Parents, students in Riverton voice reactions

April 21, 2006 06:20 pm

— By Roger McKinney and Nammi Bhagvandoss
Globe Staff Writers
RIVERTON, Kan. — Mary Butler was waiting Thursday afternoon in a line of vehicles to pick up her son, who is a seventh-grader.
She said she had heard that six students had been arrested, and that authorities were looking for two more.
“It’s kind of scary,” she said. “You send your kids to school thinking they’ll be safe.”
She said she was happy that the Sheriff’s Department was on hand Thursday. She said she wishes school officials could have done something to notify parents of the situation.
About that time, Butler’s son arrived, carrying a memo that pupils were given to take home to their parents.
“Here it is, after the fact,” she said.
Lauren Vaughan, a 15-year-old sophomore, said she had heard about the message posted on the MySpace Web site. She said she knows one of the students who was arrested.
“It’s pretty scary, especially since we had a bomb threat” last month, Vaughan said. “You can’t trust people.”
Deb McGowan said she kept her 16-year old daughter, Ashley McGowan, home from school on Thursday after getting information from another mother on Wednesday about the threat. She said her daughter came home from school Tuesday sharing what she had heard about the comments posted on MySpace.
Despite having kept her daughter home, McGowan said she thought school officials acted appropriately in keeping school open.
“I don’t think it’s right for them to cancel school,” McGowan said. “Someone needs to keep a level head, and I think the administration did a good job in that regard.”
Jason Brown, 34, of Crestline, said he saw a police officer at school, but he did not question why when he dropped off his daughters Thursday morning. He said he later learned about the alleged plot from a Joplin Globe breaking news e-mail.
“I was very concerned, but I was very glad to hear it was an after-the-fact and a foiled attempt,” Brown said.
Brown’s ex-wife, Angela Wyrick, who along with her husband and two daughters had stopped early Thursday night on a convenience store parking lot to talk with Brown, said she would have liked the opportunity to keep her daughters at home.
“We’re trying to figure out why we didn’t know, if half the school knew there was the potential of violence today,” Brown said.
Wyrick said that if given a choice, she would have kept her daughters at home.
“I’m glad we’re talking about something that could have happened as opposed to something that did,” Brown said. “The police did stop this. I’m grateful for the police for foiling this incident.”
Olen Nielsen, 33, of Riverton, said his 5-year-old daughter is a kindergartner at Riverton School.
“My wife told me there was talk about killings, and I guess they planned on doing it today,” Nielsen said. “I was at work. I was in shock. My wife was upset they weren’t informed.”
Charlene Weaver, 29, of Riverton, said her husband is a teacher at the school, and they have two children who attend fifth and seven grades.
Weaver said her husband called her from school about 7 a.m. and said “everything is fine.”
“I felt secure that the administration, the teachers and staff had everything under control,” Weaver said.
When asked whether she was concerned about the events Thursday, Weaver said, “It upsets me, but I’m glad they got them before it happened or potentially happened.”
Ben Cates, 17, a Riverton student, said Thursday night that he was not afraid of attending school that day, even though he had heard that a couple of people were going to bring weapons to school and have a “free-for-all” involving faculty, staff and students.
“All this week was another day at school,” Cates said. “I just think it was a big prank.”
Stephen Wilson, 18, a Riverton High School senior, said he heard about the alleged potential for violence from a friend Wednesday night.
“I heard from one of my friends that one of the students arrested posted a calendar date that stated Hitler’s birthday and said bring a bulletproof (vest) for students from 12 to 1 at Riverton High School,” Wilson said.
When asked if this might have been a joke that went wrong, Wilson said: “I doubt it was a joke because they did find weapons. You can’t take anything like this jokingly. You ought to look out for the safety of everybody.”

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