John L. Perry
Tuesday, August 07, 2001

The phony threats to set off explosives occurred not once, but twice, a month apart, by two different students each time.

Nor did this occur in some center-city school beset by crime and violence on every hand. It happened in the bucolic little community of Amherst, in southern Virginia, within view of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

Rather than reacting passively – "let's put this behind us and move on" – the people of Amherst regarded it seriously and decided to take responsibility with firm action.

When the first bomb threat hit Amherst High, back in March, it scared the living daylights out of people.

Look Out for Lunch Hour

A note left where it would be readily seen among some magazines in the school library said a bomb had been set to explode during the first lunch period that day.

The high school was evacuated and closed immediately.

School administrators, teachers, students, parents – the entire community was in an upheaval.

Sheriff's deputies were all over the place.

K-9 bomb-sniffing dogs were exploring the lunchroom, padding up and down school corridors, in and out of classrooms.

No explosives were found.

Classes were resumed, but teachers were busier than ever, counseling anxious students.

Here Comes Another One

Even as law-enforcement personnel were still trying to track down who was responsible, within a month the second bomb scare occurred.

This time there was no note. But a message was left on the home phone of the assistant principal, threatening in abusive language to do the administrator bodily harm and blow up the school.

The culprits were discovered – two male students, ages 14 and 15. They were tried and convicted in juvenile court.

Then came a tip. Acting on it, authorities arrested two other students, both boys, 15 and 16, for committing the earlier bomb scare.

Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge Lawrence Janow decided Monday to send a message.

Payment in Full

He sentenced the boys to pay total restitution for the trouble they caused – including overtime costs for school administrators and teachers who had worked so hard by telephone to keep parents and law officers apprised of what was happening within the school during the bomb scares. Even the cost of the K-9 units are on the tab.

The cost per bomb scare?

The exact fine is not known yet. But it has to be considerably more than $9,000, which is what the school estimates it was set back.

Assuming the students don't have that kind of walking-around money in their jeans, that means their parents are stuck for the check.

Just to make certain nothing was lost on the students, they have all been expelled from school.

"This is not treated as a kiddie crime," investigator Gerald Higgenbotham told a reporter for the News & Advance, a newspaper in Lynchburg, 15 miles down the road.

A Welcome Precedent

And he was putting out the word: Any future bomb scares at school will be taken dead seriously "now that we found we can recover the cost of the disruption."

Superintendent John Walker said a bomb scare is no minor event in the life of a school or the families it serves.

"Students are distracted," he said. "Teachers, rather than focusing on business of student achievement, ultimately spend more time managing their concerns, fears and sometimes, the amusement, of students. And administrators have to deal with parental concerns.

"The discussion in the aftermath continues for days. It takes considerable time to refocus students.

"Students may think it's amusing but if they are found, they pay the penalty, and rightfully so."

And in Amherst, Va., they are found.