Saturday, April 4, 1998 | 11 a.m.
MIKE O'CALLAGHAN is executive editor of the Las Vegas SUN and publisher of the Henderson Home News, where this column originally appeared
IF YOU ARE TALKING about the students killing students and a teacher in Jonesboro, Ark., don't say it couldn't happen here. Because it can happen here and in any other school district in our country.
I wonder if any Jonesboro people, when hearing about the multiple school shootings in West Paducah, Ky., last December and in Pearl, Miss., last November, remarked that it "couldn't happen" in their cozy little town. Well, it did happen in Jonesboro, and it will probably be repeated in other towns during the coming months unless parents, teachers and students work together to prevent it.
Just last week a principal in a Bay Area high school became the target of a student, and last October in Norwalk, Calif., a 16-year-old female student was gunned down in the classroom by her 21-year-old former boyfriend. We have also had several cases in the Clark County School District that have resulted in near tragedies and much pain. Don't pass this off as just one more result of a rapidly growing population.
I don't know of any town that has more friendly people and a better community spirit than Yerington. Maybe because of that spirit this small town didn't have a bloody incident that could have exceeded the number of killings in Arkansas. Last December a teenager had the guns, ammunition and a detailed plot that was to be executed during a school assembly. He and another student had gone as far as writing the names of targeted students on bullets. The strong relationship between a student and parent resulted in the entire plot unraveling before blood was shed.
Jim Sanford, publisher of the Mason Valley News, "The Only Newspaper In the World That Gives a Damn About Yerington," in a recent column reviewed what had happened in Pearl, West Paducah and Jonesboro that weren't so lucky and writes: "Yerington, Nev., should be thankful we never had a chance to find out. Of course, we would all prefer to think that nothing would have actually come of the plot exposed at Yerington High School last December when authorities initially felt there might be a conspiracy to commit murder and ultimately gained a juvenile conviction on a charge of solicitation to commit murder.
"But, in reality, none of us really knows how far that might have gone.
"Murder became reality in those other three schools and in every single case most felt the kids involved would "never actually do it. ...
"Things went right in Yerington to prevent the possibility.
"Somewhere along the line the child-parent support system here worked. Thank heaven, one student felt he could communicate with his mother and she felt compelled to communicate with school officials who correctly communicated with the police.
"We owe each of them a thank you. They could do nothing other than take the incident seriously. They did the right thing.
"Thanks to them, we were not forced to find out whether murder in our school could have really happened."
Things did go right in Yerington but they won't always go right unless teachers, students and especially parents are alert and cooperative. It all starts with the healthy relationships and respect between children and parents.
Were there any warnings that the youngster in Yerington was a problem? His eighth-grade teacher testified that he was "mean-spirited and liked to tease people." Now even more serious warning signs are being recalled by the relatives and friends of the elder Jonesboro killer.
Yes, it can happen here. Sanford ended his column warning "None of us can afford to feel too smug."
archive
