Is it terror? School cases raise questions

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Is it terror? School cases raise questions

BY PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI and CHRISTY ARBOSCELLO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

December 17, 2005

Guidance needed

Experts say parents must talk to their children about the serious consequences of even joking remarks that could be construed as threats.

And they should go back and talk to their kids again and again.

Parents also need to make clear to their children that help is available if they feel bullied, harassed or threatened.

Many parents think it's important to allow kids more freedom.

"I think that's a classic error, that some parents want to give their emerging adolescent some freedom and space," said Ted Feinberg, assistant executive director of the National Association of School Psychologists.

The parts of the brain controlling impulses and decision-making are underdeveloped in teenagers. At the same time, the areas of the brain controlling emotions are on overdrive. The result: Sound judgment isn't always a teenage asset. That means parents have to maintain control.

Feinberg advises parents to treat the Internet the same way they treat other aspects of their child's social life. Just as parents ask where their child is going, they should also make it clear to the child that they are going to check on Internet roaming. It's even fair to go into chat rooms and see who their children are talking to and what they're talking about.

"Don't buy into the notion that because your child is a teenager, you don't have the right and the responsibility to stay involved in their lives," Feinberg said.

By Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki

Bomb threats were made at two different Macomb County schools this year, but resulted in vastly different charges. In one case, the teens accused of threatening their Center Line high school were charged with misdemeanors. In the other, a 12-year-old girl faces a felony terrorism charge.

The wide range of charges has some parents and lawmakers asking how the same actions can be interpreted as a childish prank or terrorism.

The 12-year-old Clinton Township girl allegedly told friends last week in Internet instant messages that she was going to bomb Wyandot Middle School in the Chippewa Valley School District. She was charged Thursday under a 2002 Michigan law -- written in response to the Sept. 11 attacks -- that makes such threats a felony carrying a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Just three weeks earlier, authorities in Center Line opted to charge two 15-year-old girls with misdemeanors after police said they called in a bomb threat to Center Line High School.

Commenting about cases such as that of the 12-year-old, state Sen. Michael Switalski, D-Roseville, said: "I don't think anyone really thinks they're terrorists." He added that he envisioned the 2002 law being used to fight terrorists, not to charge students.

"We need to figure out how to keep schools safe and how to deal with juvenile behavior that's really dangerous at times," Switalski said.

What charges are filed are generally up to the police who request them, and up to the prosecutors who actually issue the charges.

Law enforcement officials say much thought goes into charging someone with threatening terrorism and that age doesn't exclude accountability.

"Every prosecutor has a wide latitude on how they can charge," Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said Friday.

Court plays role

Smith said the county's Juvenile Court would determine the punishment in the Wyandot Middle School bomb threat. If the girl is convicted, he said, he doubts she'll serve time in the Macomb County Juvenile Justice Center.

He defended his decision to charge her with terrorism, saying her alleged actions had a serious effect on the community.

"If I don't take a serious stance on this, then who will?" he said.

Clinton Township Police Capt. Bruce Wade, who headed the criminal investigation, said police kept in close contact with the prosecutor's office while pursuing the charge against the girl.

"Ultimately, they're the ones who make the final decision," Wade said Friday.

Much of the reasoning for it rested on the fear it caused parents, students and school officials. About 40% of Wyandot's students stayed home the day after the threat.

The charge also stems from how the threat disrupted daily operations at the school, such as leading to backpack checks and canine searches, Wade said.

"It wouldn't be fair to say, 'Well, this person really didn't mean it.' There would have to be some kind of thought behind it to create this kind of havoc," he said.

"We put the case together and the chips fall where they do. And obviously, someone who is 12 years old, you don't want to see their life ruined over this either."

Dangerous words

Most adults can think back to a time when, frustrated with a classmate or teacher, they or a friend uttered something such as, "I could kill her," or, "I should blow this place up."

Thanks to a combination of the Internet, the Columbine massacre and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, what was just stupid talk 20 years ago is now against the law. That has parents worried about the consequences for their children.

Lynn Anderson of Clinton Township said she talks to her children, ages 15 and 16, about the consequences that can come from a careless remark.

"I just know how kids are, when they're fooling around, making cracks," she said. "Kids are just kids, and a felony charge against a 12-year-old?"

But other parents said that the potential danger warrants a strong response.

"The kids now, especially if you're a 12-year-old, you know what's been happening," said Kelly Kohut of Oxford, who has 14- and 16-year-old children. "These schools have to have consequences. You have to have zero tolerance. You can't know who's kidding and who isn't."

Officials took a tough stance with Andrew Osantowski, now 18, who was the first person convicted under the law for making terrorist threats in fall 2004 against Chippewa Valley High School, which is in the same district as Wyandot.

Police found a cache of weapons, including bomb-making materials, and Nazi paraphernalia in Osantowski's home. He was charged as an adult and was sentenced to up to 4 1/2 years in prison.

"The people in the Chippewa Valley community are hypersensitive to school violence and we take that into account," said Smith.

Seeking a solution

But is the law the right solution? Glenn Stutzky, a clinical instructor in Michigan State University's School of Social Work, said charging kids as terrorists doesn't solve the problem.

"This law has lowered the threshold to where prosecutors are going to catch a lot of kids if they use this law as a threshold for adolescents," Stutzky said.

"I find that in most of these cases, the kids have been a victim of harassment or threats or maybe they've been bullied," he said. "What they're trying to do is deal with the imbalance of power."

"They don't have in mind to overthrow a government. I really think this law needs to be clarified," he added.

Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said he hopes the terrorism case helps other children grasp the depth of the consequences for making threats -- serious or not.

"They realize: 'Holy cow. This is what could happen to me,' " he said. "It's pretty serious stuff."

Contact PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI at 586-469-4681 or pwalsh@freepress.com.