School bombing threats decrease

A year ago, bomb threats were such a common interruption at Richmond County schools that the system's leaders considered extending the school year to make up for time lost.

Each threat interrupted class for a couple of hours, forcing pupils to file out of school and wait for sheriff's deputies and bomb-sniffing dogs to clear the building.

By Jan. 29, 35 bomb threats had been made. There were even more -- 133 -- in the 2006-07 school year.

But a coordinated crackdown has helped quell the threats, and now they are few and far between.

"We've gotten tough on the bomb threats, and they've dried up," school board member Frank Dolan said. "We brought the hammer down on the people who did bomb threats, and we're going to continue."

So far this school year, only three threats have been made against the school system, Director of Public Safety Julia Porter-Stein said.

"I was hoping that last year's crackdown would show a difference," she said. "It's giving us more time to concentrate on learning today and leading tomorrow."

The public safety director said the drastic decline in bomb threats could be attributed to the arrests made last school year.

In January, Superintendent Dana Bedden released audio recordings of the threats, asking the public to assist in catching the culprits. The sheriff's office also stepped up the pressure, using high-tech methods of tracing out-of-service cell phones to threats that were called in.

The result was the arrest of five pupils accused of making most of the bomb threats for the school year. The Richmond County Juvenile Court sentenced the youths to community service and gave each a suspended sentence at a detention center, with a warning that the suspension would be revoked if they misbehaved again.

Sheriff's Investigator Scott Peebles welcomed the reduction in bomb threats, which had tied up police resources.

"It was channeling resources away from more serious cases," he said.

Lt. Peebles credited Dr. Bedden and the sheriff's department with getting the word out to the public that those making bomb threats would be caught and punished.

Reach Greg Gelpi at (706) 828-3851 or greg.gelpi@augustachronicle.com.