Laurels to Salisbury Mayor Susan Kluttz and the young people who openly shared with her their pain and anger at Livingstone College Thursday night.

Students vented a lot of frustrations at the community event, “Dialogue with the Mayor: Improving Race Relations.” Kluttz listened patiently and empathetically.

Kluttz said the racism that students see in this city is not unique to any town or region, but she vowed to do everything within her power to improve the situation in Salisbury.

The city has taken big strides in this direction under Kluttz’s leadership, and her willingness to enter this dialogue with the Livingstone community takes the city another step forward.

The 2000 Census found that Salisbury has a population of 26,462 people, 57 percent white and 43 percent other races and ethnic groups. Diversity is more than a theory here; it’s a way of life.

Now Kluttz faces the challenge of turning negative feelings like those expressed Thursday into positive actions. She wants to start by exposing the Livingstone students to a broader mix of Salisbury residents, to help them connect to the community at large.

“We need to make Livingstone more a part of the community,” Kluttz says.

Amen to that.

Dart to students who —

They start by leaving an anonymous hit list where someone can find it, writing a bomb threat on a bathroom wall or vowing to bring a gun to school.

Because of the actions of a few, some 665 Southeast Middle School students had to be checked with metal detectors last Monday. They won’t be able to carry book bags any more this year.

Students who are depressed and desperate need help — for themselves and to protect their classmates. So each incident has to be taken seriously.

But one hates to think of the teaching time lost and the law-enforcement energy wasted in situations where kids were just trying to push adults’ buttons.

They destroyed their schools’ peace of mind and took away fellow students’ freedoms. As pranks go, that’s not funny at all.

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Laurels to all the pre-prom attention area high schools devoted this week to the dangers of drunken driving.

East Rowan students donned FatalVision goggles to get the feel of what it’s like to drive with blurred vision. South Rowan students held a candlelight vigil for classmates who had died in accidents. Salisbury High students heard from a young man who killed his own brother in a drunken-driving accident.

In school after school, adults are warning students that feelings of immortality can mislead them. Life is fragile.

Let’s keep this focus on sound judgment beyond prom season — and send the message to parents as well as kids.

Parents have two opportunities next week to learn more about what they can do to protect young people from substance abuse. National expert Bill Oliver will speak 7 p.m. Monday at South Rowan High School and again at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Tom Smith Auditorium at Catawba College.