OUR VIEW : Monkey business

It's a shame when kids go 'terroristic'

— Foolish. Wasteful. Tiresome.

Sad.

These are a few of the adjectives that come to mind when we hear that a local school has been targeted with a bomb threat.

Teachers, administrators and other school staff members have enough to worry about, don't they? The police have enough on their plates without having to track down the culprit, don't they?

Occasionally, a school has to be evacuated because some clown decided to phone in a warning that there's a bomb in the building - as if anyone who really were determined to blow something up or hurt people would provide advance notice. But of course, every such threat must be investigated, so the cops are called and classes are disrupted while a search is conducted.

It happened again last week, this time in Gentry. Benton County 911 received at least three calls Thursday about bombs at Gentry schools, the last call specifying Gentry Middle School as the target.

The geniuses who called in these threats might have underestimated local law-enforcementofficials, because by the next day, Gentry police had rounded up three teenage boys in connection with the case. According to police, the three suspects were identified using school-bus cameras, 911 recordings and other evidence. If indeed the three kids arrested are the culprits, that's some excellent police work.

The three arrested boys were taken to the Juvenile Detention Center and charged with terroristic threatening and tampering with physical evidence.

Well, at least they're getting an education on what the word "terroristic" means. You can bet that anyone who calls in a bomb threat thinks of himself more as a prankster than a terrorist, but these days all threats, big and small, are treated with equal seriousness - that is to say, very seriously. Nobody wants to be the next Columbine.

What motivates the people who do these things? Could be frustration at an institution of learning. Could be an attempt to impress friends or get attention. Could be a way to suppress boredom.

Whatever they're thinking, they're not thinking much.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 09/29/2009

Upcoming Events