Clark County school officials work to quell fears

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, April 29, 1999 | 11:15 a.m.

Clark County School District officials say 13 bomb threats have been made to local schools since July -- four of them since the April 20 school shooting in Littleton, Colo., that left 15 dead.

The most recent bomb threat was made at Palo Verde High School Wednesday. No bomb was found; students were not evacuated.

Officials said "hysteria" has gripped some school campuses amid threats -- and rumors of threats -- of bombs and violence.

On Wednesday, officials launched an attempt to squelch student fears and to assure parents that schools are secure.

"We want to seize this opportunity to assure the public our schools are safe," district spokesman Ray Willis said.

Superintendent Brian Cram added, "Our purpose today is to assure parents that nothing of any significance has happened in the Clark County School District. We have zero tolerance for any kind of threat. We would like parents to talk to your students and tell them that this is not some kind of game."

Cram said panic had swept some schools as rumors of bomb threats run rampant. A rumor of a threat at Durango High School frightened some students enough that they left school on Tuesday.

School Police have arrested 11 students for making threats since April 20, but none had any real intention of carrying them out, officials said.

Since the Littleton massacre, there have been four actual bomb threats at local schools, including the one at Palo Verde Wednesday. The others:

* Three Keller Middle School students have been arrested since Monday in connection with a "conspiracy charge to commit acts that would be harmful to others," Willis said.

* Authorities made bomb sweeps at Eldorado High School on Tuesday but found nothing and did not evacuate students.

* Officials quickly traced a threat made to Greenspun Junior High School on Sunday to a known "problem student," Willis said.

Clark County School Police spokesman Sgt. Ken Young said police had received 23 tips on school hotlines about bombs or violent students during the last seven days -- triple what police normally receive in a month.

"What this shows is that parents are listening, students are concerned, teachers are concerned," Young said. "There have been a number of pranks on our campuses over the last several days."

Cram added that the tips are a "little bit of everything."

"They go from the frivolous to substantial threats," Cram said.

Cram said that at one elementary school a boy had drafted a list of people he wanted to kill, including superheroes such as Superman.

"This was a very young child," Cram said. "He didn't understand the consequences."

Cram said students who started rumors or made actual bomb threats would be suspended.

"Our answer is, 'Wrong time, wrong place,' " Cram said. "We're not going to put up with it."