Suspect arrested in WHA school threats

District decides to end school year early

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

June 3, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

The Walker Police Department Wednesday arrested a juvenile in connection with two recent threats of violence made at the Walker-Hackensack-Akeley junior high last week, according to school district officials.

However, the district already had announced the decision earlier Wednesday prior to the arrest to cancel the remaining two days of class. The Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton district in southeastern Minnesota also canceled classes for the final two days after hearing rumors in the community about an attack involving guns.

W-H-A Superintendent Boyd McClarty said school board officials gave him permission to cancel the last two days of school -- today and Friday -- being the threats of violence were scheduled to take place today.

He said district officials had made the decision Tuesday to cancel the two remaining days, and added that prior to the arrest of the juvenile, it was thought to be the prudent course of action.

"It's been quite tough, but we've had the cooperation of the community," McClarty said. "We didn't want to cancel, obviously. However, we'd been through this for a week. We had to treat this as a very, very serious threat."

Although other school districts around the state have encountered similar incidents of threats of violence in recent weeks, the W-H-A district situation, was unique.

The first threat was written May 25 in a junior high boy's bathroom in the Walker school building, and stated: "Everyone iz going 2 die 6-3-99 just like Colorado. Thiz iz a warning. KKK."

That message was then erased by school district personnel, and a second message was written on the same wall the next day stating: "You were warned."

McClarty said only school district administration knew about the decision to cancel classes until Wednesday at about 2 p.m., when each of the district buildings held an assembly to inform staff and students.

"We didn't want it to leak out so that anyone planning something for Thursday could move up their plans," McClarty said.

To facilitate the school closings, the district decided all kindergarten through 12th grade students would be graded upon their school work completed as of Wednesday.

And any end-of-year report cards, certificates of participation, special awards or related notices that would have been awarded to students in the last two days of school will be mailed to parents by the district.

The W-H-A district implemented strong security measures May 27 following the two threats. The precautions included allowing no fourth through 12th grade students to have backpacks in school, allowing entry to district facilities through only one entrance, issuing students few passes out of regular classes and having a police officer in each district facility.

W-H-A's seniors graduated Sunday at ceremonies held at Ostlund Field. However, one senior was excluded from the ceremonies because of two shotgun shells found in the student's locker at W-H-A high school following a May 27 search of school facilities. Under the district's zero-tolerance weapons policy, the student was automatically suspended. The student was not linked to the school's previous threats.

The school district and community residents had combined to offer a $3,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the people responsible for the threats.

Parents were given the option of holding their kids out of school with excused absences for the remainder of the school year, and McClarty said that the district averaged about 50 percent attendance this week at its three facilities.

"People were very concerned, as they should be," the superintendent said Wednesday in a telephone interview.

The Walker Police Department had not yet returned phone calls Wednesday as the Pioneer went to press.

Meanwhile, Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Superintendent Dan Hainlen said officials decided to close the school before classes began Wednesday after three people told them of rumors about a pending attack at one of the schools in Janesville.

Hainlen said he did not have many details, nor did he know of any particular students alleged to be involved. Students had been scheduled to attend classes Wednesday and half of Thursday.

The school district in southeastern Minnesota has about 740 students. Graduation ceremonies scheduled for Sunday at the high school gymnasium will be held as planned, Hainlen said.

(The Associated Press contributed to this article.)