Enemies List

Back in my elementary school days, it wasn't uncommon for a teacher to leave the kids in the classroom under the watchful eye of a class monitor selected from among the students, while the teacher went off down the hall somewhere to do something infinitely more important than supervising those under her charge. The class monitor was usually someone the teacher could trust, which meant a girl with high grades whom most everyone else disliked for her overbearing nature and the speed with which her hand always shot up to volunteer for the part of the snitch. If anyone talked or left his seat during the teacher's absence, it was the monitor's job to write the name of the offender on the blackboard, so that the teacher would have a list of those deserving of punishment when she returned smelling like cigarettes.

The punishment for ending up on the monitor's list usually wasn't very severe. It was the threat of punishment that tended to keep the kids in line. When a boy wanted to tell his neighbor something of great importance, like the fact that he could see the outline of Samantha Harris' training bra through her shirt, it wasn't the idea of being whacked on the palm with a ruler or having to write sentences that kept his mouth sealed. It was really fear of seeing his name on The List that maintained his good behavior.

The List wasn't just restricted to the blackboard, however. Some teachers kept their own lists while they were in the room. If a student whispered out of turn when he was supposed to be reading or doing classwork, the relative quiet might suddenly be shattered by the teacher's thunderous voice: "MAX! YOU'RE ABOUT TO FIND YOURSELF ON MY LIST!!!" Other times there was no warning; the miscreant would think his misbehavior had gone unobserved until just before recess, when suddenly the teacher would call out The List of names: "Joey, Billy, Alan, Bobby and Max, please come up here and see me! Everyone else line up in the hallway for recess!"

The kids quickly learned this listmaking behavior. In fact, they were taught to make lists for various exercises of spelling, science or social studies. "List your favorite things," a teacher might say.

"List your favorite foods."

"List different kinds of animals."

"How many kinds of tree can you list?"

"Make a list of leaders."

"List people you admire."

Of course, the kids quickly learned they could apply this method of categorization and organization of data to their own purposes. For example, discovering one's name on someone's Friends List could be the highlight of the day, unless of course it was the Friends List of one of the Snodgrass brothers, the smelly poor kids who didn't bathe. Then you could count on being tormented at recess for your association with the undesirable element. There were also sex lists, starting in more innocent years as the Pretty Girl List and progressing through the Girls I Like List, Girls I Would Date List and ultimately the Girls I'd Do List in junior high school. If there were positive lists, there also had to be negative ones. There were Ugly Girl Lists and People I Hate Lists.

Not every kid was making all these lists. My point is that The List wasn't uncommon, and it didn't originate in any unhealthy or sinister tendencies among students. Listmaking didn't identify anyone as a problem student or potential criminal, even when they were making Hate Lists. Putting someone's name in writing just created an illusion of some kind of power, like seeing one's name on the chalkboard. "You're on my list," was a vague threat that really didn't mean anything at all.

That brings me to the ultimate Hate List, the Enemies List. In my formative years, Enemies Lists really weren't considered any more sinister than any other kind of lists. It's a natural part of childhood development for a child to begin to categorize the things around him and divide them according to their relationship to him. Having an Enemies List didn't mean a student really intended to do anyone any harm. It was simply another way to process and understand relationships that weren't always positive. I mean, if someone called you names, tried to get you in trouble or punched you in the gut on the playground, why shouldn't you consider him an enemy?

But after a string of high profile school shootings around the country, and especially after the incident at Columbine, bewildered educators and law enforcement officials began looking for the Sure Fire Warning Signs that would positively identify a young mass murderer before he ever took action. Throughout the country, parents who unrealistically expected their kids to be 100% safe at school began to support "Zero Tolerance" policies on this kind of expression. In some places, a kid can actually get arrested for what he's thinking, without ever having actually done anything to anyone. Just the act of categorizing someone as an enemy is enough to get a student expelled from school, despite the fact that the students learn the behavior from their teachers in their early years. Even our own government makes regular use of their own Enemies List of regular citizens they think might be hostile, in order to keep our airports and airlines safe; but if Bobby Teenager does it, he MUST be planning some kind of terrorist attack on his school.

Last week we got a flashy press release from the Chief of Police of a nearby town, which I'll call T-ville for simplicity's sake. T-ville is the county seat, and Chief Axelrod is the same chief mentioned earlier who ran against Sheriff Jones for his county's top cop position and is now rumored to be in the running for a chief position in a much larger city. The heading of the release read, "Terror Plot Avoided at T-ville High School." Then, in smaller letters underneath: "Zero Tolerance Policy Nets Multiple Weapons, 200 Rounds of Ammunition." It was full of Homeland Security buzzwords meant to catch the easily impressed eyes of assignment editors and producers.

Wow! High school terrorists in our own back yard! This has the makings of Story of the Year!

T-ville High is a pretty big school, enrolling 1500 students in grades eight through twelve. Thus, it includes part of the age group usually associated with junior high, with seventh graders graduating directly from middle school to high school. The school itself is a county school, and most of its students live outside the city limits, spread out in rural areas of the county. Since the school is inside the city limits, however, its School Resource Officer (SRO) is a T-ville city cop.

This rural county still maintains many of its old traditions. One of those traditions is for many of the boys to learn to fire their fathers' hunting rifles during their preteen years and accompany their fathers on hunting trips by the time they become teenagers. By their mid teens, it isn't unusual for these boys to go on hunting, fishing and camping trips with their peers and their older brothers, without adult supervision. High schoolers occasionally even go hunting after school for a few hours, and up until Columbine many of them would keep their rifles in their cars to be able to head straight out to the woods together when the bell rang without having to waste time regrouping somewhere else.

The Zero Tolerance Policy on School Violence took care of that; now no weapons of any sort are allowed on school grounds. That's certainly a positive development, but occasionally a kid will forget to take his rifle out of his truck after a weekend of shooting. If he's caught with it, he'll usually face a stern threat from the SRO and a few days suspension to think about it. Usually that's all. The Zero Tolerance Policy also makes it a crime to make "threats against the school, its teachers or other students," even if there's little evidence any such threat will be carried out. What actually constitutes a "threat" is vague.

Nobody has ever been arrested under the Zero Tolerance Policy. Until now.

Mark was still working as my nightside reporter the day this story broke. We were actually working on another story but were reassigned in a flurry of excitement and panic when Chief Axelrod's press release came in during one of the early evening shows. There was no press conference scheduled according to the release, but the Chief would be available most of the evening for interviews and to show us the evidence seized from the young terrorist's home.

We got out there at the same time another station had arrived, so we ended up sharing an interview. Chief Axelrod greeted us with a big smile and handshakes all around, then led us into a rather small room arranged like a classroom. "We can do the interview in here with the evidence, if that's okay with you folks," he said.

There was a large table in the front of the room, on which were displayed a single bolt-action hunting rifle, a small assortment of knives including utility knives for skinning game, a small box of shells for the rifle and a scattering of loose ammunition, most of which were shotgun shells. There was also some cold weather hunting gear, including a mask that would cover most of the hunter's face.

This scene almost immediately irritated me. While it wasn't exactly inaccurate, the press release's promise of "weapons" and "200 rounds of ammunition" brought to mind something much more impressive. I was expecting several guns and lots of bullets, not some kid's regular hunting gear. I began to smell something ugly going on there.

We set up for an interview, Chief Axelrod standing behind the table with his trophies before him. Even though this wasn't supposed to be a press conference, the chief obviously had his remarks prepared and started right into a statement.

"Earlier today Officer Jacobs, my SRO at T-ville High School, was alerted by a teacher to the existence of certain documents indicating that a fourteen year old white male was allegedly planning an attack on other students at the school. Officer Jacobs detained this young man and examined the documents in question. At that time he determined that a threat existed and took the young man into custody. He was removed from the school for the safety of the other students and is currently being held here in our jail pending arraignment.

"Subsequent investigation uncovered the weapons you see here, including two hundred rounds of ammunition. That's enough ammunition to kill or injure this young man's entire class.

"We also seized the young man's computer and discovered an extensive collection of pornographic materials. Our investigators are still sifting through that material to determine if any of it is child pornography or illegal.

"I'm saddened and disgusted by what has happened here today, but I have to commend Officer Jacobs for his quick action to seize control of the situation and remove this threat from our school. I can't release the young man's name to you, since he's a minor, but we have booked him into the jail on charges of making terrorist threats under our Zero Tolerance Policy on School Violence. I'd be happy to take any questions now."

The other station's reporter went first. "You said Officer Jacobs received some documents. What kind of documents were they?"

"This young man had compiled a list of people he intended to do harm," the chief said. "Another student found it and gave it to a teacher, and she passed it on to Officer Jacobs."

"What kind of list was this? Was it just students, or teachers?" the reporter asked.

"It was students," he said. "It had ten or eleven student names on it and said 'Enemies List' at the top. It was in the young man's handwriting, and he admitted writing it."

"Do you have any details on the plot?" asked the reporter. "What was he planning to do?"

"At this time, we have no further information on that, but we're questioning him further to get more details and we'll let you know as we find out more."

I was getting itchy, and Mark was just standing there with his lower lip jutting out, asking no questions at all. There were huge obvious questions that I really wanted to hear answered. I ask questions on my own sometimes when I'm working by myself, but I usually don't speak up when I'm with a reporter, so I kept quiet.

The other reporter continued. "Tell us more about the weapons you seized."

"The rifle is a Remington 223. You may remember that this is the same kind of rifle used in the DC sniper case. There's also two hundred rounds of ammunition and a number of knives. We also discovered camouflaged combat gear, as you can see here."

By this time I was grinding my teeth. The DC snipers did NOT use a Remington, but he was trying to associate this kid with them. I don't know that much about guns myself, but I specifically remembered that they used a Bushmaster. There were also not 200 rounds of .223 ammunition. At least half the pile was shotgun shells, which fit a gun the cops didn't even seize.

"That's all I have," the reporter said, looking at Mark. "You have anything?"

Mark just shrugged his shoulders to indicate he had no questions.

WHAT THE FUCK? I couldn't contain it any longer.

"I have a question," I said. I may have been overstepping my bounds, but something needed to be done.

"Sure, shoot," said the chief.

"You said that's a 223 rifle?" I asked. I was nervous, and I think my voice probably shook a little. Usually the interviews I do by myself are simple little conversations that don't involve challenging the interviewee at all, especially a police chief.

"Yep, it's a Remington 223," he said.

"It looks like there are a bunch of shotgun shells mixed in there. Did you seize a shotgun also?"

"No, those are rounds for another gun," he said.

"Did this kid have a shotgun?"

"No," he said. "They were for his brother's shotgun, but his brother doesn't live there in the house."

"In the kid's house?" I asked.

"Yes, all these weapons were seized on a search warrant for the young man's room."

"Was any of this stuff seized at the school?"

"No, he was keeping it all at his house."

"Did he take any of this stuff to school with him?"

"No, like I said, it was all in his room. Anything else?" The chief was starting to get irritated, and I was starting to lose my nerve. Luckily Mark caught on and saved me.

"So..." he started slowly. "What indication do you have that this boy intended to use these weapons at school?"

"We're still investigating that," the chief said. He glanced over at me menacingly after he said it. I buried my eye in the eyepiece and tried to hide inside the camera.

"Let's go back to this list," Mark said. He was on the scent now. "You said it's an 'Enemies List.' What exactly is that?"

"It's a list of names of people this young man intended to do harm," he said.

"I'm sorry," Mark said. "I know you've been over this already, but sometimes I have to hear something a couple of times before it registers." That, coupled with the fact that Mark looks a lot dumber than he really is, disarmed the cop a little. "I hope you'll bear with me a little bit."

"That's okay," the cop said.

"So, this list... Did it say anything else on it besides 'Enemies List'?"

"It just had the names of the victims."

"Victims?" Mark asked. "Did he actually attack any of them?"

The cop revised his position. "No, I should say 'potential victims'."

"What indication did you have that this kid was going to do something to these people?"

"Well, the list itself is enough," the chief said. "Under our Zero Tolerance policy on school violence, threats like this are considered sufficient to establish that a threat exists to the safety of the school."

"So there wasn't actually a threat to the students?" Mark was on it now.

"Well, sure there was!" the cop defended. "Some kid makes a list of people and calls it an 'Enemies List', that's threat enough!" He was off balance. Mark can sneak up on you like that if you assume he's stupid.

"About this camouflage," Mark shifted the subject. "You called that combat gear earlier, but isn't that more like hunting camo? The jacket even has the orange strip on it."

"It could be used for hunting," the cop said.

"So it's not really military gear?"

"Uh, no, but you could use it that way."

"To camouflage yourself in a school?" Mark asked. I almost laughed out loud at that.

"To... As... As part of the whole intimidation factor," the cop stammered.

"I guess that's all I have," Mark said.

"I have another question," I jumped in. The cop just nodded at me. "You said you were searching his computer for child pornography. Do you have any reason to believe that he's involved in child pornography in some way?"

"No, we have no reason to believe he's involved in it, but it's pretty much standard procedure to look for it. We, uh, we actually didn't seize the computer to look for pornography. That's not what the warrant was for. We were looking for emails or plans relating to an attack on the school."

"Did you find any?" Mark jumped in.

"Not at this time," he said. "But we have some specialists working on the computer to recover any files he may have deleted."

"So how much porno did you actually find?" I asked.

"There was quite a bit of it in his cache," the cop said.

"So it wasn't actually saved on his computer?"

"No, it was saved in the cache."

Holy shit this guy is full of crap, I thought. At this point I was really angry for this kid. The evidence against him consisted of an Enemies List with no other specific threats, his hunting gear and porno on his computer. Take away the Enemies List, and the other two items are perfectly normal for a rural fourteen year old. I would actually be a little concerned if he weren't looking at porn. Perhaps by his age he should have outgrown the interest in making an Enemies List, but not everybody grows up at the same rate. It certainly wasn't evidence that he intended to shoot these other kids, despite the school's Zero Tolerance Policy.

About this time I think the cop began to realize this whole thing wasn't turning into the public relations triumph for which he was hoping. Suddenly his attitude changed, and he tried to get out of the predicament by playing the good cop hamstrung by unreasonably harsh laws.

"Look," he said. "I have to enforce the laws we have. The law says we have Zero Tolerance for school violence, and that includes threats or potential threats to other students. This law is important for keeping our kids safe. What we don't want is to ignore the warning signs and end up with another Columbine. Hopefully now we can get this young man the help he needs. I think that's about all."

And thus concluded our interview. What a weasel.

The kid spent the night in jail, but the next day his parents, the school and the prosecutor worked out a deal to keep him out of court. The prosecutor apparently thought the whole thing was bullshit also. He mentioned to another of our reporters that he thought this was nothing but a publicity stunt for the chief to get his face on television. Then again, the prosecutor is a good friend of Sheriff Jones, so one might be wise to take what he says about Jones' political enemy with a grain of salt.

Things didn't go so well with the school. The kid was asked not to return. He now has to attend another school in the county, which will force his parents to drive him 30 minutes to school each morning.

I have to give Mark kudos on his handling of the story that night. While the other station used the inflammatory rhetoric from the press release and from the beginning of Chief Axelrod's interview to perpetuate a story that didn't exist, Mark said, "I don't want to do this story, but Wendy's gonna make me." He then put together a fair picture of what happened, focusing on the actual offense and highlighting Axelrod's good cop act at the end, letting it seem as though the chief's hands were tied even though the kid really did little wrong. My instinct would have been to make the chief look like the idiot he is; but I'm sure Chief Axelrod was watching, and Mark's story allowed him to save face so that we can maintain a professional and cooperative relationship with his department.

As for me, I suspect that I'm now on Chief Axelrod's Enemies List.