MOUNT VERNON — Are Americans safer from terrorist acts due to the measures taken after Sept. 11, 2001? High school students presented arguments on both sides of the issue during the Knox County Debate Contest, held Nov. 20.
After three preliminary rounds of competition, East Knox students Josie Rine and Rachel Gault, and Danville debaters Molly Mickley and Kelsey Urban faced off for the final round. Rine and Gault, the champions, asserted that U.S. policies established after Sept. 11, 2001, have not substantially reduced the risk of terrorist acts against the United States, while runners-up Mickley and Urban argued the risk has indeed been reduced.
Rine, a senior, said that when she first heard the topic she thought it would be boring, and no fun.
“As I started to do research,” she said, “I found that it was actually kind of cool and exciting. At first I really wasn’t sure if we were safer or not, and then as I did my research I figured out that we’re not, exactly. That was one of the cool things about this debate. I usually have my mind made up about a topic before I start researching, but this one I didn’t really know, and luckily I found the evidence supported the side that I was arguing on.”
Rine said that, according to her research, the Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act don’t really make citizens safer, they just infringe on citizens’ privacy. Also, Rine said, one of the opponents’ main arguments was that there hasn’t been an attack since that day.
“Well,” Rine said in rebuttal, “how many attacks were there on our soil before that?”
Rine said she “got into a little bit about terrorism prior to 9/11” and discovered that the Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act really don’t do anything to protect citizens from domestic terrorists.
Urban, on the other hand, argued that the country is safer.
“I thought my introduction, where I explain what happened on 9/11, was good,” she said. “It made everyone go back in time to that day and remember how horrible it was. It also set up our argument to explain why the government needed to establish all these policies to prevent terrorists from doing this to us again.
“Our team also did a pretty good job at having note cards with statistics and references ready to disprove things the Negative might say.”
First-time debater Mickley said the contest was a real learning experience.
“I think it is important to keep restating our points that America is safer today than it was before 9/11,” she said. “It’s also important to listen to what the other side was saying and to know that evidence that we had to use in the rebuttal.”
Additional debaters from Centerburg Danville, East Knox, Mount Vernon and Riverview high schools, and Knox County Career Center, included Christie Bebout, Lexi Davis, Karman Kirk, Nathan Shutt, Aubrey Smith, Taylor Ugie, Sarah Bertschy, Jordan Eaton, Jake Green, Anna Lamb, Adam Rine, Marissa Siebold, Mackenzie Stoyle, Desiree Cottrell, Austin Garber, James Hoeffgen, Ashley Little, Morgan Sinnett, Lindsey Studebaker and Marshall Vilfer.
Serving as timekeepers were Arie Alvarado, Alison Doolittle, Macy Michel, Keely Young, Ben Betscher, Eric Frazee, Allyson Morris, Hailey Bowman, Tyler Mathias and Jacob Stockmaster.
Coaches for the contest included Kelly Bell, Dave Cridler, Beth Durbin, Megan Stewart, Jeff Gottke and Regina Quinn.
The annual Knox County debate contest is sponsored by the Knox County Educational Service Center and hosted by the First Presbyterian Church of Mount Vernon.
