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Show University EVOINIO "ITC DDE Cdn D PJ DZP April 23-29, 1999 Volume II Number 26 AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN LlTTELTON, COLQ., OUTSIDE DENVER pii.ig i.m.i, M muni . p - j ii wwwwwwwww inn 'ww i . i-l ajuu ij . - 7;-"; " - V- 1 Vv- . j j 15 I .1 Ja Fourteen-year-old Laurie Moulton(left), a ninth grader at Columbine High School is reunited with her mother Kate. f . ' 1 ' Columbine High School students who was trapped in the school 1 J .-! B J' 1 J ' " ' i ; ; , ;:, S s i : . :. ' ' - i 7' ' ' - v.i'iM.a) 11 ,i - it , r 1 The nation, Colorado, Weber State ..Jo . IV:. i swarm to embrace a classmate for more than four hours. WSU adviser discusses tragedy, school security By Angie Welling copy editor-The Signpost People throughout the nation, and the world, are experiencing mixed feelings following the April 20 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. s' Natives of the town are asking why, while others are concerned about the lack of security in public schools. Lisa Rosenbaum Ishikuro, a Weber State University teacher education adviser, is doing both. Ishikuro, who moved to Littleton when she was 14 and refers to it as "home," can't understand how two Columbine students were able to enter the school with guns, more than 30 explosives and kill 15 people and injure 28 others. "Even now, 1 just ask 'Why? Why did they do it? What can be accomplished by something like this?'" Ishikuro said. Ishikuro said she would have never expected this type of situation to occur in her home town. "I was extremely shocked. 1 had just heard it was a Colorado school, then they narrowed it down to aDenver-area school, then they narrowed it down to a school in Littleton, and finally I was able to find out that it was Columbine High School," Ishikuro said. "As it got closer and closer to my home I felt more and more personally involved. It still felt really close to home." She described Littleton as a middle- to upper-class, suburban area. "It's suburbia. You just don't expect that you have to worry about violence and guns and students turning on other students in the school," she said. As an adviser to WSU's education students. Ishikuro is concerned that incidences of school violence will scare students away from teaching. "I'm sure that people are being scared away," Ishikuro said. "They just say, 'I'm not going to put myself in that kind of a situation.' That's a scary thing -when you don't feel safe in a public school." After hearing about the shootings, Ishikuro thought about the possibility of placing metal detectors in schools. "I think it's terrible that it would get to the point where something like that would have to be instituted," she said. "But if that's w hat it takes to keep automatic weapons out of the schools University react so students can study and teachers can teach, then I'm all for it." In fact, she said if educational violence continues to escalate, she thinks many people would support such a drastic security measure. "I don't think parents will stand for letting their kids go into a school where something like that is not in place - some kind of safety precaution," Ishikuro said. Ishikuro has taught in the past and has been considering obtaining a teaching certificate so she can teach in Utah. However, she said situations like these make her think twice. ' "I love to teach, but that's a scary thought to wonder if one day you're going to turn around and a student is going to have a gun pointed right at your face," she said. One of the main issues that will , come out of the tragic incident is that of gun control, Ishikuro said. Although gun control is an emotional issue for many people, Ishikuro said children's access to their parents guns should be restricted. "I support people's right to choose whether or not they want to purchase and keep weapons in their homes," she said. "But they parents have to be responsible and keep them locked up so their kids can't get at them." However, she said people must also be held accountable for their actions. "My heart went out to the families and the friends of the victims. My heart also went out to the parents of the these two boys," Ishikuro said. "I have no idea what their situation was, but I'm sure, it was a total shock to them that all of this happened. "And I'm sure they're getting a lot of flack because of their sons' behavior. But, they're 17 and 18. they have to take responsibility for their ow n actions."Ishikuro graduated from Arapahoe High School, which she said was "just down the street from Columbine." Her parents, Liz and Richard Rosenbaum, still live in Littleton and said the entire town is in a state of shock. "It feels like there is a black cloud over the whole city," Richard told her. He described the ominous feeling within Littleton which is being reported worldwide by the media that has descended on the small town. Ishikuro's parents said that ithas-been snowing heavily in Littletoiv since the night of the incident. "It's like the heavens are weeping for what has happened," Liz said. Shooting hits home for student By Angie Welling copy editor-The Signpost Weber State University student Allyson Reeder grew up in Littleton, Colo, and attended high school just seven miles from Columbine High School. Reeder, who described Littleton as an upper-class suburban town, said she was sick when she heard about the killing spree in her hometown. "It feels like it could have happened to me," she said. "It hit really close to home." So close to home, in fact, that Reeder graduated with the brother of one of the suspects. She described Brent Harris, brother of Eric, 18, as "very normal." "He was really nice. He played softball with us in the summer," Reeder said. Although she never met Brent's family, she was surprised by his brother's actions. "It's unreal," she said. Although it has been reported that the two suspects, Harris, and Dylan Klebold, 17, felt like outcasts, Reeder said most Littleton residents are very much alike. "Everyone's pretty much the same," she said. "The neighborhoods are really close knit." Reeder, who moved to Utah two years ago and still has friends in Littleton, said the entire town is in shock. "Everyone keeps driving by the school and leaving flowers." she said. "No one can believe it it wasn't supposed More WSU reaction to the shootings at Columbine High School; plus coverage of the events from 'The Clarion" at Denver University. See page 2-4 |
