Parents, veterans protest military recruitment

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http://www.gazette.net/stories/091907/potonew200854_32355.shtml

Military criticized for recruiting at county’s high schools
by Audrey Dutton | Staff Writer

J. Adam Fenster⁄The Gazette

Parents and activists, like Jean Athey of Brookeville, protested at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac on Tuesday morning. The picketers criticized the military for recruiting Churchill students on school grounds.

Picketers handed pamphlets to bleary-eyed students on their way to school. Demonstrators argued that military recruiters have gotten too much access to high schools. At Churchill in Potomac, the event was mostly symbolic.

‘‘I haven’t heard of any military recruitment,” said Sarah Gutkind, a Churchill senior who plans to attend college. She said the military was ‘‘not really” an option she was considering.

‘‘The audience at this location is not the kids .... They’re going to Brown and Cornell,” said Pat Elder, protest co-organizer and father of two Montgomery County Public Schools students. Elder said protesters had three audiences: the U.S. military, the school system and students.