Some question timing of student-city paintball war

Angie Wagner

Friday, April 21, 2000 | 10 a.m.

BOULDER CITY, Nev. - A group of camouflaged-clad teens crouched behind trees and bushes, waiting for their prey to leave an abandoned building. A man emerged, and the teens drew their guns and opened fire.

"Awesome," 17-year-old Kevin Tibbs said, paintball gun in hand.

About 25 young people spent Thursday propelling paint balls at each other and city officials in this small town 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas.

But the image of masked teens dressed in camouflage with their guns drawn disturbed some, especially given the timing of the event.

Thursday was the first anniversary of the deadly shootings at Columbine High School. Two students at the school in Littleton, Colo., shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher and wounded 26 others before taking their own lives.

"It's completely wrong the way they're doing it and the timing," said Serwind Netzler, a Boulder City resident and a foster parent. "Basically they've created an urban warfare, almost a terrorist setting."

City officials said the timing was just a coincidence. Thursday was picked because it was the students' Easter break.

They also said they aren't teaching violence, but safety.

"This is not about killing," said police officer Joe Ebert, who helped organize the city-sponsored "paintball scramble." "It shows the kids how dangerous guns can actually be."

At Columbine, "kids went in and did a complete massacre," Ebert said. "You have to show them what guns can do."

Students ranging from sixth-graders to high school seniors signed up for the paintball war. Teams of students and city employees competed against each other to see who could hit the opposing team the most. The city's Rotary Club and the Police Protective Agency donated money to buy 24,000 paintballs.

After a quick safety lesson, the students and city employees headed to the grounds of a now-closed children's' home. The teams hid in some of the old buildings as they pelted each other with bright-colored paint.

"When are they going to start shooting?" one boy asked, watching the game from his bicycle.

Kathy Compagnoni watched her 11-year-old son trudge up the grassy hill after he had to leave the game because he got hit with paint.

"As long as they educate about it, it's no different than anything else," she said.

Parent Chuck Rants added: "We all played cops and robbers when we were kids."

Tibbs and his friend, Mark Norman, 17, waited with their guns and masks for the next game to begin. "I don't think it's anything bad," Tibbs said.

But Netzler said the event was a mistake in judgment.

Another Boulder City father agreed.

Glenn Youngs, an avid hunter, wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper complaining about the game. He declined to let his 13-year-old son participate.

"From a gun safety standpoint it's a bad idea to have young people participate in pointing a simulated weapon at a human being," he said. "It's sending mixed messages to our children."

Eric Gorovitz, policy director for the Bell Campaign, a San Francisco advocacy group working to prevent gun death and injury, said the event wasn't a wise choice as an activity for students.

"I think inviting kids to engage in that kind of activity as a sanctioned recreation can sort of blur the line between what's permissible and what's not permissible," he said.

"It's sort of an insensitive thing to do at a time when there's heightened awareness about the dangers of kids playing with guns."

Boulder City Police Chief David Mullin said since the students are out of school for Easter break, the paintball game gave them something to do.

"You put on a chess tournament, they're not going to show up."