Last week, Councilmember Skillicorn created a dangerous situation where one did not exist.

He made a case for adding armed personnel at our schools at the expense of a homeless person on the State Trust Land. We all want our children to be safe at school. But we can’t judge and single out any individual’s rights. Imagine you being stopped by police and someone taking a video and posting it on social media, suggesting a crime.

Skillicorn did that using Facebook words and video to suggest the homeless person was a threat to the nearby school. In his video, he admitted the sheriff was not “interested” in dealing with the person. The person was on State Trust Land, not under MCSO jurisdiction. Skillicorn recorded the camp site from a distance as he feared confrontation and snakes!

Why did the councilman choose to video record the encampment? I can tell you why: To incite people, to make them angry. It worked! It made me and others angry. For days afterward, angry comments were exchanged and the pawn in all this was the camper/homeless person.

Since Skillicorn told everyone that law enforcement was not coming to the rescue, it created a real threat. That threat is citizens taking things into their own hands. The camper/homeless person could have become a possible victim. Mr. Skillicorn did nothing to tamp down all the angry concerns and theories. He only did “likes” to inflammatory comments. He could have reached out to the landowner and reported back. He didn’t.

How many of the school shootings have happened at the hands of a camper or homeless person? Stop with putting a spotlight on the homeless. They didn't create the school safety problem. And Skillicorn only served to escalate the risk of vigilantism. Stop.