Harrison schools see rash of threats

There have been eight bomb threats at Harrison public schools since Nov. 6.

Superintendent Melinda Moss considers that an epidemic.

“At this point, you’d think we’d be getting desensitized to it,” she said. “But that is not the case. [The Police and Fire departments] have responded quickly and thoroughly toall of these. We’re always going to err on the side of safety where our students are concerned.”

No bombs have been found, but each threat disrupted school for about four hours, Moss said. That’s how long it takes for police to search the buildings and declare them to be safe.

Four students have been arrested in the threats, three boys and a girl, said Sam Martin, an assistant policechief in Harrison. All of those arrested were youths.

Moss said three students have been expelled as a result of the threats, but she couldn’t comment on whether those three were among the arrested students. Since the expelled students are youths, the superintendent wouldn’t provide information about them.

“This is serious business,” Moss said.

According to Arkansas Code Annotated 5-71-210(b)(1)(B)(ii), communicating a bomb threat at a school is a Class D felony, which carries a penalty of up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Two of the bomb threats occurred at the high school, one at the middle school and five at the junior high school.

Moss said a disruption of school for four hours translates to a loss of about $15,000 in instruction time at the junior high or high school and about $10,000 at the middle school, which has fewer students.

“The taxpayers are paying that money to support the learning of our students,” she said. “When you’re out for a bomb threat, you’re not learning.”

When a bomb threat occurs, the students are taken to another location, where they attempt to continue with their class work, Moss said.Normally, the students go to a building elsewhere in the city, but on a pleasant day, class may continue outdoors.

“One day it was nice and they did go over by Crooked Creek with some kids,” Moss said.

Sometimes overtime has to be paid to bus drivers to transport students to another location after a bomb threat,Moss said. And the timing of a threat could disrupt lunch, resulting in overtime for cafeteria workers.

Martin said each response to a bomb threat costs his department about $1,500 and a similar amount for the Fire Department.

The “real problem,” he said, is that the Police and Fire departments will have almost all of their on-duty employees at the scene of the bomb threat. If a real emergency occurs elsewhere in the city, police officers and firefighters will be preoccupied at the other location.

“It’s not good for us, because it’s tying up our resources,” said Martin. “It’s not good for the kids. Let’s face it, they need to be in class.”

The Harrison School District normally would have one bomb threat a year, at the most, Moss said.

This school year, Moss said, each threat was reported prominently in the Harrison Daily Times. That might be encouraging more kids to report bomb threats, she said. Dwain Lair , editor of the Harrison newspaper, didn’t return a telephone call or email seeking comment.

Cary Foley, a registered nurse who oversees emergency preparedness at North Arkansas Regional Medical Center in Harrison, said hospital personnel are notified of bomb threats at the school, but the threats don’t cost the hospital more money.

“We make a few phone calls and put a certain number of people on a heightened awareness so we can communicate with them,” said Foley. “We use the staff we have already here.”

Paul Woodruff, another assistant police chief in Harrison, said most bomb threats at the schools were communicated by notes that were left in certain places.

Besides the schools, a bomb threat was also made in a note at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Harrison on Christmas Eve, said Woodruff. Police have a suspect in that case, and they’re waiting for DNA samples to be tested before proceeding, he said.

Martin said all bomb threats have to be taken seriously. Sometimes, bombs are found even if there hasn’t been a threat.

Last Easter, a pipe bomb was found outside a Mormon church 1 1/2 miles from Harrison. The Bentonville Bomb Squad used a robot to saw that bomb in half. No arrests have been made in that case, Boone County Sheriff Mike Moore said.

On June 8, 2010, a pipe bomb was found in a Pepsi can outside Osage Baptist Church, which is 27 miles west of Harrison in Carroll County. That bomb also didn’t explode.

Mark Krause of Forum was charged in that case, but the bombing charge was dropped and Krause pleaded guilty to a weapons charge - possession of three machine guns, a short-barrel rifle and three silencers. He served two years in prison and was released Aug. 30.