Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
The delinquents who have phoned in bomb threats to 911 against Richmond County schools wanted people to listen to them.
Well, guess what: They just got what they wished for.
The audio tapes of eight recent bomb threats - mostly against Glenn Hills Middle School, though one call included Glenn Hills High - have been sent to several Augusta media outlets, including The Chronicle.
Listen to them on the Web by visiting http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/013008/met_185461.shtml. See if you recognize the voices of any of these kids. We say "kids" under safe assumption after listening to the recordings. Let's just say the police probably aren't dealing with criminal masterminds here.
But that's certainly not to downplay the grave importance with which bomb threats must be addressed. Dealing with the threats are bothersome, but that's the price we pay for keeping our children safe. The one call a school chooses to ignore very well could be the one that harms innocent lives.
That leaves law enforcement the unenviable task of having to trudge out to schools, help faculty clear them of all pupils and staff, and comb the buildings for any explosives.
That takes about two hours and costs between $800 and $1,200. Per visit. That's a cost that, frankly, should be shouldered not by taxpayers, but by the guilty party - and the child's parents.
So far this school year, there have been 35 bomb threats against Richmond County schools. Odd as it sounds, that's a good thing - that is, when you consider the school system had racked up 62 of them by this time last year, and a total of 133 by school year's end.
Another dubious bit of good news is that the problem appears a lot less widespread than last year. More than a dozen Richmond County schools fielded bomb threats in the 2006-07 academic year. This year, it appears confined so far mostly to two schools - Glenn Hills Middle and High, the schools mentioned in the recorded threats we mentioned above. No surprise there, really - they accounted for almost a quarter of the threats last year.
Broadcasting the sounds of these perpetrators' voices for all the world to hear - and recognize - is a splendid idea. It was great when school board member Venus Cain floated the idea last spring, and it's a strong boost to overall school discipline to see the idea being followed through on. That kind of public exposure is a great weapon in the arsenal of techniques police use to track down these lawbreakers.
Let that be a loud-and-clear message to whoever is thinking about picking up a phone to call in another phony bomb threat: You'll be heard, all right.
And if you can be heard, you can be found.
Once found, the perpetrators should be treated like the little felons they are. And Richmond County officials are asking state lawmakers to provide them new tools to punish and deter bomb threats - any law, for example, that might target parental responsibility.
Even better is the notion put forth by Superintendent Dana Bedden to extend the school year for schools with bomb threats. How about an extra week for every bomb threat?
Those little darlings who so badly want attention and a few hours out of school might find that we get their attention with the promise of more school, not less.
