Faraway shooting hits home

By Phil Pfuehler

Tuesday's carnage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., gave River Falls High School Principal Sharon Kabes much to contemplate.

"It does hit home. It could have been our high school," Kabes said Tuesday night. "I'm from the Denver area, and Littleton is fast growing, rather affluent, bigger than we are but similar. You can't help wondering: Are we that much different here? You think about the faces you see in the halls and ask if anyone is troubled enough to do such a thing. Is there anyone we've missed, who feels lost, left out or angry?"

Two students, who then took their lives, were apparently responsible for the shootings and bombings at the suburban Colorado school.

Kabes said one of the functions of the River Falls High School's Focus time after the 1st block class is to throw out a safety net.

"Focus meets every day of the year, and one of the goals is to spot kids who seem troubled or suicidal so they can be referred to a counselor."

Kabes said teens are impressionable and after all the media coverage of the Columbine High School slaughter, she worries about copycat incidents. She also says today's culture, through TV and movies, saturates young viewers with violence.

"They see it all the time, and I wonder if it doesn't de-sensitize them to what violence really is," Kabes said. "For some kids, in their state of mind, it might be hard to differentiate between what is and isn't reality."

Kabes said nothing official is planned at her school to react to the Colorado school tragedy, but she expects "it will be a topic of discussion in the classrooms."

Kabes also predicted the students and staff would be "in a shaky mood."

High school senior Adam Brady said he can't fathom what caused the students to carry out their gruesome attack.

"It's disturbing to see what could have driven them to do this, what pressures they faced," said Brady, an honors student. "I would want to find that out. I can't believe anyone would feel so strongly, would go that far."

Because of the rash of high school shootings nationwide, Brady said he and his friends wouldn't be surprised if a local high school student was caught bringing in a gun.

"I think it would just be accepted that it happened, and that bothers me - this lack of outrage," Brady said.

It appears resentment against minorities and athletes played a part in the incident at the Colorado school, and Brady admitted River Falls High School has its share of cliques.

"You've got some prejudices between the computer kids, the drama students, and other groups, but everyone here seems to get along," Brady said. "I don't think our school is big enough to have such rifts. It's not that we're so closely knit or that we all hang out together, but there seems to be a fair amount of respect for each other."

Brady wondered if high school administrators will intensify efforts to spot potential trouble.

"We don't have much of a system now," he said. "I'll be curious to see if security is changed, or if there is more monitoring."