JUVENILE THREATS TURN COSTLY

In the last two weeks, threats of violence by students at area schools have resulted in five juveniles being pulled from classrooms to undergo psychological evaluation.

But those evaluations aren't cheap.

At Thursday's Cape Girardeau County Commission meeting, county juvenile officer Randy Rhodes said the evaluations cost $1,500 apiece, and the county can expect to be hit with some of the bills.

The cost of the evaluations have exceeded what Rhodes' county juvenile office can cover, he said.

"Since we've had this glut of them, we're running out of money," he said.

The five threats occurred in schools at Perryville, Mo., Jackson, Mo., and Cape Girardeau, the juvenile officer reported.

While Rhodes cannot release the names of the students, he may have been referring to two incidents that occurred on the same day at Cape Girardeau's Central Junior High School and Jackson's R.O. Hawkins Junior High School.

On March 15 at Central, an eighth-grade boy made a comment about getting a gun and shooting people. Some students overheard him and reported the comment to adults. The student was suspended, and a search of his home uncovered no firearms.

At Hawkins, another eighth-grade boy was suspended after he threatened to shoot classmates. Later, the boy said he wasn't serious.

Also, Jackson public schools superintendent Ron Anderson confirmed that two other students in his district -- both from West Lane Elementary School -- underwent psychological evaluations after making verbal threats to others early last week. Anderson was not certain of the specifics of the threats. West Lane houses fourth- and fifth-graders.

Cape Girardeau Superintendent Dan Steska said he believes the trend unfolding is the result of a variety of causes "like the amount of violence kids are exposed to in movies and TV."

"And I think it's emotional problems in the families themselves," he said. "I think kids have always said things like this, but I think we're more sensitive to it because we know of the consequences that sometimes occur."

The Perry County Republic Monitor reported that Perryville police were notified that an 11-year-old student with scissors made verbal threats while on the Perry County School District campus on March 26.

Superintendent Stephen Doerr confirmed at least one of his students was recently removed from school for making threats.

"I don't know if it's the influence of things going on across the nation. I don't know if it's the influence of things they're seeing in television and movies," Doerr said. "There's a whole lot of violence out there."

Doerr said either Perry County or his school district would be billed for any expenses the Perryville student incurred in Cape Girardeau County. He said occasionally students in his district are served through Cape Girardeau County juvenile services due to lack of local services.

Of the five juveniles who were evaluated, one had access to firearms at home, Rhodes told the commission.

Cape Girardeau County Commissioner Joe Gambill said he deemed the psychological evaluations necessary expenditures.

"If we have to spend that money, it'll be money well spent," Gambill said.