wfn.org | United Methodists speak out about high school shooting

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

May 24, 1999 News media contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71B{287}

By Kelly Holton*

CONYERS, Ga. (UMNS) - The shooting at Heritage High School "wiped out"  some
of the students' innocence, and the church must help them renew their faith
in others, a United Methodist official says.

A 15-year-old boy randomly fired shots at other students gathered in a
common area of the high school at 8:03 a.m. on May 20. It was the last day
of school for Heritage seniors and exactly one month after the deadly
shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

"What happened at that school at 8:03 wiped out some of their innocence,"
said the Rev. Jonathan Holston, superintendent of the Atlanta-Decatur-Oxford
District. "The church has a role in reestablishing their faith in humankind
and in each other." 

Six students were injured in the incident, including Drake Hoy, 18, a member
of Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Conyers. Hoy was treated at Rockdale
County Hospital for a gunshot wound to the foot and released the day of the
shooting. 

"He's doing fine physically," said Barry Snyder, minister with students at
Ebenezer. "His spirits have been very high."

None of the students received life-threatening injuries. Five were treated
at Rockdale Hospital, and three were kept overnight. One student was
transported to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where she underwent
surgery for abdominal injuries caused by a bullet.

Dwayne Wiggins, a counselor at Heritage and a member of Brightstar United
Methodist Church  in Douglasville, said he heard bangs and went into the
commons area. There, "everybody was just running in different directions,"
he said. He saw the suspect, who is now in police custody, run down the
hall, waving a gun and crying. 

Outside the school, Cecil T. Brinkley, an assistant principal, convinced the
suspect to relinquish his weapons. Then "the student just grabbed a hold of
me and started crying," Wiggins said.

Mary Lynn Luke, Heritage's chorus teacher and the choir director at
Crossroads United Methodist Church in Conyers, was in the teachers' lounge
copying a test when she heard what she thought were firecrackers. She and
the others in the room assumed at first the sounds were part of a
senior-class prank, but when Luke opened the door, she saw students running.
She hid her six-week-old baby in the teachers' restroom, locked the door,
and went back into the office suite. She said within minutes the situation
was under control, and teachers were being asked to first report to their
homerooms and then escort students to the football field. Heritage High
School has about 1,300 students.

"I felt so great about the response of our students and our staff," Luke
said. "I felt the calmness and the level-headedness of everybody."

Classes at Heritage were canceled May 21, and several area churches opened
their doors to students, parents and teachers as a place to gather, pray and
discuss their feelings. The school held meetings with counselors and clergy
people, then with teachers, students and parents to find ways of coping with
the incident and preventing further violence. 

The Rev. Derrick Rhodes, associate director for the North Georgia Conference
Council on Ministries, attended the meetings, along with about 10 other
pastors from the conference.

"We want the students and teachers to know there will always be someone
there to listen," Rhodes said. Once Heritage's long-term needs have been
assessed, he said, the church will work with the school system to deal with
the consequences of (the shooting) incident and to prevent future episodes
of violence.

The Rev. David Hancock, senior pastor at Ebenezer, said the school board
asked him to provide a place for people to be together. Snyder spent much of
the day with members of the youth group, who he says are concerned about
Hoy's injuries and emotional well-being and about the student accused of the
shooting, who was a member of the Boy Scout Troop sponsored by the church.

"There are a lot of reality questions for them to answer," Snyder said. He
expects to be dealing with these questions for some time to come. "They're
experiencing now the evil that is out in the world ... and having to cope
with that in their faith walk."

The Rev. Martha Wright, Ebenezer's minister of pastoral care, said the
church must teach students that taking a hands-off approach to other
people's problems is not helpful, respectful or healthy. "We need to care
for each other," she said,  "so that if somebody's giving off some kind of
signs you can get help."

The school system had invited church staff to be present in the school in
the weeks to come to help students cope with their fears, Snyder said.

Ebenezer church held a service of comfort May 23 to begin the healing
process. The service was originally planned as a way to express grief over
the tornado damage in the Midwest, the school shooting in Littleton and the
conflict in Kosovo. The focus of the service shifted to the shooting in
Conyers, and the church invited other area congregations to participate.
Afterward, the youth gathered for a time of reflecting, asking questions and
sharing fellowship.

Heritage High School was to reopen May 24 with extra security measures. At
the time of the shooting, Heritage shared an on-site security officer with
nearby Edwards Middle School. Next year, a sheriff's deputy or city police
officer will be placed in every middle and high school. 

# # #

*Holton is the associate editor of the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, the
newspaper of the North and South Georgia annual conferences.

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