without their loved ones.

Maria woke up this morning without one of her best friends, Cindy Peak. Cindy was supposed to come over to have dinner with Maria last night after she filled in as a substitute teacher yesterday at Covenant.

Cindy and Maria and Katherine Koonce were all teachers at the same school and have been family friends for decades.

Four other Tennesseans and members of the Covenant family —Hallie Scruggs, Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, and Mike Hill — were taken in an horrific act of violence.

Six innocent lives — three of them were children.

We are enduring a very difficult moment. I understand there is pain. I understand the desperation to have answers, to place blame, to argue about a solution that could prevent this horrible tragedy.

There will come a time to ask how a person could do this. There will come a time to discuss and debate policy.

But this is not a time for hate or rage. That will not resolve or heal. Everyone is hurting, and remembering that as we grieve and walk together will be the way we honor those who were lost.

We can all agree on one thing — that every human life has great value. We will act to prevent this from happening again. There is a clear desire in all of us, whether we agree on the action steps or not, that we must work to find ways to protect against evil.

Yesterday, while we saw the worst of humanity, we also saw the best of humanity in the police officers who ran into danger, directly toward a killer with no regard for their own life thinking only about those kids, those teachers, those administrators.

I had the opportunity to speak with Officer Engelbert and Officer Collazo today — two brave Tennesseans whose actions saved lives.

Gratitude doesn’t begin to cover it — for the utter selflessness of putting their lives between a killer and the innocent.

I am calling on the people of Tennessee to pray. For the families of victims, for the Covenant family, for those courageous officers, for the family of the shooter, for those who are hurting and angry and confused.

Prayer is the first thing we should do, but it’s not the only thing.

Law enforcement officials and educators across our state have been working for years, especially in the last year, to strengthen the safety of schools. That work was not in vain — the courage and swift response by the teachers, officers, and this community without a doubt prevented further tragedy.

There will be a time to talk about the legislation and budget proposals we’ve brought forward this year. And clearly there’s more work to do.

But on this day after the tragedy, I want to speak to that which rises above all else.

The battle is not against flesh and blood; it’s not against people. The struggle is against evil itself. We can’t forget this — and it’s very difficult — but we are called to not only love our neighbors, but to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, to pray for those who intend harm.

There is hope in the midst of great tragedy because God is a redeemer. What is meant for evil can be turned for good.

May we grieve in the days ahead, but not without hope. May we also act with wisdom, discernment, and grace.

And may we love, especially those who have lost.”

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Governor’s Executive Order Fortifies Tennessee Schools, Won’t Limit Gun Access

Bill Lee (Photo: tn.gov)

Gov. Bill Lee signed an executive order Monday directing Tennessee schools and law enforcement to double down on existing school safety protocols in the wake of a shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.

But the Republican governor said restricting access to guns is off the table, and he called for continuing the state’s “prioritized practical approach to school safety.”

That means greater fortification of schools to make it more difficult for an intruder to enter them — a policy that former Gov. Bill Haslam, another Republican, stepped up in 2018 after a shooter killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

At a morning news conference, Lee said school communities can expect more unannounced security inspections to make sure all doors are locked so that visitors have only a single point of entry when the new school year begins. 

The governor directed the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy to work with the state safety department to evaluate training standards in active-shooter situations, and announced required training for security guards at private schools. He called on state troopers to familiarize themselves with school patterns and school communities in their regions to become more involved in school safety.

And he directed the state education department to seek federal permission to use federal COVID-relief funding to conduct independent school safety assessments that identify needed building upgrades.

“There are things we can control, and there are things we cannot,” Lee said after signing his order. “And one of the things that we can control … (is how) to improve the practical, pragmatic steps to making a school safer.” 

Democrats, however, characterized Lee’s order as a photo opportunity that won’t lead to meaningful change.

“I reject the notion that we are helpless against confronting gun violence,” said state Sen. Raumesh Akbari, of Memphis. 

“Tennessee families believe in responsible gun ownership, and they support laws that would deny firearms and weapons of war to people who can’t pass a background check,” Akbari added. “That’s not radical. That’s just common sense.”

Lee’s four-page order comes two weeks after an 18-year-old legally purchased an AR-15-style rifle and opened fire on a classroom filled with children and teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, before being killed by law enforcement.

And over the weekend, a string of shootings left at least 15 people dead and more than 60 others wounded in eight states, including in Tennessee, where three people were killed and 14 were injured early Sunday morning outside a nightclub in Chattanooga and two people died of gunshot wounds in southeast Shelby County.

Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, who described himself as an “avid hunter” and gun owner, called on Congress to enact “common sense regulations” such as mandatory background checks and a ban on high-capacity magazines that let shooters fire dozens of rounds without having to reload.

But Lee rejected those ideas when asked whether Tennessee would seek to issue its own regulations.

“We are not looking at gun restrictions or gun laws as a part of a school safety plan going forward,” he told reporters.

Tennessee has one of the nation’s highest rates of gun deaths, including murders, suicides and accidental shootings. But the state has loosened restrictions on gun ownership since 2019 under Lee’s leadership. Last year, it joined more than a dozen other states that allow most adults 21 and older to carry handguns without first clearing a background check, obtaining a permit, or getting trained on firearms safety.

Asked whether the rise in gun violence constitutes a public health crisis, Lee called it a “serious and rising problem” and added that his executive order is a “first step” in addressing it.

“If we work together and implement the things that we have put in place in our state and strengthen those things — and we will be strengthening them over the next months — then we can work together to ensure that our schools are in fact safe places,” Lee said.

He added that he wants every Tennessee K-12 campus eventually to have a school resource officer and noted that his 2019 grant program has helped place more than 200 officers in public schools.

Marta W. Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

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Chalkbeat: Five Questions With Governor Lee After Uvalde

Credit: State of Tennessee

Gov. Bill Lee said Thursday that his administration began reviewing Tennessee’s school safety policies and programs the day after an 18-year-old gunman walked into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 children and their two teachers.

“We will be taking steps in the days and weeks to come that will enhance our ability to secure students in the classroom,” said Lee, speaking with reporters for the first time since the May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary School.

Exactly what those steps will be is still being discussed. But Lee said they won’t involve repealing a bill he signed last year that allows most Tennessee adults to carry a handgun without a permit.

His top two priorities: make school campuses more secure and support mental health, especially for young people.

Lee has sought to strengthen both areas since taking office. In 2019, the new Republican governor raised the state’s annual investment in school safety funding, especially to increase the number of schools supported by law enforcement personnel known as school resource officers. And in 2021, he championed a $250 million mental health trust fund that dedicates annual investment income to support students’ emotional well-being.

He also expects school safety to be on the minds of legislators when they return to Nashville next January. 

“There will be a long list of items that people will talk about and propose — one of them being whether to arm teachers, another being passing a red flag law,” Lee said. “I think we’re going to see a robust conversation all across America about what strategies to implement.”

Lee spoke with reporters in Fayetteville, Tennessee, after announcing that Wisconsin-based Ariens, a maker of commercial lawn mowers and snowblowers, will bring nearly 370 new jobs to build its products in the rural Middle Tennessee town.

Asked later by Chalkbeat about the Texas shooting, the governor characterized his office as “very engaged” on student safety. 

“I’ve had very emotional conversations with parents who are afraid to send their children to school,” he said about how the shooting has shaken families and school communities anew.

A day earlier, about 50 pastors, parents, and physicians gathered outside of Lee’s office at the state Capitol to call for “common sense” gun control regulations. Among their demands: Ban semi-automatic assault weapons, armor piercing ammunition, and high-capacity magazines.

In Fayetteville, Lee answered five questions from Chalkbeat on gun violence and student safety. Chalkbeat lightly edited his answers for clarity and brevity.

Q: While the school year has ended, school safety is on the minds of Tennesseans after the Uvalde massacre. How are you working to prevent a similar tragedy here in Tennessee?

A: For three years, we have made investments, but we have to do more. From day one after that tragedy, we started an assessment of what has been done, and we’re developing a strategy. Part of the strategy is to make certain schools are using the resources that are available to them. 

School resource officers are a key first step. A lot of accountability is necessary to make sure schools are actually carrying out established protocols, and that can be part of the SRO’s responsibility. We’ve learned that, in this event in Texas, a missed protocol or a lack of attention to detail can have tragic outcomes.

Q: After the 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, several Tennessee lawmakers proposed letting some teachers carry guns at school. The bills generally stalled, but there’s talk again of turning some teachers into armed security guards. Would you support such legislation?

A: I have said before that I would be in favor of a strategy that includes training and vetting and a very strategic and appropriate plan for (arming teachers). There are a lot of details that have to be right for that to be considered. But if lawmakers brought it forth, I would certainly consider it.

Q: Some of your critics have pointed to the 2021 “constitutional carry” bill you signed as part of the problem by allowing people 21 and older to carry handguns, openly or concealed, without a permit — all at a time when Tennessee has one of the nation’s highest rates of gun deaths. Was widening gun access the wrong direction?

A: Constitutional carry is a law that applies to law-abiding citizens. What we’re talking about in Texas was criminal behavior. Criminals don’t follow permit laws. They don’t follow gun laws. They break the law. Constitutional carry has nothing to do with criminals who break the law. In fact, when we passed constitutional carry, we also passed laws that strengthened penalties for those who broke the law with guns. It’s very important that we separate criminals who use guns in criminal activity and law-abiding citizens.

Q: What about limiting access to guns by people who are most likely to misuse them? Many are urging passage of red flag laws that permit police or family members to petition a court to order temporary removal of firearms when a person may present a danger to others or themselves.

A: That’s connected to mental health, but who is the arbiter of mental health? There are a lot of concerns about red flag laws — not only on issues of mental health but their effectiveness in general. Buffalo, New York (where another gunman killed 10 people on May 14) has red flag laws. So there’s just a lot of questions around those approaches.

Q: When it comes to support for mental health, Tennessee trails the rest of the nation. The state ranks 34th worst nationally for prevalence of mental illness and lower rates of access to care, and 40th for youth mental health, according to the 2022 report by Mental Health America, the nation’s leading community-based nonprofit for preventing mental illness. How are we bolstering mental health supports?

A: That is exactly why we established the mental health trust fund a few years ago. And our state’s new education funding formula actually strengthens our ability to tap into resources for mental health needs, for children in particular. The pandemic exacerbated all of the reasons why we need to be investing in these areas. So we have a commitment to investing in mental health resources and services across the state.

Marta W. Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

 

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

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Police: Cummings Shooter In Custody, Was School Student

Credit: Cummings K-8 Optional School

The person suspected of shooting and injuring a student at Cummings K-8 Optional School in South Memphis is in custody and Memphis Police Department (MPD) identified the shooter as another student. 

The shooting was reported by police Thursday morning. The male victim was transported to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and was said to be in critical but stable condition by police.

The shooter was identified as a male Cummings student, MPD said at a news conference Thursday morning. The shooter fled after the incident and could not be found in or around the campus after an initial search. The suspect later turned himself in at a local MPD precinct.   

However, MPD said it was “way too early” in the investigative process to discern a motive.  

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Juvenile Shot at Cummings School, Shooter Not Yet Found

Credit: Cummings K-8 Optional School

Beyond a Thursday-morning tweet from the Memphis Police Department, no new details have yet been released of an apparent school shooting at Cummings K-8 Optional School in South Memphis.

The school is just south of Elmwood Cemetery in the College Park neighborhood. It is close to Lemoyne-Owen College and Chandler Park.

This story will be updated as details emerge.

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FROM MY SEAT: A Dream Now Dead

I
realized a dream come true last weekend, courtesy the game of football. And I
came crashing back to reality Monday, with football merely the conduit for pain
an entire community must now endure.

I never
got to meet Taylor Bradford, the University of Memphis football player shot and
killed Sunday night on the U of M campus. But Tiger football is a part of my
life — both casually and professionally — every fall, and has been since I
started writing this column more than five years ago. So it’s a loss in the
family, even if extended.

That
dream I mentioned? A friend and I drove to Dallas last Saturday, with our
pilgrimage to Texas Stadium — almost 30 years in the making — central to our
Sunday plans. As children of the Seventies, Johnny G and I have carried Cowboy
blue and silver in our veins since Roger Staubach first bridged the gap between
comic-book hero and flesh-and-blood role model. From the Tom Landry statue —
every bit as rigid as its late subject was over his 29 years as Cowboy coach —
to the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (their pregame kick line from one
25-yard-line to the other rivals any the Rockettes have ever performed), the
experience made for an afternoon of goose bumps for two Memphians. And that was
before the 28-point victory over St. Louis had been completed.

Over the
drive back from Dallas — 500 miles allow for some serious reflecting, even on
the subject of football — I had some thoughts on the difference between football
in Cowboy country and the variety we know, love, and suffer here in the
Mid-South with the hometown Tigers. A professional orange to a college apple,
you might argue, but within the same pigskin realm. The contrast is dramatic, to
say the least.

But then
the crash. Then reality. Then murder in Memphis.

We
sportswriters aren’t deserving of the soapbox other journalists often stand upon
when it comes to society’s ills. Our job is to report scores, describe heroes,
identify trends — on offense, defense, and in between — that shape the way we
spend our down time. That’s what sports provide: a distraction. Until the
distraction is bloodied by the same horrid reality we all — journalists and real
movers and shakers — must confront when the worst in us seizes the headlines.

Time and
a criminal investigation will provide the details in Bradford’s murder. But
here’s one variable that won’t be affected, regardless of the investigation’s
details: no 21-year-old college junior should be dead having found himself on
the wrong end of a gun. Which brings me to my unwanted soapbox this week.

When
will we finally get it? When will we — Memphians, Americans, human beings —
realize that guns are destroying our freedoms, and not protecting them? That
guns turn grievances — minor and otherwise — into capital crimes? That guns in
the hands of young people are tragedy on a stopwatch? That people don’t kill
people, not without weapons, and that guns are the weapon of choice for most
killers?

Taylor
Bradford certainly had dreams. Maybe he dreamed of playing in Texas Stadium one
day (in a Cowboy uniform or otherwise). He certainly dreamed of closing the gap
between football as Dallas fans know it and the football Memphis fans recognize.
A track-and-field star at Antioch High School in Nashville, Bradford had come to
focus on football, and took it seriously enough to transfer from Samford
University to Memphis, where he could play for a program that would fulfill an
athletic dream. Most tragically, Bradford was a dream realized — all by himself
— for Jimmie and Marva Bradford, parents who now must find a way not to hate the
word Memphis, forget whatever football is played here.

The
Tigers will apparently play Marshall University Tuesday night at the Liberty
Bowl, as originally scheduled. The game will be televised on ESPN2. Marshall’s
football program, of course, is most famous for having been rebuilt from the
horror of a plane crash that killed in the entire team in 1970. I don’t imagine
there will be much excitement in the voice of your television analysts at
kickoff.

The game
shouldn’t be played. If it means forfeiting to Marshall, that’s what Tiger coach
Tommy West should do. Football should draw us to society’s margins, where we can
cheer, laugh, even boo events that don’t really matter. Whether performed in the
glow of a stadium that has seen five Super Bowl champions or in an oversized
arena clinging to life as a viable community asset, football should be that fun
distraction a society craves.

A
football player murdered? A human being murdered? The game stops. No time for
distractions.

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Police Continue Search for Suspect in Bradford Shooting

Memphis Police officials have developed two possible suspects, both believed to be male, in the Sunday night shooting of 21-year-old University of Memphis football player Taylor Bradford.

At a press conference Monday afternoon, police director Larry Godwin wouldn’t discuss any possible motives, but only that the investigation in ongoing.

U of M police director Bruce Harber said the shooting may have occurred inside the Carpenter Complex, a gated apartment complex for students. Gates are programmed to only allow residents’ cars, but Harber says it’s possible that the assailants came in on foot or they may have followed Bradford’s car inside the gates.

Bradford was discovered when U of M police responded to a car wreck on Zach Curlin near Central at 9:47 p.m. Sunday night. Bradford had apparently attempted to leave the scene of the shooting in a two-door Lincoln Town Coupe but struck a tree.

Campus officials didn’t know the football player had been shot until paramedics arrived on the scene. Bradford was taken to the Med, where he later died. There were no reports of gunshots called into campus police last night, but Harber says several witnesses later said “they’d heard something.”

Ironically, police say Bradford had attended a campus safety meeting earlier in the evening.

Godwin and Harber are asking anyone with information to call the MPD homicide department at 545-5300. Godwin is also asking the Memphis City Council to add this crime to their reward program, in which witnesses who provide information that leads to solving this crime will receive $500,000.

— Bianca Phillips

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U of M Football Player Was Victim in Fatal Shooting on Campus

AP — A student football player at the University of Memphis was fatally shot late Sunday on the campus of the school.

Police say that defensive lineman, Taylor Bradford, was shot around 10 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot of the Carpenter student and athlete apartment complex on Central Avenue, right across from the campus.

Bradford told one of his friends that he needed to go back to the apartment to get some keys, and that’s when police say a gunman shot him. Bradford got back into his car and drove one block where he crashed into a tree.

Medics took him to the hospital where he later died.

The university put the dorms on lockdown after the shooting took place.

No suspects have been arrested in connection with Bradford’s murder.
Bradford was a junior transfer from Samford University. He worked as a member of the Tigers defensive scout team last season, but had not played this season.

Earlier Sunday night, Bradford stopped by all the sorority houses with his fraternity brothers to encourage all the sororities to participate in an upcoming fraternity event in order to promote diversity.

Right after the incident, students stood in sweatshirts, hugging and some crying outside Carpenter Complex and in Central parking lot, confused about what was going on.

“Taylor was my brother,” Bradford’s friend and fraternity brother Will Terrell told the University of Memphis Daily Helmsman by phone from the hospital. “We will miss him dearly. He will be remembered. He loved to play football. He loved his family, he loved his friends and he loved Kappa. He was always full of innovation and ideas. If you were around him, you were going to have a good time.”