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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1999)
One year later: Springfield is still working to overcome tragedy On May 21,1998, Springfield experi enced a 57-minute emergency incident that turned into a multi-week media event watched around the world. Today, Springfield marks the one-year anniversary of the tragic shooting at Thurston High School. Tonight, many of us will come together in a Community Gather ing for Remembrance and Re newal. We’ll remember Bill and Faith Kinkel and Mikael and Ben, the four people who lost their lives, and we will think about how that senseless act changed us all forever. But we’ll do more tonight than remember our lost loved ones and seek relief from the pain of the last year. When we gather, we’ll find the strength and re newal that emerges each time our community comes together. We’ll renew our determination not to succumb to the hopeless ness that can be overwhelming in the face of an act of violence so severe it numbs the senses. And we will celebrate what we have learned about ourselves and our community since May 21,1998. Last year, when we were COTYlTYWYlUtty Maureen Maine faced with the unthinkable, literally dozens of —“,,,,lllll,llllll,l,l,',,,IBI,,fc^* community members closed ranks around Springfield. City employees worked around the clock, volunteers organized a candlelight vigil and members of the faith community sponsored a service at the high school. Still other volunteers coun seled distraught children and parents, helped at an assistance center opened at the high school and lent their professional skills to manage close to $500,000 in spontaneous offers of financial assistance. Our extraordinary ability to come together in a crisis could be seen all over the world in the seamless way we responded to not one but two crime scenes (one the largest in Springfield’s history). We interviewed more than 250 eyewitnesses in the first 24 hours, managed a virtual inva sion by hundreds of news re porters, and even responded with concrete written proposals when asked by the White House and our federal delegation what the government can do to help prevent school violence. As the days wore on and the lives of Springfield residents be came the subject of relentless news broadcasts, we realized we were subject to a feeling of hope lessness. We faced the enormity and complexity of the issues af fecting every community in the United States: deteriorating fami ly values, access to guns, reduced resources for schools and recre ation programs and violence in the media and video games. We struggled with feelings of help lessness against such odds. But we organized a communi ty forum just 10 days after the shooting and invited federal, state and local elected officials to join us in listening. Dozens of Springfield residents cared enough to attend and wait pa tiently for their turn at the micro phones. We narrowed and prioritized the list of ideas in a second com munity forum and then present ed that information to those working on a Community Action Plan for Youth and Families in Springfield. Copies of the draft plan will be on hand at the open house this evening. Tonight, together, we will think about what we’ve learned in the last year: ■ That in the face of horrible, horrible tragedy, Springfield moves swiftly to respond to the needs of the community with a gentleness and attention to detail more characteristic of family tak ing care of family. ■ That we value our partner ships with Eugene and Lane County and other public and pri vate organizations, and we work those relationships everyday be cause it’s a way of life for us and because we re all in this together. ■ That sadly, Springfield is not unique in experiencing the hor ror of school violence, and its randomness is humbling. ■ Finally, that each of us has the power to do at least one thing to make a difference in the lives of youth and families, and that this makes all the difference in the world. Maureen Maine is the Springfield mayor. Diversity Continued from Paget A es,” Bachelder said. The University of Maryland, Harvard University and the University of Kansas al ready have diversity programs. The University of Maryland at College Park set up a Web site to catalog its efforts at increasing diversity. University of Oregon 'President Dave Frohnmayer proposed a similar Web site on Tuesday. Student activists are also demanding the administration create a position in Johnson Hall with the express purpose of promoting diversity. Students and administrators formed oth er joint committees to confront the issues Wednesday. “Johnson Hall is where the administra tion is, and we need a voice in there,” Bachelder said. Robert Melnick, dean of the School of Ar chitecture and Allied Arts and a member of the committee, said he felt the process was on the right track. “There is a need for this to be inclusive,” he said. The planning, public policy and manage ment class where the first remark and sexu ally violent threats sparked the sit-in on Tuesday met for another day of class — closed to the media. With a new class e-mail listserv re tooled for added security and Lynn Brown, an officer from the Office of Pub lie Safety, watching the class, students discussed what to do next. “It is almost impossible to go from what happened Tuesday and just jump back into class,’1 said John Hibbard, one of the class’ two professors. Convy, the student who reportedly e mailed racist and sexual threats to several female students in the class, is taking the course by correspondence from home. Stu dent Scott Bones made the intial comments that were called racist, but he has apolo gized to the class. Neither student could be reached for comment. One topic of concern in the class was the faculty’s lack of diversity and diversity awareness. “How much do these issues of privi lege affect our understanding of each oth er?” asked student John Riordan. “We need an enriched faculty community which understands and doesn’t hide from these issues.” Elizabeth Rocha, the class’ other profes sor, said she thought by next Tuesday the class would be more focused on the cur riculum, but she was critical of the current University curriculum. “The reason this exploded is because many people go through four years in this school never having to deal with issues of race and gender,” she said. “That’s an in dictment of the curriculum and that’s an in dictment of the University.” Cool sounds meet smooth espresso at Coffee People. On Friday and Saturday niyhts from 8-10, Coffee People will be serrin? up local talent as well at our fabulous espresso drinks and delectable pastries. Smooth iaii, acoustic rock, folk, world beat: call to find out what treat sounds are on the schedule or just drop hy for a Coffee People yoed time. Drop by for some Coffee Culture. Address: 840 E. 13 (wrtn 4w rtm* from Km Unmnitv Stolutort) Phone: 302-1771 No cover charge. One drink minimum For all shows.
