Sullivan North student brings pistol to school

Friday, March 19, 2004

By BECKY CAMPBELL

KINGSPORT - A Sullivan North High School student made a poor choice in his solution for dealing with two people who were allegedly threatening him, according to a sheriff's deputy. The 15-year-old student took a Jennings .380 semiautomatic pistol to school Wednesday. Two students who saw the gun reported it to school authorities.

No ammunition was found with the weapon, Superintendent John O'Dell said Thursday at a Sullivan County Board of Education retreat. Sullivan County Sheriff's Office Detective Capt. Johnny Murray said the student made a poor choice about how to handle his problem.

"There are people who care about them (students) that they can talk to," Murray said. Murray said investigators were on the case all day Thursday interviewing witnesses and tracking down information and rumors related to the incident. "No one was injured," Murray said, but he added that "there were indications that bodily harm could have occurred."

Two school officials had been informed about the gun and approached the student, according to the sheriff's office.

"They confronted the student and took him to the office and found the weapon in the student's book bag," Murray said. "He told them he brought the gun to school to scare two subjects that had been threatening him at the bus stop."

Whether or not the two people are students is also under investigation, Murray said. He said how the teen had access to the gun is part of the investigation. The teen apparently told officials the weapon belonged to his father and that he had a key to the lock box where it was kept.

Murray said teens who are bullied have other options to deal with the situation. "Anytime a child feels threatened in reference to bullies or anything else - whether they feel unsafe or uncomfortable with a situation - our school resource officers are in the schools a lot, and they also have teachers, teachers aides, coaches, counselors they can talk to," Murray said.

"They need to voice the problems so (authorities) can deal with it. Unless they know about the problem, they can't deal with it," Murray said. The teen was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon on school property. He was arraigned on the charge Thursday.

Copyright 2003 Kingsport Times-News. All rights reserved. This material must be credited to the Times-News when redistributed or broadcast.

Bullying blamed for gun incident at North High School

April 18, 2004

By CLIFFORD JEFFERY

KINGSPORT - A 15-year-old Sullivan North High School student brought a gun to school in his backpack recently. The teen had been taunted at his bus stop and planned to scare his persecutor with the unloaded .380 pistol.

"He brought the gun," said North principal Richard Carroll. "There was no ammunition in it."

The boy, who was a good student prior to the incident, was suspended for a year.

"That was a very isolated incident," Carroll said. "We've only had one or two of those incidents in the 24 years I've been there. The young man just made a very poor decision."

The boy's actions were not so different than the way many young people try to solve bullying problems, Carroll said.

"Many times in situations like this, they are good kids but instead of them coming to someone and talking, they feel they can take care of it themselves. They need to share with counselors or teachers, but instead they try to take matters into their own hands," Carroll said.

Administrators at area schools deal with bullying from both sides - teaching both the bullies and the bullied how to properly handle the situation.

Johnson Elementary School principal Lenore Kilgore said all the students at Johnson go through a class on bullying.

"Bullying is a common experience for children," she said. "In a national survey, they found about half of all students are bullied. A lot of times, we focus on the child bullying. But we work on the skills of children being bullied too."

Kilgore also said adults need to listen if children talk to them about harassment. "Another part of that is having parents tell teachers," she said. "Bullies think you're not going to tell, and that is part of the cycle.

Parents need to ask their kids if they are being antagonized."

School guidance counselors are tasked with teaching the students about bullying.

The guidance counselor talks to them about behaviors. Many times a true bully will select one person and pick on them for a day, or a week, or a month.

"If you are a bully, we try to figure out why. The other part of that is, if you are being bullied, what are the strategies you can use to combat that."

Kilgore believes, to avoid situations like those at North, bullying needs to be addressed early on. "Here at the elementary level, we have the ability to prevent that. I think bullying behavior can change. We have had children change dramatically.

I have seen children improve."

Copyright 2004 Kingsport Times-News.

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