by Allan Detrich

Wednesday, March 25, 1998

"It just don't feel right here, I feel like I am trespassing on a grave," says Virginia Green, the wife of Rev. Al Green, who made the trip here from Memphis. "I came here to walk the streets and let the people of Jonesboro feel that Jesus still loves them. He does, even though he let this bad, bad thing happen to them."

Afternoon sun reflects off the aqua-colored tiles that accent the Westside Middle School's tan building. A shiny bronze plaque glued beside the front door after the school's dedication in 1996, looks down on bundles of flowers left by mourners. Red Cross disaster relief trucks and Craighead County Sheriff patrol cars, fill the parking lot turned into a war-zone Tuesday by Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, both Westside students.

These are just a few of the sights that Virginia Green, and others saw as they approached the scene of Tuesday's 12:35 p.m. shooting killing of four Westside students; Natalie Brooks, Stephanie Johnson, Brittany Varner, Paige Ann Herring and their teacher, Shannon Wright, who was pregnant. One other teacher and 10 students were also injured.

Taylor Williams, 11, came to the scene Wednesday to pay her respects to her good friend, Paige Ann Herring, who was killed. Williams was cradled by her mother Lori Williams, as they left flowers in front of the school for her fellow softball player. She talks about just last summer playing softball with Herring, winning games on ball fields not far from the school itself. These were the good times, overshadowed by the reality of Herrings death, which has not set in yet and still seems like a bad dream to young Taylor Williams. This is just one of the stories that were told and re-told as residents of Jonesboro, Arkansas try to cope with the tragic shooting.

Larry Henson walked around the Westside campus, looking up, down, slowly taking in the scene. Hearing the sounds of guns in his head, screaming children, ricocheting bullets whizzing by, hitting nearby buildings, played over in his mind. Henson graduated from this Westside HS in 1981, which overlooks the Middle school to the East. "I graduated from here, you just don't think nothin' like this is going to happen," says Henderson as a tear streams from his eye. "I have a nine year old, it was really hard to take her to school today."

With one arm in a cast, and the other tightly holding his grandfather's hand, Tristan McGowan, 13, the only boy wounded in the shooting spree returned to the scene on Wednesday. McGowan pointed to the woods where he saw the shooters firing into the crowd of children exiting the building for a false fire alarm. Tapping at the spot on the ground with his foot, where he laid after being shot. Deluged by television reporters, McGowan told his story over and over again, until being dragged away by his good hand by the elder McGowan.

As the sun set on the school, the crowds started to thin out, and everyone went home to watch the evening news, reflect on the days events, or attend prayer meetings. The reminders of Tuesdays shootings live on: eighteen bullet holes in the adjacent gymnasium, bundles of flowers left by mourners, single roses placed in the flower bed. Five wreaths, one for each victim remain in their place in front of the school, and will greet those who decided to return to school Thursday.

"God has a plan for every young child that survived the shooting," says Rev. Allen Elkins, as he addresses the congregation of the Walnut St. Baptist church at an evening prayer meeting, "Otherwise, those children would not be in our midst today." Nobody knows this better than Bethany Broadaway, 11, as she cries cradled in the loving arms of her mother Tamara Broadaway, during Elkin's prayer. Bethany and her brother Schuyler, both attend the Westside Middle school and have horrible memories of the shooting, neither were injured. Bethany and her brother will have to face their fears Thursday as school resumes, just hours away.

Story two

Thursday, March 26, 1998

As the sun rose on Jonesboro, Arkansas, so did the apprehension of the young students that must return to the scene of Tuesday's killings, on their first day back to school. Press lined the road to the school, satellite trucks converged in a parking lot 1/4 mile away. Sheriff Deputies Mike Parish and Justin Rolland controlled traffic at the entrance to the Middle School campus. White ribbons donned almost every antenna of every car, in the town of Jonesboro. Counselors were in every classroom and parents were encouraged to attend classes with their children. Attendance was high considering the circumstances. The steady stream of cars encouraged school officials that the healing had began.

Press briefings were offered up hourly at the Craighead County Detension Center, the same place that housed the two boys arrested for killing four of their classmates and a teacher on Tuesday. Around 10 a.m. the rumor that a fifth girl died circulated wildly through the local Wal Mart off of RT 63. Cashiers rushed to pay phones to call loved ones, to try to confirm, or disprove the rumor. It was false. Jonesboro residents were delighted to find out the contrary - that Candice Porter, 11, was released instead.

Students, parents and townsfolk streamed into the viewing area of the funeral home, to pay tribute to Stephanie Johnson. The parking lot of the Emerson Funeral home on Nettelton Ave. was filled to its capacity from the second the clock struck five. Volunteers tied white ribbons on the antenna of every car, that is if the car did not already have one. Students hugged each other as they filed back to their cars in the lot. One student tied four ribbons on the antenna of her sisters car, one for each of her fallen classmates. This is just the first of their many hurdles the town must overcome, before healing is complete. This is the first of many nights to come, the town of Jonesboro would pull together for one of their own.

As the sun sets, George Siebert, a sworn auxiliary Sheriff Deputy in Craighead Co., has a different take on the recent shootings in Jonesboro than most of the other people in town. He was close to the Golden family, especially the grandfather of Andrew Golden, the 11 year-old who was arrested in the Westside Middle School shootings Tuesday. "I know his Grandpappy, and his Pappy and I know that boy was bad. He was a problem child no matter what anybody tells you." Siebert leans back in his chair, and looks West from the office of his greenhouse that sits on the crest of a large hill, down Gee road towards the school. "This is the worst thing to ever happen here. When this thing happened, it was just one police car after another, tearrin' this road up, it was chaos, damn chaos. When those kids left the building, the doors locked behind them - their designed that way. They couldn't get back in, it was a blood bath." Siebert also blames the government for taking a parent's right to paddle a child for the plight of the Golden child, "Parenting has gone into the dumper, his parents didn't spend any time with him, the kid ran wild, it's a shame." Ironically a minister who visited Andrew Golden Thursday, said that all he asked for was his "Mama," and said he "Wanted to go home."

Siebert's tribute to the fallen children of Westside Middle school is a sign that sits at the crest of a hill in front of his nursery not more than a mile from Westside Middle School. It simply states "Pray for our Community."