Family Values Left the Schools in 1976...

Was what the Vietnam veteran with arthritis in both his hands said to me on Saturday as we waited for the Sears mechanic to put the brakes back on my car. Our trip to see my parents had been punctuated with a dragging sound from the back of the car, which turned out to be seriously worn rotors and pads on the rear brakes.

As we waited, CNN* re-ran footage of the recent hostage situation at Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Colorado and the shooting death of a high school principal in Cazenovia, Wisconsin, thus provoking the veteran's remark. Puzzled, I maintained a neutral face (having heard him say to a companion minutes before that former Representative Mark Foley was being "persecuted" for sending sexually explicit emails and instant messages to underage boys) and mentally went through my checklist of events of 1976.

• The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that coma patient Karen Ann Quinlan can be disconnected from her ventilator?
• President Gerald Ford signs the Federal Election Campaign Act?
• Jimmy Carter becomes President of the United States?
• The Sex Pistols swear on live television?

A second look at Supreme Court Decisions from the era in question:

• Brown v Board of Education – 1954 (outlawed racial segregation in public education)
• Engel v. Vitale – 1962 (schools cannot have official prayers)
• Abington School District v. Schempp – 1963 (schools cannot hold mandatory Bible readings)
• Roe v Wade – 1973 (majority of laws against abortion violate a woman's constitutional right to privacy)

Nope, nothing for 1976.

I've searched through Wikipedia trying to determine what definitive event occurred in 1976 to take "family values" out of the schools and I have no idea. Was it just a random date? Did the man get his years confused? It is a mystery.

All attempts to return the conversation to more neutral topics rebuffed, I was glad to escape the confines of the waiting room, retrieve my car and head to my parents house for the evening.

My father is doing very well and happily shared the photographs from my parents recent cruise. Thanks again to everyone who has left messages and thoughts.

*I think it was the first time in years that I sat in a public waiting room that was not turned to Fox News.