Keloland and several other media outlets have reported a pretty much nationwide copycat movement going on as well. A Rapid City teen was arrested yesterday for making a false report of a man with a gun near Central High School. It turned out to be untrue, just like many of the incidents reported after the campus killings at Virginia Tech. Since the shootings Monday, schools all over the U.S. have been dealing with threats, some even referencing the massacre at Virginia Tech. Notes threatening more shootings were found in high schools in Louisiana and Montana, and another was found on a college campus in Texas. Graffiti in a university restroom in Washington state promised a scene similar to the Virginia killings. A telephone bomb threat was reported in Tennessee, as was a threatening e-mail at an Arizona college. Authorities say some of these could have turned into dangerous situations, while others were simply hoaxes. Experts have said that all of these threats, real or perceived, have a lot to do with TV news coverage of the event, especially if it's viewed by someone looking for attention. Some other incidents were reported, but they were the result of people being extra-cautious. In Fargo, 7 NDSU buildings were evacuated after an abandoned duffel bag was found on campus. A man carrying a "suspicious object" was stopped by police at the University of Oklahoma. As it turned out, it was an umbrella. A college prep school in Michigan was on lock down after officials reported seeing a man dressed as a woman hanging around a school drop-off area. A person that was never found. Media coverage of this event has died down a little and we're back to the real hard news issues of the day, like Anna Nicole Smith's baby and her new Daddy.

Holabird Advocate