The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 22

fill Wednday, April 28 1999 THE TENNESSEAW 3 LOCAL NEWS VM-J Students begin effort to make school friendly 'I will' pledge As a part of the Hillsboro Community, I I will pledge to be a part of the solution. I will eliminate taunting from my own behavior. I will encourage others to do the same. I will do my part to make Hillsboro High School a safe place by being more sensitive to others. I will set the example of a caring individual.

I will eliminate profanity towards others from my language. I will not let my words or actions hurt others and if others won't become part of the solution I WILL. By PAUL DONSKY Staff Writer The tragic shooting last week in a Denver-area high school has led to several new efforts in Metro schools to prevent school violence. Metro Schools Director Bill Wise told the Metro school board last night he plans to meet with student leaders next week to search for ways to improve school safety. Meanwhile, students at Hillsboro High School in Green Hills have begun a drive to get their peers to sign cards pledging to make their school a safe, tolerant place, where there is no taunting or bullying.

"I will pledge to be part of the solution. I will eliminate taunting from my own behavior," the pledge begins. Since the effort began on Monday, more than 600 students have signed the pledge. The drive, known as the "I Will" pledge, has gone nationwide. Hillsboro teachers have faxed the pledge to colleagues in Sacramento, and a high school near Columbine High School, the site of last week's shooting.

"It's a problem with the students, and the students are doing something about it," said Sucharita Bhat-tacharyya, a junior at Hillsboro. "It's the students who are taking a stand for their own well-being. It's really important for the students to take a stand rather than have rules and guidance imposed on them by other people." The massacre in Littleton, Colo, has been felt by students across the district Things have been tense at times, especially in area high schools. I A student wearing a trench coat, similar to those worn by the shooters in Colorado, caused a stir but no trouble last week at Hillsboro. About 200 students at Stratford High School walked out of school Friday when word spread of a bomb threat, a scare that turned out to be false.

And yesterday, McGavock High School was briefly evacuated after a bomb threat was called in to the school. The "I Will" pledge was a brainstorm of junior Rebecca Hunter, who said the idea grew out of a discussion about the shooting held pening in, and if they dont take control over it, the government or school board or someone else will. "This is a reflection of a bunch of teen-agers' commitment to make their world better." Wise said students hold the key to preventing violence at school. He said he hoped to generate some concrete strategies out of next week's student meeting. "I'm looking at students taking some responsibility for their own community, which is their school," he said.

"I want strategies coming out of (the meeting). I want (students) to help us decide how we can make the schools as safe as we can. But I feel they have a role to play, and I feel we need to listen." Hillsboro student Rachel Bloome-katz said Wise's idea to meet with students was right on the mark. It's "a great way to learn about how we can make a more safe environment, because students have a more different view about how to make a safe school than adults do," she said. Her solution: "Have more people for teens to talk to at school more guidance counselors that just dont deal with schedules." In other news, the school board, as expected, freed Nashville public television station WDCN-Channel 8 from board control.

The station will now be managed by a nonprofit board, which says it plans to increase the amount of local arts and community programming. The move will eventually save the board more than $2 million a year. The board also voted against a suggestion from member Murray Philip that the old Madison High School be renovated to become a new middle school. Philip argued the move could save several million dollars because a new Brick Church Middle School would not be needed. The board decided to put off a vote on whether to end its racial transfer policy that allows students in the majority race at their school to transfer to a school where they'd be in the minority.

The Metro Law Department has advised the board to drop the policy, saying policies based solely on race are likely an unconstitutional form of discrimination. in her American studies class. Much of the talk centered on the student gunmen, who were said to be picked on by their classmates and made to be outcasts. Students sign pledges all the time, Hunter said: to not drink during prom, to abstain from sex or not take drugs. So why not have a pledge to be nice? "I thought that if you had something where you would stay awaV from being mean, you would help people feel more welcome and become less of an outcast," she said.

"It doesnt take much to stop yourself from being mean to someone. You dont know how it will affect them. You dont know what kind of a day they are having. If we can just, get in the habit of being nice to each other." Some students have made fun of the pledge drive, Hunter acknowledged, but many are taking the issue seriously. The goal is to get 1,000 students signed up in by the end of the week.

American studies teacher Mary Catherine Bradshaw said she was impressed with the effort. "It's little, but I think it's little things that will make a big difference in the long run," she said. "Teen-agers in particular are realizing this is their world this is hap Davidson County property transfers Residential and commercial sales over $50,000, March 5,1 999 Location Buyer Seller Price 37013 Antioch 425 Edencrest Court Howard Charquet Smith Beazer Homes Corp. DBA Phillips Builders $175,625. 2409 EvanfiekJ Court Isabel G.

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LLC. a member of the LaBrar Financial ,1 i fas3-: t. si 1 vf. y-t r. Sf5 SI I if i in ii in ---7? Bullet to head doesn't keep him from job By BETH WARREN Staff Writer There's a reason the 18-year-old's friends call him "Ox." A sign of Nathan Yates' toughness is that he returned to work at the Madam adult book store yesterday after he was shot in the head and after his car was stolen and wrecked by the suspected shooter, "My nickname is Ox, and I live by it," Yates said after returning to work with nearly 30 stitches in the back of his head.

"The doctor said it was execution-style. If he would have aimed a centimeter to the left, I would not be talking to you. "The bullet bounced off my skull." Yates, a store clerk, had been preparing to open up the 12th Avenue South store about 8:30 a.m. when he spotted what he thought was a customer at the door, smiling at him. He decided to unlock the doors early and let the man inside.

"He wanted to know if he could go in a peep show with a girl," Yates said. "But only one person is allowed 1 in a peep show. "He talked for a minute, then pulled a gun." When asked what kind of gun, Yates said: "the kind that hurts," then added that it looked like a silver revolver. The man demanded money and the keys to Yates' red Oldsmobile, but Yates apparently didnt comply I fast enough, he said. So, the suspect pointed the gun at the back of Yates' head, about 4 or 5 inches away, and i fired.

"I fell to the ground to play dead," Yates said. "I 'didnt want him to keep shooting. "He yelled at me to give him the money. I pointed it out to him. He grabbed it and left 'c "He said: 'If there's no money in this box, I'm going come back and kill The suspect sped from the scene, but soon crashed Yates' car at Seventh Avenue South and Drexel Street, Metro Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said.

A police helicopter circled above, and officers Boy charged after gunpowder burned NINA LONG STAFF Willie Merrill of the Metro Police Department dusts for fingerprints at the adult book store where an employee was shot during a robbery. searched an area near railroad tracks for about an hour but didnt find the shooter. The suspect is described as a black man with a bushy Afro, about 5 foot 10 inches tall, who was wearing a plaid jacket and dark pants. Police still looking for victims' families By BETH WARREN Staff Writer The teen-ager said his intentions were good. Police werent so sure.

After a Metro police officer happened upon a high school freshman who ignited black powder while waiting for a school bus yesterday, police went to search Antioch High School for possible bombs, temporarily evacuating some students and teachers. "At this point in time, we do not believe he was part of any scheme to set off a bomb in the high school," Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said. "By the young man's admission, he had made pipe bombs in the past," Aaron said. "Apparently, today he indicated he had decided to 'right his life and destroy the pow der." The 15-year-old apparently told others that he had brought a pipe bomb to school Monday because he was tired of people bothering him, officials said. He said, however, that he decided not to do anything with it and threw it away.

He was arrested yesterday after Officer David Justice "noticed a flash out of the corner of his eye" while driving down Antioch Pike about 6:30 a.m., police said. The school resource officer, on his way to work at Glencliff High School, stopped and searched the teen who was standing alone by the side of the road while waiting for the bus. Police found more gunpowder inside the teen's book bag, Aaron said. The student, whose name was withheld by police because he is a juvenile, was arrested on a charge of possession of explosive components and was taken to Metro's Juvenile Detention Center. "The district attorney's office has always and will always take threats to the safety of Metro schools very seriously and will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law," juvenile court prosecutor Jim Todd said.

At another Metro school yesterday, a 16-year-old male student made threats to a classmate at the Nashville School of the Arts that he was going to "repeat Colorado," officials said. The classmate took the talk seriously and reported it to school officials, leading to the arrest of the 16-year-old, who remained in a Juvenile Detention Center cell last night MK. Hunt, who told Metro police he beat the men to death on separate occasions in 1996. There are no state or federal records for Skeens or Rog- to be when the investigation is complete, police said. Investigators have not been able to find dental charts for either victim, which would helD make a Metro police were still searching yesterday for the next of kin of two homeless men whose skeletal remains were uncovered last week after a murder suspect directed police to the bodies.

A map by Brian Alpress Hunt, 49, mho was arrested and charged with imurder in Fort Myers, on jApril 17, led detectives to the bodies. The remains of Thomas Edward JiSkeens, 50, and Johnny Cecil were found next to railroad Jracks near the fairgrounds and in he Hermitage Avenue area last Jweek. names were provided by ers after 1996. Hunt is being bond in Florida, SKEENS held without charged with fatally stabbing and beating a 44-year-old man from ROGERS positive identifi cation. Police asked anyone knowing Skeens or Rogers well enough to provide information on next of kin to contact detective David Miller at 862-7552.

Bonita Springs, Fla, police said. Hunt has not been charged in the Nashville slayings, but is expected.