They are going to raze the schoolhouse where the girls were killed

[thewayne]

I think that's a good thing for the community.

Full story under cut.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061012/ap_on_re_us/amish_school_shooting

Amish school in Pa. to be razed Thursday

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 48 minutes ago

NICKEL MINES, Pa. - The Amish school where a gunman shot 10 girls last week, killing five of them, is expected to be demolished Thursday, a fire department official said.

"Tomorrow morning the school is going to be torn down," Mike Hart, a spokesman for the Bart Fire Company, said late Wednesday.

Private contractors are scheduled to start demolishing the school before dawn and will haul the debris to a landfill, a process expected to take about four hours, Hart said. "There will be no burning," he said.

The West Nickel Mines Amish School has been boarded up since Oct. 2, when gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV stormed the one-room schoolhouse, releasing 15 boys and four adults before tying up and shooting the 10 girls. Roberts, who had come armed with a shotgun, rifle, handgun and a stun gun, then killed himself.

The five wounded girls are all still believed to be hospitalized. The hospitals are no longer providing any information about the patients at the request of their families. One of the hospitals, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, announced this week it would waive the children's huge medical bills.

Hart had said previously that classes were expected to resume this week at a makeshift schoolhouse in a garage on an Amish farm in the Nickel Mines area.

Bill Kiger, executive director of Pennsylvania One Call System Inc., a Pittsburgh company that processes requests from excavators, builders and others for the location of underground utilities, said his records show the demolition will take place Friday. But Hart, who has been coordinating activities with the Amish community, still said the demolition was scheduled for Thursday.

"It's part of the closure of the whole situation," said Hart, whose fire company will help provide security. "It's going to be razed and topsoil brought in and green grass planted. It will be turned back into a green pasture."

Comments

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

http://www.wgal.com/news/10056668/detail.html - local article

one girl was released from Philly

one girl at Hershey was taken home to die by her parents, but then showed sings of improvement so they took her back to hershey.


(sorry. local and all..)

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

http://www.wgal.com/news/10043173/detail.html thought you might find this intereseting, too

[dreamsinvelvet.livejournal.com]

I am still so heart heavy from this tradgedy...

[silveradept]

I can see the idea of destroying it so as to bury the memories, but I don't know whether that'll help that much. The kids that survived still have to go to school at some point...

[thedragonweaver.livejournal.com]

From the few descriptions I've seen of the event, including the fact that two sisters (thirteen and twelve) volunteered to get shot first so as to give the others more of a chance, I'm not so worried. One thing we forget in modern life is that not-so-modern life is based around a strong sense of community, and the Amish believe in it so strongly that the heaviest form of punishment is shunning, the ignoring of a person by the community.

When you have your entire extended family within easy walking distance (even if you're not used to walking), I'd say that's what we moderns would call a strong support system.

Also relevant is that a community such as theirs has deep faith bonds. So now they've got not only family and friends but faith— three things that might be scanty elsewhere. And as they are stteped in the traditions of an earlier century, they still have the rituals of mourning; the funerals, yes, but before that, the viewings, and no doubt the gatherings before and after. Such rituals are an aid to grief (and fear.)

So my thought is first: that when one of the students gets scared in the night, that there is a mother or aunt or older sibling to comfort them. Second: the community around them understands and will be willing to talk— a function that "grief counselors" fulfill. Thirdly: if they have questions, they can ask their elders; the answer may be "God doesn't tell us everything" but that's still an answer. And fourthly: the rituals of grieving will lift that sense of confusion that many people have in the wake of a death, that sense of "what should I be doing now?" A ritual tells them exactly what to do.

So yeah, I'm less worried than I would be for a modern children. Though it is a horrible tragedy, they may well be better equipped to deal with it.

[thedragonweaver.livejournal.com]

"for modern children", no a.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree with you that perhaps the Amish are better equipped socially to cope with something like this. I think razing the school is a good idea, especially with the plan to re-sod grass into it. It will still definitely be a memory marker for the survivors and the families of the girls who did not survive, but I think it will be better than if the schoolhouse were still standing.

I am distubed by the spurts of increased similar violence. I wonder if it's a subconscious "I want more attention, so I've got to do it now" thing.

[silveradept]

It could be the copycat effect, but if it is, then this trend needs to be stopped.