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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2018)
SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018 Special Series from 1A The doctor felt it was more of a “boyish” crime and best for Kinkel to complete 32 hours of community service, write a letter of apology and pay for damages to the car. However, the incident was frus- trating to Kinkel’s parents, with Bill feeling he was left with no recourse as to how to deal with his son. Faith suggested counseling and, in January 1997, she and Kinkel went to see Dr. Jeffrey Hicks for help. “Faith said that she was concerned about Kip’s temper and his ‘extreme interest in guns, knives and explo- sives,’” Frontline reported. “She was afraid that Kip could harm himself or others. Faith asked that Hicks help Kip learn more about appropriate ways to manage his anger and curtail his acting out.” Faith was also concerned about her son’s relationship with his father. Hicks wrote that “Kip became tearful when discussing his relation- ship with his father. He reported that Kip thought his mother viewed him as ‘a good kid with some bad habits’ while his father saw him as ‘a bad kid with bad habits.’ He felt his father expected the worst from him.” The counseling sessions revealed that Kinkel was having problems eat- ing, stating that the food “doesn’t taste good.” Kinkel often felt bored and irrita- ble, and felt tired upon awakening most mornings. Kinkel was also find- ing it difficult to find things in his life that he looked forward to. During his counseling, Kinkel also had other instances of acting out, including kicking another student in the head after the student had shoved him. He had been caught cheating in class, and also threw a pencil at another student who had made fun of him. Kinkel was ultimately suspend- ed twice during this period. After six counseling sessions, he was prescribed Prozac and, after 12 days, began sleeping better with no outbursts. Things began progressing so well for Kinkel that, after two more sessions, it was decided coun- seling was no longer needed, just the medication. But a few months after his counseling ended, Kinkel stopped taking his medication. At the sugges- tion of his father, he joined the foot- ball team as a lineman, where his small size and lack of experience left him feeling isolated. “I sound so pitiful. People would laugh at this if they read it,” Kinkel wrote in his journal. “I hate being laughed at. ... Please. Someone, help me. All I want is something small. Nothing big. I just want to be happy.” In September 1997, Kinkel gave a talk in speech class on how to make a bomb. He showed detailed drawings of explosives attached to a clock. According to kids in class, another girl gave a speech on how to join the Church of Satan, so Kinkel’s topic didn’t raise any concerns, Frontline reported. It was at this point that a rash of school shootings began to occur — Pearl, Miss.; West Paducah, Ky.; Jonesboro, Ark. Kinkel would watch the aftermath of these shootings, picking apart how they were carried out, stating that he would be able to take more lives, and that the shoot- ings were “pretty cool.” Then, on May 20, 1998, he took $110 in cash to school and purchased a semi-automatic pistol from a friend, keeping the weapon in a paper sack in his locker. However, his friend had stolen the gun from his father, who discovered the gun miss- ing. He contacted the school, which searched Kinkel’s locker and found the gun. When authorities arrived, he and his friend were arrested and escorted off the school premises, pending expulsion. After taking Kinkel home, his father called a friend, who stated that Bill was very upset, not knowing what to do. He believed his son was completely out of control. Soon after that phone call, Kinkel shot his father, then his mother and, soon after, scores of others at his high school, killing two others. The incident shocked Oregon and the nation as multiple theories regarding his motive spread like wildfire. But there was one key component that everyone was missing: Kinkel had schizophrenia with paranoia, the most common form of schizophrenia, an illness that affects roughly one percent of the world’s population. Symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, unusual or dysfunctional ways of thinking and movement dis- orders. Why, despite the many signs and involvement of officials, no one identified this component points to some critical gaps in the mental health community, and the gun debate as a whole. “Extreme Psychology” Seventy-seven percent of Americans believe better mental healthcare monitoring and treatment would lead to fewer mass shootings, an ABC News and Washington Post poll found in February. While some believe mental health is a strong component of mass shootings, others believe it is the sole cause. But is there an actual link? The answers are unclear. The publication Mother Jones reported in November 2012 that 61 percent of mass shooters had signs of potential mental health problems, but the terms they used to define mental illness were broad. There are multi- ple symptoms of mental illness that mimic normal behavior, especially when dealing with teenagers, who actually carry out the majority of school shootings that have started the recent gun debate. On the lower end of the spectrum, a February 2018 New York Times article reported that only 22 percent of mass killings were perpetrated by those considered mentally ill. There are multiple reasons for the discrepancies in data, including vary- ing definitions of what “mentally ill” constitutes, and what a mass shoot- ing actually is. These biases will be explored later in this series. Greentrees Community Wide Yard Sale. 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