Student who made threat gets probation

November 18, 2004|by PEPPER BALLARD

Smudges from a black marker that police saw on the hands of a 15-year-old Clear Spring High School student helped end the search for the youth who wrote a bomb threat on a school bathroom wall last month, Washington County Assistant State's Attorney Michelle Flores said during a juvenile hearing Wednesday.

The 15-year-old boy, who is now a student at Cedar Ridge Children's Home & School, admitted in juvenile court Wednesday to making the Oct. 19 bomb threat at Clear Spring High.

Washington County Circuit Judge Frederick C. Wright III, sitting in juvenile court, ordered the boy placed on indefinite supervised probation and ordered him to write a letter of apology to the school's principal.

On Oct. 19, a message written with black felt-tipped marker was found above the urinals in a boys' bathroom at the school. The message warned that a bomb would go off at 3 p.m., Flores said.

She said investigators narrowed the search and talked with the 15-year-old boy, who they noticed had marker smudges on his hand. After trying to conceal a marker in his pocket, the boy confessed to investigators that he wrote the message on a dare, Flores said.

On Wednesday, the boy again said that a dare prompted him to write the message.

Wright asked the youth, "Impress: Is that what you were trying to do? Is that a good word?"

The boy nodded.

Later, Wright said, "From now on, the only impression you've got to make - for people you care about and for yourself - is to be positive in your actions."

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