FROM PAGE A1 The Cincinnati Enquirer- A4 Ssaturday, October 30. 1999 WEK Government Indiana: Safety: Have we done enough? Time to change When clocks fall back an hour tonight, residents of 15 Indiana counties, including Dearborn and Ohio, will rejoin the time maintained by most of the rest ot the state. Livin i i .4 I Vr-t-j InSJana said. "You don't have to be in a major fight, but you can get a big punishment," said Belinda Rogers, 15, a Taft High School sophom*ore front Cincinnati's West End. "I saw a fight recently here, and the six kids all got an 80-day expulsion.
So most people think about the consequences before getting into a fight." After-school clubs have helped improve student relationships, said Taft student Jessica Sneed, 15, from Over-the-Rhine. "And teachers are willing to talk to you one-on-one about whatever you want," said Taft student Larnell Williams, 17, Mount Auburn. In Kentucky, Kenton County Superintendent Susan Cook said it's too soon to measure the success of safety efforts. "If we can talk about respect and fairness and trustworthiness, as those become expected behaviors, we feel like that can make a difference," Dr. Cook said.
At Milford High School, officials were happy to find they could back away from tight security measures without losing ground. A rash of rumors last spring about potential violence caused Milford officials to ban book bags and to conduct daily searches of purses and gym bags. This fall, the searches have ended and book bags are back though they must be stowed in lockers during the school day. Still evident are security cameras, a locked-door policy and a Student Leadership Council developed to talk over concerns with school administration. "We asked ourselves, 'What's the reality and what kind of school do we said Principal Larry Hook.
"It's wonderful here this year. The kids truly were upset with those who allowed all that to happen last year." Sue Kiesewetter, Dana DiFilippo, Andrea Tortora and Betty Kim contributed to this story. CONTINUED FROM PAGE Al Have we done enough to make sure it doesn't happen here? "We were in meetings this summer with police organizations, and one comment they made really hit hard," said Mike Amos, director of operations at Oak Hills Local School District. "They said, 'no matter what they had in place at Columbine, those kids were going to get "And that is scary," he said. Around the Tristate, safety measures once considered unnecessary are in use locked doors, rumor hot lines, security guards, cameras monitoring hallways, ID badges, and drills to secure students inside classrooms.
And officials still look for ways to prevent a tragedy. "All of us get frustrated sometimes when we have to walk all the way around the building to the front entrances," Mr. McWilliams said. "But we adjust. We're all working on awareness." Awareness means educating the public, too, said Mike Hall, Anderson High principal.
A graduate recently visited Anderson, he said, and, ignoring signs telling visitors to sign in at the front office, walked upstairs. He was arrested as were two others found in the building this school year without authorization. They face trespassing charges. If they had argued about it, they could also be charged with interfering with a public school official. "You do it our way, or you'll be arrested," Mr.
Hall said. "We're not casual about security." In Reading, Superintendent John Varis hired self-defense expert Debbie Gardner to help teachers learn how to survive a violent situation. He wants to put bullet-proof vests in school offices, and wants to take teachers to a firing range so they know the sound of a gunshot. During the discussions, the idea of whether teachers should have access to guns surfaced and caused some in the community to call for Dr. Varis' removal.
"My theory is to brainstorm to explore what are (teachers') best options to maximize coming out and bringing out as many people as possible with you," Dr. Varis said. In Cincinnati Public Schools, where, last May, nearly half of Walnut Hills High School's students stayed home one day after a bomb threat, there are "defensive and proactive steps in place to recognize threats and react to them," said Robert Morgan, the district's security chief and a retired Cincinnati Police Division commander. Incidents have been rare in the CPS, Ohio's third-largest district with 45,600 students. "We don't let any of those rumors go unchecked," Mr.
Morgan said. "You're always going to have dark-thinking individuals who are plotting a major kind of thing." Many CPS schools have video cameras, security guards and parents who volunteer to patrol the halls. Some schools require see-through backpacks. In 1994, the district created six two-member response teams most are retired police officers to conduct daily random searches of students, classrooms and lockers in CPS' 77 schools, said Donald Boegeman, response team leader. In 1994-95, CPS team members found 10 guns.
In 1995-96, they found two; in 1996-97, two; in 1997-98, four, and last year, zero. Knowing the consequences helps decrease school violence, students Indianaoolis I GJllO i i i iCincinnaS Kentucky Louisville The Cincinnati Enquirer began teaching at schools near their Randolph Township, Ohio County, home, they never dreamed they would be working such, well, different hours. Mr. Seipel begins his day at 8 a.m. at Rising Sun High School.
His wife starts at 8 a.m. at Central Elementary School in Lawrenceburg. But from spring until fall, she leaves the house an hour earlier. "I get that extra hour of sleep while she's up getting ready. I have to keep saying, 'Be quiet, Mr.
Seipel laughed. But now that their biological clocks are about to even out, he looks forward to sharing breakfast every morning. And, unlike most Ohio County school students and staff members who exist between two times, Mr. Seipel doesn't even have to reset his watch. "I'm probably one of the only ones in the (school) building on slow time, because I don't know how to reset this watch," he said, displaying the digital model.
"I bought it this way and it's going to stay." offers handbook for school security The Associated Press WASHINGTON A new government handbook allows administra-1 tors and law-enforcement officials analyze a school's vulnerability to' violence and suggests technologies tc deter problems. The guide, developed at the Energy Department's nuclear weapons; laboratory in Sandia, N.M., will available on the Internet beginning; Monday. The guide is entitled The Appr priate and Effective Use of Security Technologies in U.S. Schools. It wil be available on the Department of' Energy's Web http:www.doe.gov schoolsecuritypdf.htm.
"Hi It provides practical tips on protecting buildings and grounds and gives advice on purchase of equipment for video surveillance, weapons' detection, entry control and duress alarms. The handbook says it is "irnpera- tive" that security personnel be in: volved in designing any new school. Careful attention should be paid to seemingly minor issues such as bro-' ken windows or litter because they; can leave the impression of a problem school, the handbook says. 1 A paramount concern should be controlling the access of parents, employees and visitors. The guide suggests that "to best control school building," the number of entrances "must be severely limited." And every school "needs a well-thought-out annually updated crisis plan, with regular training for all those who might be involved." The report strongly urges the use of video cameras and closed circuit; television systems to enhance peace-of mind, deter potential problems and; keep outsiders away.
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ig on the edge of time CONTINUED FROM PAGE Al The drama also is playing out in Indiana's Harrison, Clark and Floyd counties, which border and follow the Eastern Daylight Time change of Louisville. Similarly, five counties in southeastern Indiana and five more near Chicago do the biannual time change to stick with the Central Daylight and Central Standard times of Illinois. Although the entire state of Indiana is officially on standard time, changing not at all, this sprinkling of border counties are allowed to declare themselves exempt Switzerland County, just west of Ohio County, is an odd conglomeration of clocks set any which way. People adjust their personal timing to the places where they study or work. The changes can wreak havoc on personal and professional lives.
Driving along the Ohio River in Indiana is an exercise in time travel, with sometimes disastrous results. Ohio County Deputy Clerk Kathryn Haines says people who get traffic tickets while passing through the fast time zone often get confused when they come back to face the charges. "Every day people come in and say, Well, I'm here for court' and court was an hour ago," she said. "They get another date and they have to come back again." When Mike and Dareen Seipel Fire: Mother now suspect in kids' deaths CONTINUED FROM PAGE Al the grand jury to decide if any char ges are warranted within four to six weeks after the case is presented, Thomas Miller, who represents Ms. Starr Cross in the arson investigation, said: "The Clermont County prosecutor's office has been reviewing this matter for four years He acknowledged that on any anniversary the fire would be revisited, and the children remembered and missed.
"We are sensitive to that," Mr. Miller said. "However, there is no new evidence nothing in civil trial that has been developed that is criminal. Sherri Starr had nothing to do with it other than trying to save her children. It was an accidental fire." Mr.
Miller said his investigation at the time by an out-of-town fire investigator who worked on the Bev erly Hills Supper Club fire in 1977 concluded the fire began in the living room of the trailer in a kerosene heater. Goshen Township Fire Chief Virgil Murphy, lead investigator in the arson investigation, still believes the fire was arson and that there is enough evidence to secure an indict ment. "I have heard some rumors," the chief said Friday. Justice is some times slow. But, I think it might get done.
The initial investigation suggested the fire started in the living room in a kerosene heater that could have been filled with gasoline. Lab tests and statements from neighbors have made Chief Murphy and state fire officials think otherwise. Janet Abaray, an attorney in the offices of Stanley M. Chesley, said she has filed the civil suit on behalf of the estate of the children. It is set for trial in February.
The action asks for an unspecified amount of damages from the mobile- home manufacturer Fairmont Homes of Indiana. The action con tains a separate claim on behalf of Ms. Starr Cross, the mother, Ms Abaray said. Ms. Abaray said the blackened trailer, which stood at 6664 Edenton-Pleasant Plain Road the night of the fire, is now being kept in storage as evidence.
A candlelight memorial vigil is planned at 5:15 p.m. Monday at the children's grave at Graceland Memorial Gardens, 5989 Deerfield Road, Miami Township, Clermont County. Survey: Police forces, budgets grow in '90s The Associated Press WASHINGTON The growth of police and sheriffs' departments accelerated during the mid-1990s to a total of 595,000 officers with arrest power by June 1997, the Justice Department reported Friday. In its most recent census, the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that local police departments grew an average of 3 percent a year between 1993 and June 1997, compared with 1 percent a year from 1987 through 1993. Sheriffs' departments grew an average of 4.4 percent annually between 1993 and June 1997, compared with 3.1 percent a year from 1987 through 993.
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