New Amish school to open after shooting:
On Monday a new school for the Amish children of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania will open. The new school replaces the one where Charles Carl Roberts barricaded himself inside and shot many of the students inside killing several before turning the gun on himself. The new school has been aptly named The New Hope Amish School.
Judge rejects cameras for school violence case:
The Associated Press and other media outlets had made requests to the court to allow cameras into the proceedings for Frank Fechteler. Fechteler is accused of being in possession of bombs and plotting a school shooting at Newington High School in Connecticut. For once a judge has some sense because he denied the media’s request.
Judge Patrick J. Clifford denied the motion Wednesday, stating that although the court is open to the public, he did not feel the cameras should be present.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate,” he said.
I don’t know why the media is so excited about this case. They usually reserve this kind of enthusiasm for celebrities or guys who kill their wives.
Do you remember last year when I posted about this dumbass from Hilton Head who got into hot water for calling in threats to a local high school? Well, the dumbass has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year served.
Michael Hatcher Cochrane, 24, formerly of Hilton Head Island, was sentenced to one year in prison. Because he already had served 13 months in the Beaufort County jail awaiting trial, he has been released. He will be on probation for the next five years.
Cochrane had been held in the county jail on a $1.22 million bond since his arrest Feb. 14, 2006. In October, an inmate stabbed a pen through his nose, according to his court-appointed attorney Dudley Ruffalo. His attacker was charged with high-and-aggravated assault and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Cochrane now is staying with his family at their new home in Jasper County and must meet regularly with a mental health counselor. As a condition of his sentence, Cochrane will serve 10 years in state prison if he violates probation.
The charges stem from eight phone calls Cochrane made to Hilton Head Middle School and 911 between Jan. 5 and Jan. 20, 2006.
Cochrane claimed to have planted bombs that would kill or injure teachers at the school and threatened to shoot all of the school’s students, arrest warrants stated.
Most of the calls were made from a courtesy phone on the 17th hole of the Sea Marsh Course in Sea Pines, where Cochrane lived.
Sheriff P.J. Tanner said the calls were detailed, graphic and reminiscent of the Columbine basement tapes, videotapes in which the two students involved in the April 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., discussed their plans.
Tanner said Cochrane made the calls to try to improve his relationship with his then 14-year-old brother, who was a student at the middle school. Investigators said Michael Cochrane thought his younger brother would be impressed and glad that he didn’t have to go to school.
I bet his brother is really impressed now that he’s an ex-con.
Principal says ‘extra step’ not taken before stabbing:
Yesterday the principal of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School and the superintendent said at a school board meeting that the school psychologist who confiscated a knife from John Odgren then gave it back at the end of the day should have reported it to authorities. You don’t say.
John M. Ritchie told the school board in a meeting last night that he didn’t think that there was “flagrant neglect, disregard for the welfare of the school, or irresponsible ignoring of school policy.”
Still, he said, “Some additional effort had to be made that wasn’t made to determine whether this was a pattern, to call it to someone’s attention, to determine whether it was completely innocent.”
“That was where people did not execute reasonable expectation on my part,” Ritchie said. “I think that in a school setting with safety being of paramount concern to us, an extra step had to be taken.”
Ritchie did not single out any school staff, and he declined to say whether disciplinary action would be taken, citing confidentiality.
If that school employee doesn’t lose his or her job then there’s seriously something wrong with that school system.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s report on the Platte Canyon High School hostage crisis and shooting can be viewed or downloaded here. (.pdf file)
It’s just basically a more detailed description of what we already knew. That this was a random act of destruction carried out by a sick individual.
Keyes family statement regarding CBI report on the Platte Canyon High School shooting:
The parents of Emily Keyes, the lone victim fatality in the Platte-Canyon High School siege, have released a statement about the CBI’s report on how the police handled the situation. Normally I don’t like to post whole articles but this is something that needs to be read and if the Rocky Mountain News page expires I’d think it should be out in the public longer.
For some it may be difficult to accept. The right actions at the right time by the right people may not have the right outcome. When what we hoped for didn’t happen, some may want to find fault. But there is no fault to be found in the command decisions made given the information and behavior presented. There is no fault to be found in the courage and speed of their response.
From our family, there is only respect. Our review of the CBI report confirms this belief.
Tonight our family met with Sheriff Fred Wegner, agents of the CBI and other officials to review the summary report, being released tomorrow, March 27th, regarding the events of September 27th.
Our family read the summary and viewed other materials being released.
A tough read: but still reaffirming.
Law enforcement and school administration did all of the right things.
Law enforcement response, not just to the school but to the classroom was around 3 minutes from the first 911 call.
The kids at the school were on top of things also. Several were on their way to the office to report a stranger in their midst, before the first shot was fired.
There were seven heroes in that room. And a coward with a gun. The Awesome Six are still with us. Please respect their grace, beauty and privacy as these young women continue with their lives. It is OK to let some details of that day fade.
In the months since Emily was killed, some extraordinary good has occurred. And that is Emily’s legacy. Random and Deliberate Acts of Kindness continue to occur. The community of Bailey is a little more tight knit. And sometimes it feels like our town lines extend shore to shore.
When we remember September 27th, it’s the text message Emily sent: “I love u guys.” It is our hope that’s the message you remember as well.
We ask the Press that, if possible, during the upcoming coverage of this report you don’t highlight the actions of a deranged gunman. His name doesn’t need to be mentioned; it is there enough in the report.
The best people did the best of things. The outcome could have been far more grave. We as a family know this and appreciate this.
Real life doesn’t always have a happy ending.
John-Michael, Ellen and Casey Keyes
The CBI report should be out later today.
Doc: Teen stab suspect competent to stand trial:
John Odgren, the 15-year-old suspect in the fatal Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School stabbing of James Alenson, was ruled competent to stand trial yesterday. A psychiatrist informed the court that Odgren is competent and no longer needs to be housed in a psychiatric facility. Odgren swore at the judge when he was told that he was going back to juvenile lockup.
“(Expletive) it,” Odgren said. “(If you) send me back to Plymouth, I’m not coming back.”
Odgren’s attorney, Jonathan Shapiro, argued that Odgren’s Asperger’s puts him at risk in lock up.
Shapiro argued Odgren’s Asperger’s syndrome puts him at risk in jail because he makes ‘inappropriate comments’ to other boys. “Frankly, it’s dangerous,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro also states that Odgren is at risk for suicide and that he has, get this, amnesia of the whole stabbing incident. Isn’t that convenient? So you’re going to tell me that someone who was joking with police and offered to assist the crime scene investigators all of a sudden has amnesia of the entire event. Amnesia, it’s not just for soap operas and cartoons anymore.
Shapiro argued that Odgren should still be kept at the mental facility but the judge put a quick stop to that.
Judge Isaac Borenstein responded and said, “The very same doctor you quote said he does not need to be in the hospital.”
Well since Odgren allegedly has amnesia then he won’t remember where he is.
What a drama queen.