All 900+ pages of them can be read here. (pdf format)
I’ll have my thoughts on them later.
Tag: Ted Mink
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Killers’ families will not appeal
Lawyers: No Challenge To Columbine Papers Release:
Color me shocked…
(CBS4) LITTLETON, Colo. The families of Columbine gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold have decided not to challenge a decision to release more than 900 pages of materials taken from their home, CBS4 reported Wednesday.
Wednesday was the deadline for any challenge to be filed.
Attorneys for families of Harris and Klebold told CBS4’s Rick Sallinger about their decision on Wednesday. Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink made the decision to release the materials last month.
The gunmen’s families went all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court to try and block the release of the materials from their homes, but failed.
Mink planned to make an announcement soon about when the actual release of the materials would take place.
I almost find it suspicious that they’re not appealing this after fighting for so long to keep it under wraps.
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The Journals MIGHT be released
Sheriff plans to release Columbine killers’ diaries, not tapes:
LITTLETON – The Jefferson County sheriff said Monday he plans to make the Columbine High School killers’ journals public, but will not release their video and audio tapes.
The teens’ journals include expressions of anger and dissatisfaction, the filing said. It said portions with bomb-making instructions would be withheld.
Other documents planned for release include messages Klebold and Harris wrote each other in yearbooks and Wayne Harris’ journal, the filing said. But it said the bulk of the documents were “largely irrelevant and innocuous, consisting mostly of school work.”
Wayne Harris’ journal is the one I’m most interested in seeing. I’m curious to know just how much he did or didn’t know what was going on under his roof. Especially considering that while the shootings were going on, Wayne Harris had called 911 stating that he thought one of the shooters might have been his son.
Realistically though, I’m sure the appeal is being worked on as we speak.
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The tapes will NOT be released
Sheriff to Release Columbine Documents:
But not the tapes…
Sheriff Ted Mink said he decided against releasing the tapes after the FBI, which conducted a review at his request, concluded they “could serve as a strong motivating influence for other adolescents to commit and/or attempt to commit similar acts of violence. The tapes provide instructional material for how to successfully plan and implement similar acts.”
It’s a little too late for that now, isn’t it? Do Red Lake, Rocori, and Santee ring a bell?
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SOME Columbine evidence to be released
Sheriff Plans To Release More Columbine Evidence:
(AP) GOLDEN, Colo. The Jefferson County sheriff said Monday he plans to make public nearly 1,000 pages of documents seized from the homes of the Columbine High School killers, but the release could be delayed if the gunmen’s parents appeal.
During searches of the Harris and Klebold homes after the shootings, sheriff’s deputies seized journals kept by the gunmen, videotapes and audio tapes. In a news release, Mink said he wanted to release 936 pages of evidence but did not say whether that would include any of the tapes.
I’ll get to the appeal in a minute. Only 1,000 pages of evidence? What about the basement tapes? What about evidence item #201? I get the feeling that this is going to be 1,000 pages of bureaucratic crap. Now back to the appeal…
Sheriff Ted Mink said a state Supreme Court ruling on the documents gave the parents of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold the right to appeal his decision. It was not immediately clear whether they would appeal and how long that might take.
The gunmen’s parents fought to keep the records private. They have said they fear the material could inspire copycat crimes.
You know they are going to appeal. And it has nothing to do with the fact that it would inspire copycat crimes. It’s a little too late for that. In my opinion, it’s because they don’t want to get sued by the victims of copycat crimes. This will more than likely be tied up in the courts for years.
They’ll find D.B. Cooper before all this evidence is released.
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Announcement on Columbine tapes soon
Sheriff to reveal decision on Columbine files’ release:
Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink is finally getting ready to announce whether or not the Columbine evidence will be released to the public…
A long-awaited decision on whether to release Columbine materials to the public that have been suppressed since the 1999 high school shootings will be made shortly.
Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink wrote a letter to victims’ families dated Thursday thanking them for their “willingness to share your concerns and suggestions on whether or not to allow inspection of certain Columbine records by the public.”
Among the materials yet to be publicly released are the so-called “basement tapes” made by killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in which they brandish weapons and boast about their upcoming rampage at Columbine High School.
In the letter, obtained by The Denver Post, Mink does not say what the decision will be but does say “barring any unforeseen delays, my office will announce its intent and file with the Jefferson County District Court in the coming days.”
It’s only been since last November that the Colorado Supreme Court ruled the materials could be released. It’s now seven months later and seven years since Columbine. Why so long? And will Mink even decide to release the tapes? If he doesn’t, it will just add more speculation that he’s trying to hide something.
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Survey Says III
Sheriff Will Decide On Release Of Columbine Tapes:
When we last checked in on Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink, he said he was going to make a decision on releasing the Columbine evidence to the public after surveying the victims’ families. Now he’s saying that he will “consult with professionals”…
The Jefferson County sheriff will consult with professionals before deciding whether to release videotapes made by two teens before their shooting rampage at Columbine High School in 1999, a spokesman said Monday.
I wonder if those “professionals” include lawyers since there have been so many allegations of incompetence leveled at JeffCo. Sheriffs.
Stop dragging your feet, Sheriff Mink, the truth can’t be avoided forever.
TOF to Elisarion.
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Evidence Item No. 201
This is a great article about the still yet to be released evidence that was seized from the Harris household after the Columbine shooting. It has the usual information about The Basement Tapes, and Harris’ writings, and an alleged police cover-up regarding their prior contact with Harris. But this article enlightened me to something I had previously not known about what was in that evidence, Evidence item no. 201…
But the most intriguing, hush-hush item from the Harris home is probably evidence item No. 201, a green steno book found in a desk drawer. The book doesn’t belong to Eric or God but to Wayne Harris, who used it to write down various matters concerning his son’s mental health, errant behavior and interactions with neighbors and authorities. As a result of the confidential settlements reached in lawsuits brought against the Harrises and Klebolds by some victims’ families, virtually everyone who’s ever seen the steno book can’t comment on its contents.
We do know one thing about item No. 201: It documents more contacts between the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the Harrises over their son’s behavior years before the shooting than the sheriff’s office has ever acknowledged. In 2004, investigators working for the state attorney general’s office used the steno book to track a complaint against Eric that dated back to 1997, a case for which the department paperwork had disappeared. The deputy on the case, Tim Walsh, was the same officer who arrested Harris and Klebold for breaking into a van in 1998; interviewed by investigators after the shootings in 1999, Walsh made no mention of the 1997 case.
Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink said he will make a decision about releasing the materials after the anniversary of Columbine.
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Survey Says II
Sheriff asks families whether to release Columbine tapes:
Sheriff Ted Mink of the Jefferson County Sheriffs department is still dragging his feet on releasing the tapes and journals made my Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. He’s still surveying the victims’ families to see if the material should be released. Old news, right? Well, the article had two interesting facts that caught my eye…
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said Wednesday Sheriff Ted Mink wanted to hear from the families before deciding. She said no decision has been made and that Mink would likely wait until after the seventh anniversary of the shootings next month to announce his plans.
Mink has not said whether the parents and victims will have the final word.
So he’s not going to announce his decision until after April 20th and that the victims and their families will NOT have the final word. Then what is the point of surveying the victims and their families?
If he doesn’t release the tapes, he will be committing political suicide. Is there really any other option than releasing the tapes?
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Survey Says!
Columbine families polled on records:
Sheriff Ted Mink of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s department is dragging his feet once again over releasing the videotapes and writings seized from the houses of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
He is now polling the families of a dozen students who were either killed or injured during the attack to see if they think the records should be released. It seems like that he’s gambling on the families saying they shouldn’t be released and disguising it as some great service to the victims’ families. The article states opinions vary between families, but the quotes say otherwise.
From the families that want the records released…
“My feeling is that all of this information needs to be released,” said Brian Rohrbough, whose son, Dan, died on a sidewalk outside the school.
“There’s been a long battle. It should have been released years ago.”
Rohrbough, a longtime critic of the sheriff’s office, said he believes that the only reason the tapes and writings have been withheld is because they reflect negatively on the department.
The sheriff’s office had been given information about the killers more than a year before the attacks, and a detective had drafted an affidavit for a search warrant for Harris’ home.
It was never taken to a judge or executed.
That document was withheld from the public for two years and was, according to a grand jury, apparently the subject of an elaborate cover-up involving a former sheriff’s official.
Releasing the material, Rohrbough said, will help people understand more about the killers and the warning signs that were missed.
“I think it sheds a lot of light on what was going on in the year leading up to the attack,” he said. “I think it tells a lot about the two households. And I think it’s absolutely necessary.”
Dale Todd, whose son, Evan, was wounded in the school library, also said the material “most definitely” should be released.
“I’ve been wanting it public from the day I saw it,” he said.
“The behavior experts need to be studying that. . . . I think if they go public, people will watch them and go, ‘Oh, my God, that could be our kid.’ “
And from the families that aren’t sure…
Less certain is Connie Michalik, whose son, Richard Castaldo, was wounded in the first flurry of gunfire outside the school and is now paralyzed.
“I’m not sure how I feel about it,” she said.
“I asked Richard how he felt about it, and he’s not sure how he feels about it, either.”
She said she can see reasons to make the material public.
But she said she also can see some reasons not to, such as feeding morbid curiosity, rather than serving as a tool to learn how to prevent future violence.
“If it’s just so people can go, ‘Oh wow, what a shame, how terrible’ – what’s the point of that?” she said. “You really get into some gray areas.”
So, from what I can gather, it’s not that the families don’t want the records released per se, but that they’re undecided on whether or not they should be. I can see Ms. Michalik’s point about morbid curiosity. The last thing I want to see is these tapes get in the hands of the mutants, but unfortunately, I think it’s a necessary evil.
It’s been almost 7 years since Columbine. Why has it taken this long to get the records released? The only reason I can see not to release them is if there is an ongoing investigation. And since I doubt there’s an investigation ongoing that the Jeff Co. Sheriff’s Department has been keeping from us. One can’t help but think that they’re hiding something.