Tragedy in Amish Country

These Photos are the last letter wrote to his wife and his list of objects.


Below is a rough timeline that police have been able to piece together of events leading up to the attack, after interviewing Charles Roberts' wife. Details of the girls' injuries are spotty, since the families asked the hospitals not to report on their medical conditions and the hospitals agreed to respect their privacy.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday, Oct. 2, 2006

3 a.m. — Roberts is home from work after finishing his milk run, picking up milk between Amish farms.

7:30 a.m.- 7:45 a.m. — Roberts and his wife, Marie, are up with their children getting them ready for school.

8:45 a.m. — Roberts walks his children to the bus stop.

9 a.m. — Marie Roberts leaves the house before her husband. She heads to a prayer group at the Presbyterian Church, picking up a friend along the way. Charles Roberts was to leave for a random drug test as required by his employer for his license to drive a truck in Pennsylvania.

9:15 a.m. — Marie arrives at the Presbyterian Church.

10:30 a.m . — Marie leaves the church with her friend.

10:45 a.m. — Marie drops off her friend.

10:45 a.m. - 10:50 a.m. — Roberts' wife tries to call him from their home phone. He has taken her cell phone.

10:48 a.m. — The Lancaster County emergency communications web site shows 20 incident calls listed to the normally quiet Bart Township.

10:50 a.m. — Charles Roberts calls his wife and will not tell her where he is but says he is not coming home and that the police have arrived. He then tells his wife the location of his suicide notes. She finds some of the suicide notes and calls her mother and 911.

The Aftermath

Seven girls are airlifted and one is transported via ground ambulance to various hospitals.

Marian Fisher, 13 is deceased at the scene; however, she is transported by ground ambulance to Lancaster General Hospital, where she is officially pronounced dead. She reportedly requested that Charles Roberts shoot her and let the other ones go. Barbie, her 11-year-old sister, s aid, "And shoot me second."

Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12 is pronounced deceased at the scene.

Naomi Rose Ebersol, 7 is carried outside by Pennsylvania State Troopers. She dies outside the school, shortly after they arrive .

Barbie Fisher, 11 is sent to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The extent of her injuries is unknown at the time.

Rachel Ann Stoltzfus, 8, sustains a shattered jaw and wounds in her shoulder and side.

Esther King, 13, sustains injuries, the extent of which are unknown.

Sarah Ann Stoltzfus, 8, is sent to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The extent of her injuries are also unknown.

tlc.discovery.com/convergence/amish/timeline/timeline.html

Alison

Morning the Amish Tragedy.

Milk Truck-Driver Executed Children in Pennsylvania Amish Schoolhouse


Charles Carl Roberts IV, a 32-year-old milk-truck driver carrying three guns and a childhood grudge, stormed into a one-room Amish schoolhouse on Monday, sent the boys and adults outside, barricaded the doors with two-by-fours and then opened fire on a dozen girls. Roberts killed some of the girls and critically injured others, before turning a gun upon himself and committing suicide. The latest reports state that six of the girls have died and the death toll might rise. Most of the children were shot execution-style at point-blank range after being lined up along the chalkboard inside the schoolhouse, their feet bound with wire and plastic ties. The shooting occurred around 10:45 a.m. on Monday in Nickel Mines, which is located in the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country.

On the evening of the shooting, Amish neighbors from the Nickel Mines community gathered to talk about their feelings of grief with each other and mental health counselors. According to reports by counselors who attended the grief session, the Amish family members grappled with a number of questions: Do we send our kids to school tomorrow? What if they want to sleep in our beds tonight, is that okay? But one question they asked might surprise outsiders. What, they wondered, can we do to help the family of the shooter? Plans were already underway for a horse-and-buggy caravan to visit Charles Carl Roberts’ family with offers of food and condolences. The Amish don’t automatically translate their grieving into revenge. Rather, they believe in redemption.

The Funeral Services

Funeral services for many of the children are being held on Thursday. In the aftermath of Monday’s violence, the Amish are looking inward, relying on themselves and their faith, just as they have for centuries. They hold themselves apart from the modern world, and have as little to do with civil authorities as possible. Amish mourners have been going from home to home for two days to attend viewings for the five victims, all little girls laid out in white dresses made by their families. Such viewings occur almost immediately after the bodies arrive at the parents’ homes.

Typically, they are so crowded, ”if you start crying, you’ve got to figure out whose shoulder to cry on,” said a Mennonite midwife who delivered two of the five girls slain in the attack. At some Amish viewings, upwards of 1,000 to 1,500 people might visit a family’s home to pay respects. Such visits are important, given the lack of e-mail and phone communication.

Update: In Thursday’s Amish funeral ceremonies, made even more touching and heartbreaking by centuries-old simplicity, four of the little girls were buried as the Amish of Pennsylvania turned the other cheek. With television and newspaper cameras kept at a distance, and police helicopters enforcing a no-fly zone overhead, one of the few non-Amish guests invited to the funeral of seven-year-old Naomi Rose Ebersole, the first little girl to be buried, was Marie Roberts, the killer’s wife.

With tears in her eyes, Mrs. Roberts sat in the back of one of the 34 black horse-drawn carriages that were part of the funeral cortege behind Naomi’s horse-drawn hearse. On the way from the church to the hilltop cemetary, the procession passed Mrs Roberts’ home where her husband, Charles, loaded up his guns before heading for the little village school on Monday.

On Saturday, Amish mourners joined family and friends for the funeral of the Pennsylvania truck driver who killed five Amish girls before taking his own life. Charles Carl Roberts IV was laid to rest in the graveyard of the Georgetown United Methodist Church, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The cemetery is not far from the school where the shootings took place and the Amish graveyard where his victims are buried. The Amish who came to the burial gave condolences to Roberts’ wife and three children.

Also on Saturday, local Amish leaders met to discuss the future of the West Nickel Mines School. Mike Hart, one of two non-Amish members of a board set up to handle donations following the killings, said the plan is to build a new school in a different location.

As part of their traditional manner during times of crisis, the deeply-religious villagers of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, turned inwards for support yesterday with prayers before, during and after each of the three ceremonies. As a Quaker, I have an empathic sense for the devout, private and quiet commitment to passivism and peace shared by members of The Old Order Amish. My kindest thoughts are with the Amish people as they embark upon the mutually reciprocal journey of healing themselves.

Here is the link from where I got this infomation from.

disembedded.wordpress.com

Alison

Amish Forgiveness is Christ Like

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qjJt3wKXdRc

This is another News footage from the last one i posted about Amish Forgiveness is christ like.

Alison

Amish Forgiveness

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=drLx40tKZpg

Here is another link to another bit of footage about Amish Forgiveness.

Alison

Amish School Shooting Photo Essay

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WgJ5uLRfMmk

This is an idea of what I could do to edit for footage.

Alison

Amish Tragedy

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tkNeRzCnne4

Here is some interesting footage, it wasnt what I thought but yet again its more Amish.

Alison

Amish Interviews

Interview news footage Link to some Amish having an Interview.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hoCWIQCw6eM"

Alison

Explaining the Amish Way of Life

Here is a link Explaing the Amish Way of Life, again the footage will not load up.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PAgSCTdnrhk

Alison

The Ordnung

The list of rules Amish members must follow is called the 'Ordnung':

* They may not own or operate any sort of motor vehicle

* Airplane travel is forbidden

* · Horse and buggy transportation is used

* · There is a dress code that must be followed

* · Boys and men wear hats outside of the house, suspenders and distinctive pants and shirts usually home made by a woman of the family.

* · Men grow a beard and keep their upper lip shaven once they are married

* · Girls and women must keep their head covered with bonnet or prayer cap, dress and apron rules vary from community to community

* · Reject the use of electricity from the public grid in the country

* · Amish must marry other Amish

* · The rules of Meidung or shunning must be followed

* · The Amish do not pay into or collect social security or any other kind of insurance

* · The Amish children only need to attend school through the 8th grade. Once they have completed school they boys will begin working either for their father or their father will help them line a job up to start making money for the family. The girls will begin to stay at home and help out more with laundry, dishes, house cleaning etc.

* · An Amish child may not keep his/her own money until they are married or until they turn 21. The parents limit any spending money that the children might have and all of the money they earn is to go towards the family to help out financially.

http://www.parker.org/DivisionIII/Class%20Pages/Senior%20Project/Tim%20Roper/Rules.htm

Transcript

Transcript of Charles Carl Roberts' 911 Call
The following is a series of 911 transcripts from the morning of the Amish school shooting. The callers identified in this 911 transcript are Amos Smoker, who first reported the incident at the schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa, gunman Charles Carl Roberts; and Roberts' wife, Marie.
10:35:29
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911, do you need police, fire or ambulance?
Mr. Smoker: Yes, this is Amos Smoker.
911 Dispatcher: OK.
Mr. Smoker: There's a, there's a guy in the school with a gun.
911 Dispatcher: OK, what, what, what school, where at?
Mr. Smoker: White Oak Road.
911 Dispatcher: What city, township or borough is that in?
Mr. Smoker: How's that?
911 Dispatcher: What city, township or borough is that in?
Mr. Smoker: Bart Township.
911 Dispatcher: OK, stay on the line, it's state police.
Mr. Smoker: OK.
(Call being transferred to State Police)
State Police PCO: State Police Dispatch Center.
Mr. Smoker: Yes, this is Amos Smoker. (Line goes dead)
---
10:41:35
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911.
Caller: Did someone call in for police at a school?
911 Dispatcher: What school, what school was it?
Caller: West Nickel Mines School.
911 Dispatcher: Nickel Mines School, somebody with a gun?
Caller: Yes.
911 Dispatcher: Hold on one second, did you call before? We transferred to State Police.
Caller: OK, someone's coming out.
911 Dispatcher: Well, I don't know, I'm going to transfer you, OK, I don't dispatch them here, hold on, does anybody need an ambulance do you know?
Caller: I don't know.
911 Dispatcher: OK, hold on, is he in the school?
Caller: I don't know nothing, I don't know.
911 Dispatcher: Alright, hold on.
(Call being transferred to State Police)
911 Dispatcher: Is this Amish school?
Caller: Yes it is.
911 Dispatcher: In Bart Township?
Caller: Yes.
Pennsylvania State Police PCO: Pennsylvania State Police, PCO Campbell, hello..
911 Dispatcher: Go ahead sir.
PCO Campbell: Sir, go ahead, State Police. (Line goes dead)
---
10:55:38
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911, do you need police, fire or ambulance? Hello.. Your cell phone is cutting in and out. Do you have an emergency?
Mr. Roberts : Yes.
911 Dispatcher: OK, what's the address of the emergency?
Mr. Roberts : It's on White Oak Road. I just took, uh, ten girls hostage and I want everybody off the property or, or else.
911 Dispatcher: OK, alright.
Mr. Roberts: Now.
911 Dispatcher: Hold on a second.
911 Dispatcher: Hello.
Mr. Roberts : Yeah.
911 Dispatcher: OK, what's the problem there?
Mr. Roberts: Don't try to talk me out of it, get em all off the property now.
911 Dispatcher: Sir, I want you to stay on the phone with me, OK? I'm going to let the State Police down there, I need to let you talk to them, OK, can I transfer you to them.
Mr. Roberts: No, you tell them and that's it. Right now or they're dead, in two seconds.
911 Dispatcher: (To unidentified person at County-Wide Communications): He won't let me transfer.
(To Mr. Roberts): Hang on a minute, we're trying to tell them, OK.
Mr. Roberts: Two seconds that's it.
911 Dispatcher: Sir, listen to me. Listen... (Line goes dead)
---
10:58:39
911 Dispatcher: Lancaster County 911.
Ms. Roberts: Yes, my name is Marie Roberts, my husband just called me on his cell phone and told me that he wasn't going to be coming home and that the police were there and not to worry about it. And I have no idea what he is talking about, but I am really scared. And I wondered if, how I find out what's going on?
911 Dispatcher: OK, where are you calling me from?
Ms. Roberts: I'm calling from my home.
911 Dispatcher: And what's that address?
Ms. Roberts: 1084 Georgetown Road.
911 Dispatcher: What township, city or borough is that?
Ms. Roberts: Bart Township.
911 Dispatcher: OK, and your husband didn't tell you where he was?
Ms. Roberts: No, he didn't.
911 Dispatcher: He called you on his cell phone?
Ms. Roberts: Yes he did.
911 Dispatcher: OK, and, and all he said to you was that...
Ms. Roberts: I'm not coming home, um, he was upset about something that had happened twenty years ago, and he said he was getting revenge for it, I don't think he was getting revenge on another person, I'm worried that maybe he was trying to commit suicide.
911 Dispatcher: OK, hang on the line, I'm going to transfer you to the State Police, OK?
Ms. Roberts: Thank you.
911 Dispatcher: Hang on a second..
(Call being transferred to State Police)
PCO Bowerman: State Police Dispatch PCO Bowerman
Ms. Roberts: My name is Marie Roberts, my husband just called me and said that he wasn't coming home and that the police were there and that he left notes for myself and my children and I'm worried that he tried to commit suicide somewhere. And...
PCO Bowerman : What's his name?
Ms. Roberts: Charlie Roberts.
PCO Bowerman: OK, what's, let me ask you a question, hold on for one second please.
Ms. Roberts: Yeah.
PCO Bowerman: You said your name again was?
Ms. Roberts: Marie Roberts.
PCO Bowerman: Marie Roberts, thank you.
PCO Bowerman: Ma'am, let me ask you a question, what kind of vehicle does your husband drive?
Ms. Roberts: He was using my grandpa's pick-up, it's a GMC.
PCO Bowerman: Color.
Ms. Roberts: Blue.
PCO Bowerman: Blue GMC.
Ms. Roberts: Yeah.
PCO Bowerman: One second. OK. ma'am, what's your husbands name?
Ms. Roberts: Charlie Roberts.
PCO Bowerman: Charlie Roberts. And what does he look like?
Ms. Roberts: He is six foot two, short brown, you know like buzzed brown hair, um, he is thirty-two years old, wears glasses, I guess he's like maybe 195 pounds.
PCO Bowerman: OK, you say he left notes?
Ms. Roberts: Yes.
PCO Bowerman: What did the notes say?
Ms. Roberts: Like, the thought of not my children, not seeing them grow up, like, let's see, uh, I'm not even sure, here it is, my daughter Abigail I want you to know that I love you and I'm sorry I couldn't be here to watch you grow up, that's how the notes start.
PCO Bowerman: OK, hold on one moment. (Line goes dead)

Amish Clothing

Clothing
Amish girls in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

The common theme amongst all Amish clothing is plainness; clothing should not call attention to the wearer by cut, color, or any other feature. Rather than using "fancy" buttons, zippers, or velcro, hook-and-eye closures or straight pins are used as fasteners on dress clothing. Snaps are used on everyday clothes, and plain buttons for work shirts and trousers. The historic restriction on buttons is attributed to tradition and their potential for ostentation.[50] In all things, the aesthetic value is plainness. Some groups tend to limit color to black (trousers, dresses) and white (shirts), while others allow muted colors. Dark blue denim work clothing is common within some groups as well. Amish typically sew their own clothing, and work clothing can become quite worn and patched with use.

Women wear calf-length plain-cut dresses in a solid color, such as dark blue or black. Aprons are often worn at home, usually in white or black, and are always worn when attending church. A cape, which consists of a triangular piece of cloth, is usually worn, beginning around the teenage years, and pinned into the apron. In the colder months, a long woolen cloak is worn. Heavy bonnets are worn over the prayer coverings when Amish women are out and about in cold weather, with the exception of the Nebraska Amish, who do not wear bonnets. Girls wear colored bonnets until age nine; older girls and women wear black bonnets.[51] Girls begin wearing a cape for church and dress up occasions at about age eight. Single women wear a white cape to church until about the age of thirty. Everyday capes are colored, matching the dress, until about age forty when only black is used.[52]

Men typically wear dark-colored trousers and a dark vest or coat, suspenders, broad-rimmed straw hats in the warmer months, and black felt hats in the colder months. Married men and those over forty grow a beard. Moustaches are forbidden, because they are associated with European military officers and militarism in general.[53] A beard serves the same symbolic function as a wedding ring and marks the passage into manhood.

During the summer months, the majority of Amish children go barefoot, including to school. The prevalence of the practice is attested in the Pennsylvania Deitsch saying, "Deel Leit laafe baarfiessich rum un die annre hen ken Schuh." ("Some people walk around barefooted, and the rest have no shoes.") The amount of time spent barefoot varies, but most children and adults go barefoot whenever possible.

Blue Sky

Looking over the houses there's a burst of sunshine

(Marie) wide

Bringing the afternoon sun towards my eyes

(Marie) endless

For some reason the sun is drawing the clouds towards light

(Marie) swallowing

Creating shapes like a river streaming towards the mouth of the sea

(Marie) take off

One cloud looks like abird with it's beak opened dropping food down

(Marie) birds and the formations they make

Across the sky brings a shade of blue creating a very pale blue through to a dark
blue

(Marie) they move in circles and bends

Rising my head up the clouds slowly moves around me creating new shapes with every movement

(Marie) feel guilty?

At one point there's nothing in the sky apart from one cloud that looks like fluffy cream bed

(Marie) sometimes

Two birds circle around me flying off into the distance

(Marie) it says go out and live your life

Behind my right shoulder there's a plane flying past me climbing at a higher altitude disappearing over the houses

(Marie) now

Bird's speed over in a pack of 5 creating a dimond

(Marie) maybe I feel like hiding that day

Looking across me before I see I hear an RAF plane speeding across the sky with authority

(Marie) I have no excuse

Emptyness fills the sky

(Marie) Why is the sky blue?

I can't see the sun

(Marie) Why seems the sky blue?

I only see it's rays spread across the sky

(Marie) Why is it bluer somedays than on other days?

This is the first time there's emptyness nothing but blue sky

(Marie) Sitting in my room at night

As I face towards the direction of the sun

(Marie) I realise I can´t write about the blue sky

I no longer see blue but only white a strong colour which over powers the blue
My blue sky is calm, soothing, mixing it's blueness with it's sunshine.

(Marie) I want to see it.



Here's mine and Marie's blue sky, Marie if you could add your bits then it will be complete

Thanks Larissa

Running Order

Scene 1:Chalk drawing
Our interpretation of Paradise (AV video footage)
Barn raising (Child building barn)

Scene 2: Suicide notes (Milk) (AV)

Scene 3: Arrange school chairs (Movement piece)

Scene 4: Descriptions of school house

Scene 5: News reports (AV and video footage and live footage)

Scene 6: Blue skies (AV)

Scene 7: Gesture piece (Ave Maria)

Scene 8: Lords prayer (Classroom-English and German)

Scene 9: Freeze Frames (Meeting his wife, photos being taken but showing images of the aftermath)

Scene 10: Monday, Monday (Dance)

Scene 11: Timeline

Scene 12: 5 Point journey of Carl Roberts

Scene 13: Carl Roberts’s shopping list

Scene 14: Scarf piece

Scene 15: Holding each other (Lords prayer in the background)
Chalk rubbing off (Someone from the other group)


Here is the working running order of the show

Larissa

There is a web site you should all take a look at, it is the aftermath of the Armish Shooting, reporters are interviewing residents in Nickelmine about their thoughts of the shooting.
The footage for some reason will not load up....
There are there parts to the footage free hand filmed, and in one there is a women praching to God, cameras up on her....

It is interesting to watch, I will try to upload video footage but in the mean time if you type in the address below it should take you too it.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dFgYVNui3U8

The Title if this web page does not load up is The Armish Shooting Part one

Alison.

The Lord's Prayer in German.

Alison

hey guys
was just thinking again about this recurring theme of forgiveness, came across a youtube vid of someone giving an interview on behalf of the amish community who do not give interviews... this guy says how they believe that god is present in life and death...if he is this all powerful 'existence' how could he not intervene on this tragic day...it beats me

Questions for Janice

Did you write this message?

What can I possibly ask you?

How are you now?

How did you cope with the events in the aftermath?

Did the process of writing help?

How do you seperate your emotions from the work you do?

In the future, do you think you will be able to work in the medical profession after such a traumatic event?

What did you think about the Amish forgiveness?

Would you be willing to provide us with any (free) information or facts that you deem appropriate enough to help with our devising?

How did you feel about the media attention?

Do you do anything to remember the event by?
Do you do anything to forget the event?

How does it make you feel that a group of performance students is creating work based on the events in Nickelmines?

Columbine

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7730502.stm

YouTube has removed a number of videos glorifying the Columbine school killers after an investigation by the BBC. The BBC's Interactive Reporter Siobhan Courtney reports.

Timeline of the shooting

(Dani) Paradise,(Adam) October 2,(Jodie) 2006

(all) 3am-
(Dani) ____Roberts finishes his night shift and returns in darkness to his home in nearby Bart township

(all) 7:30am
(Dani)_____Roberts is up helping his wife (MARIE) get their children ready for school
Abigail(Larissa), Bryson )(Jodie)

(all) 8:45am -
(Dani)___the couple walks the children to their yellow school bus, a neighbour says
(Jodie)____‘’it was unusual to see Roberts on a Monday’’

(all) 9:00am-
(Dani)____Roberts hugs and kisses his children and tells them
(Adam)____‘’remember, daddy loves you’’

(all) 10:25am -
(Marie)____Roberts enters the school house and asks the teacher
(Larissa)_____‘’HAVE YOU SEEN A ClEVIS PIN LYING ALONG THE ROAD?’’
(Alison)_______They deny seeing any such object.

(All) 10:30am
(Marie)____Roberts reappears with a hand gun

(all) 10:31am
(Marie)____He orders the male students to help him

(all) 10:32am
Jodie____The teacher and her mother escape ( run around space)

(all) 10:34am
(Larissa)_____Roberts and the young boy carry utensils into the room

(all) 10:35am
(Dani)_____The teacher and mother arrive at the farm

(all) 10:36am
(Alison)___Amos Smoker places a 911 call (Louise) Police
(Dani)_____Roberts barricades the doors

(all) 10:37am
(Louisa)______Roberts orders the girls in a line

(all)10:39am
(Jodie)_____He allows everyone to leave except the girls
(Dani)______‘’Stay here do not move , you will be shot’’

(all)10:40am
(Louisa)______Emma Fisher escapes because she does not understand english.

(all)10:41am
(Adam)______First troopers arrive at the scene.

(all)10:41am
(Adam)______A second caller reports the incident and is being transfered to the state police.

(all)10:55am
(Adam)______Roberts binds and ties the girls.

(all)10:56am
(Marie)_____The girls are lined up in front of the blackboard.

(Alison)____Mrs Roberts returns home finding suicide notes.

(all)10:57am
(Dani)______Roberts makese a call to his wife and the police (Adam) Marie


(all)10:58am
(Larissa)___Mrs Roberts calls 911 after arriving home from a prayer study group meeting (Marie) Police?

(all)11am
(Adam)______A large crowd assembles outside.

(all)11:00am
(Louisa/Jodie)_Two girls begin negotiating with Roberts

(all)11:07am
(Adam)______Roberts shoots the girls and then himself.

(all)11:08am
(Louisa)______Troopers approach.



The changes we made on the 18th are in here now, if anything's missing go to edit post, lets you change it!



This is all I have guys so if you could fill in the blanks would be great stuff :-)

Danielle

Roberts, in a phone call to his wife Marie, shortly before shooting the girls, told her he had molested two young members of his family 20 years ago, and for the past two years was dreaming about molesting again, police said.
He named the family members and said they were three and five years old when it happened.
Family members interviewed by police couldn't confirm any past molestations and no police reports were filed, said Col. Jeffrey Miller of the Pennsylvania State Police.

The interior of a one-room Amish schoolhouse near Monday's shooting, and very similar to the one where a gunman killed five girls, is seen empty early the next day in Nickel Mines, Pa. (Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press)
Gunman angry with himself, God

In the phone call to his wife, Roberts told her he would not be coming home and that he would be getting revenge for another event that happened 20 years ago, but said he couldn't give any further details. He told her where she could find suicide notes for her and their three children.
In the notes, Roberts said he was angry with himself and with God because of the death of his daughter Elise, born prematurely nine years ago. That event, he wrote, changed his life forever.
As his wife was speaking with 911 emergency operators, she heard police sirens in their community.

Police said Roberts brought with him to the school plastic cuffs, clamps and two tubes of personal lubricant, which, Miller said, he could see no other potential reason to have other than as a "sexual assault aid."

Miller stressed there is no evidence any of the victims were sexually assaulted during the incident.

Investigators said they found a wooden board with 10 eyebolts fastened to it, about 25 centimetres apart.

"It's important to note he had 10 victims at that time," said Miller.

Shooter heavily armed
Police said Roberts, who was not Amish, drove to the school with three guns, a stun gun, two knives, a pile of wood and a bag with 600 rounds of ammunition.
He also had a change of clothing, toilet paper, bolts and hardware, and rolls of clear tape, which Miller said indicated he could be prepared for a lengthy standoff.

Roberts began purchasing some of the material from a nearby hardware store as early as Sept. 26 and left a checklist behind in his milk delivery truck, he said. The checklist matches the evidence left in the school, said police.

"He was organized, preplanned and had forethought given to his actions," said Miller.
He let 15 male students, a pregnant woman and three women with infants leave the schoolhouse, barred the doors using the planks and desks, then lined up the girls along a chalkboard.
A teacher and another adult fled to a nearby farmhouse and called for help.

When police arrived, Miller said, Roberts began panicking and firing his weapons.
Victims identified

He shot all 10 female students left inside the school, including several of them in the back of the head at close range. Some had their feet bound together, while others had their feet tied to another student.

He fired as many as four rounds from a shotgun and 13 rounds from an automatic weapon. He then fired another round into his head, said Miller.

"He shot himself in the head as police were entering," said Miller.

The dead have been identified as Naomi Rose Ebersole, 7, Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12, Marian Fisher, 13, Mary Liz Miller, 8, and her sister, Lina Miller, 7. Two of the injured are aged eight, while the remaining three are aged six, 11 and 13.

There are no photos of the victims because the Amish forbid photography, based on a biblical commandment.

Miller said Roberts was not targeting the Amish and the school was simply chosen because he wanted to kill young girls.

"This is a horrendous, horrific incident for the Amish community," he said. "They're solid citizens in the community. They're good people."

Danielle

Costume examples

images of amish clothing with some examples of what the young girls would wear aswell as the women

Danielle

Forgiveness and freedom of letting go

hey, heres the vid I was talking about on tues.

Reading the lastest blogs got me thinking more about amish forgiveness, and how I still find it difficult to understand that they forgive Roberts, I know they have to due to religion, but surely this should be an exception they must feel some kind of hate???

I found this clip, which had some interesting descriptions of what forgiveness is,and it enabled me to understand more about why they forgave roberts.

If you've been having the same problem coming to to terms with this, have a look it may help.
:-)

Also i liked how the footage was put together and the music used. Maybe we could use this in some way as part of the performance?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3D4VMZb8wLY

Danielle

Addicted to Life and Death

Hello everyone

We have had comments on the blog from Janice Ballenger - the Deputy Coroner about her forthcoming book. Click on comments under the transcript of the You Tube video or the article on undeserved forgiveness. Let's talk more about this tomorrow. Information about book below.

All best

Michael


Addicted to Life & Death: Memoirs of an EMT and Deputy Coroner
Janice Ballenger

When Janice Ballenger joined a volunteer rescue company, she began keeping a journal, and clipping news articles about the calls she responded to. Now, as an EMT and deputy coroner, she has seen, smelled and touched things most people have difficulty just hearing about. With the thought of "There's nothing worse that I can see", she continued her job. The Nickel Mines Amish School shootings in October 2006, changed that, when a milk truck driver shot ten Amish girls, and killed himself. Read her story as one of the few people who entered the schoolhouse with the bodies inside.

undeserved forgiveness

JEFF JACOBY
Undeserved forgiveness

By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist | October 8, 2006

``THERE WAS not one desk, not one chair, in the whole schoolroom that was not splattered with either blood or glass. There were bullet holes everywhere -- everywhere."

That description is from Janice Ballenger, a deputy coroner in Lancaster County, Pa. She was among the first to enter the West Nickel Mines Amish School after Charles Roberts murdered five girls and severely wounded five others there last week. One of the bodies she examined was that of Naomi Rose Ebersol , a 7-year-old who had been shot 20 times.

How do civilized human beings react to such an atrocity? With horror? Anger? Hatred?

Not the Amish.

Asked by a reporter if the community was angry about the killings, one Amish grandmother, Lizzie Fisher, was adamant. ``Oh, no, no, definitely not," she said. ``People don't feel that around here. We just don't."

Roberts planned his attack meticulously, making a list of supplies he would need, then gradually buying them over a six-day period. It makes the skin crawl just to read the inventory: nails, bolts, wrenches, bullets, guns, earplugs, wooden planks, rope. Roberts brought plastic ties to bind his victims' feet, chains and clamps for restraint, and tubes of K-Y Jelly, a sexual lubricant. Apparently he ``planned to dig in for the long siege," a Pennsylvania State Police colonel surmised, and ``intended to victimize these children in many ways prior to executing them."

Confronted with such premeditated malevolence, what decent person wouldn't seethe with fury and revulsion? What parent or grandparent wouldn't regard such a massacre as not only unspeakable, but well nigh unforgivable?

The Amish wouldn't.

``I don't think there's anybody here that wants to do anything but forgive," one Lancaster County resident was quoted as saying. ``We don't need to think about judgment; we need to think about forgiveness and going on." Many townspeople announced their forgiveness of Roberts directly to his wife and children .

On CNN, a local pastor recounted how the grandfather of Marian Fisher, one of the murdered girls, told younger relatives not to hate Roberts for killing her.

``As we were standing next to the body of this 13-year-old girl, the grandfather was tutoring the young boys, he was . . . saying to the family, `We must not think evil of this man,' " said the Rev. Robert Schenck. ``It was one of the most touching things I have seen in 25 years of Christian ministry."

I can't deny that it is deeply affecting to see how seriously the Amish strive to heed Jesus' admonition to return good for evil and turn the other cheek. For many Christians, the Amish determination to forgive their daughters' murder is awe-inspiring. In his Beliefnet blog, the eloquent Rod Dreher marvels at CNN's story of the Amish grandfather. ``Could you do that?" he writes. ``Could you stand over the body of a dead child and tell the young not to hate her killer? I could not. Please, God, make me into the sort of man who could."

But hatred is not always wrong, and forgiveness is not always deserved. I admire the Amish villagers' resolve to live up to their Christian ideals even amid heartbreak, but how many of us would really want to live in a society in which no one gets angry when children are slaughtered? In which even the most horrific acts of cruelty were always and instantly forgiven? There is a time to love and a time to hate, Ecclesiastes teaches. If anything deserves to be hated, surely it is the pitiless murder of innocents.

To voluntarily forgive those who have hurt you is beautiful and praiseworthy. That is what Jesus did on the cross, what Christians do when they say the Lord's Prayer, what observant Jews do when they recite the bedtime Kriat Sh'ma. But to forgive those who have hurt -- who have murdered -- someone else? I cannot see how the world is made a better place by assuring someone who would do terrible things to others that he will be readily forgiven afterward, even if he shows no remorse.

There are indications that the killer in this case may have been in the grip of depression or delusion . Perhaps it was madness more than evil that drove him to commit this horror, in which case forgiveness might be more understandable.

But the Amish make it clear that their reaction would be the same either way. I wish them well, but I would not want to be like them, reacting to terrible crimes with dispassion and absolution. ``Let those who love the Lord hate evil," the Psalmist writes. The murder of the Amish girls was a deeply hateful evil. There is nothing godly about pretending it wasn't.

Jeff Jacoby's e-mail address is jacoby@globe.com. 
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.

The awkward encounter that began Amish school nightmare
By Sam Knight 
timesonline

(this article features somedetails I did not pick up on earlier...)

The man at the classroom door was wearing a baseball cap and holding a clevis, a U-shaped piece of metal with holes at each end. He asked the teacher whether anyone had seen one lying around in the road.

Emma Mae Zook, a 20-year-old teacher at the Georgetown Amish School, was put off by his manner — he stood close to her, talking quietly and would not meet her eye — but she stopped her German and spelling lesson and said that she and the children would look out for it.

Then Charles Carl Roberts IV turned around, walked to a pick-up truck parked outside and came back with a shotgun.

Ms Zook, describing the opening minutes of Monday's school shooting in the tiny village of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, told a local newspaper today that that was the moment she ran to a neighbouring farm to raise the alarm.

Interviews with Ms Zook, her relatives and some of the first emergency officials to arrive at the scene of the shooting have shed more light on the half-hour ordeal that ended with the shooting of ten Amish girls — the deaths of five — and the tearing up of the innocence and calm of one of America's most reclusive communities.

Several members of Ms Zook's family happened to be in her classroom when Roberts, a 32-year-old milk truck driver, appeared at the door. When he re-appeared for the second time, she told the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal that she made eye contact with her mother and they both ran.

Ms Zook's sister-in-law, Sarah, remained behind in the classroom and watched Roberts order a boy to chase the two women and tell them that he would start shooting unless they came back. 

The boy's sister, nine-year-old Emma Fischer, ran with him, an instinctive decision that probably saved her life. Their two older sisters were both shot by Roberts: Marian, 13, died, while Barbie, 11, remains in intensive care.

In the minutes that followed, Roberts sent out Sarah, her two young children, and a 21-year-old woman who is eight months pregnant. They stood, unsure what to do, outside the school as Roberts lined up the students against the blackboard. In time, the boys started trickling out of the room and the group started walking to the neighbouring farm.

That's when they heard "pounding" coming from the schoolhouse: the sound of Roberts nailing planks across the doors, shoving desks against the main entrance and, according to police, beginning what he intended to be a prolonged assault of the ten girls under his control.

But two state troopers arrived at the schoolhouse within minutes, followed by eight others, and in the midst of an attempt to make him talk to a hostage negotiator, Roberts started shooting the girls, all of them at close range, before killing himself.

Janice Ballenger, a deputy coroner of Lancaster County, was given the task of checking the dead. She examined Naomi Rose Ebersol, a 7-year-old girl who had died in a policeman's arms, in the school playground.

"She was a 7-year-old angel," she told the Intelligencer Journal. "Kneeling next to the body and counting all the bullet holes was the worst part."

Inside the classroom, "there wasn’t a desk or chair in the room that wasn’t covered in blood or broken glass", said Ms Ballenger. Among stickers of smiling faces and a sign that read "Visitors Brighten People’s Days", she declared Roberts, who had shot himself in the head, dead, and found the body of Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12, by the blackboard.

Two other girls, sisters Lena and Mary Liz Miller, aged 7 and 8, died of their wounds in separate hospitals overnight. Four more remain in a critical condition.

Ballenger's fellow deputy coroner, Amanda Shelley, was also at the scene: "It was something that I never expected to see in Lancaster County. I realize that my job comes with seeing things that most people wouldn’t want to, but the experience has left me in a fog."

In the post below it states that the new school was build as different as possible from the previous one. 

Could that inform our set? We could deconstruct parts of the set and rearrange them as different as possible...

When we were looking at the barn raising before term break we were considering someone representing a child sitting aside on stage building a mini barn with kid´s wooden building blocks. Maybe that could become the new school building? 

I still like the idea of building/ deconstructing something on stage, let it be a barn or a school...

Schoolhouse demolished

The West Nickel Mines School was demolished the following week, on October 12, 2006. The site was left as a quiet pasture. A new schoolhouse, called the New Hope School, was built at a different location, near the original site. It opened on April 2, 2007, precisely six months after the shooting. The new school was intentionally built as "different" as possible from the original, including the style of the flooring.

Some of the Amish parents in the region are reluctant to send their children to the new school and instead prefer to educate them at home.

wiki

names of the girls in the school- wikipedia

Victims

[edit]
Fatalities
Naomi Rose Ebersol, aged 7, died at the scene October 2, 2006.[37][38]
Marian Stoltzfus Fisher, aged 13, died at the scene October 2, 2006.[38][39]
Anna Mae Stoltzfus, aged 12, was declared dead on arrival at Lancaster General Hospital, Lancaster, Pennsylvania October 2, 2006.[38][40]
Lena Zook Miller, aged 7, died at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania on October 3, 2006.[41]
Mary Liz Miller, aged 8, died at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware on October 3, 2006.[42]

[edit]
Injured

All of the surviving Amish schoolgirls were hospitalized.
Rosanna King, 6 years old, was removed from life support at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and sent home at the request of her family on October 4, 2006.[43] Some reports claim the child showed signs of recovery and was sent back to the hospital. Her condition improved, though she is still greatly impaired from the shooting and remains at home. [41][44]
Rachel Ann Stoltzfus, 8 years old[45]
Barbie Fisher, 10 years old[46]
Sarah Ann Stoltzfus, 12 years old
Esther King, 13 years old

The girls wounded in the shooting have made measurable progress in the year since the shooting. Sara Ann Stoltzfus, now 9, does not have full vision in her left eye but is back at school — she was not expected to survive. Barbie Fisher, now 9, pitches in the school softball but just underwent another shoulder operation in hopes of strengthening her right arm. Rachel Ann Stoltzfus, now 9, returned to school in the months after the shooting. Esther King, now 14, returned to school in the months after shooting, graduated and is now working on the family farm.[47] The youngest victim, Rosanna King, 6, wasn't expected to survive and was sent home to die there. She had serious brain injuries and does not walk or talk as of October 2007. Rosanna is confined to a wheelchair, but is said to recognize family members and frequently smiles.[48]

after Dogville

Hi all, after we watched Dogville today we had a bit of a chat regarding the piece. Stuff that came up was:

blackboard floor? possible to outline the set in chalk, wipe out, redraw (mopping up chalky water might give some nice milky effect)
which could in detail be picked up by someone with video camera (following, overview from top of a ladder, passing the camera on, etc)
We all liked how actors were miming props and doors and the sounds they would make were to be heard
Will we create sound on stage? (thinking "All quiet...", coconut shells...)
Shall we prerecord sound and operate on stage?
everyone is teching, everyone is acting- operating sound, video and light from the stage

For anyone who could not make it, these are ideas, nothing has been decided, please comment!!
Am I forgetting anything?

Amish Forgiveness- transcript

Amish Forgiveness is Christ-like

(Transciption of you tube video)

Keith Olbermann:
It was just one of the many extraordinary gestures of forgiveness contained in our number three story in the countdown tonight.
The family of Marian Fisher, 
one of the Amish girls killed in a school house on monday, 
invited the widow of her killer 
to their little girl`s funeral this morning.
That funeral, one of four, on this sad day there, 
the fifth is scheduled for tomorrow.
The funeral procession today is simple and humble 
from a community 
that has met an awful event 
with dignity and abiding humanity.
Our correspondend in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania , is Rheema Ellis.

Rehema Ellis:
The horse drawn carriage processions were in step with age old Amish tradition. 
First the body of seven year old Naomi Rose Ebersol. 
Hours later the body of thirteen year old Marian Fisher.
And late this afternoon the seven year old Lena Miller 
and her eight year old sister Mary Liz.
Keeping with tradition the families prepared the bodies. 
The young victims clothed in white dresses, 
handmade by their mothers.
The services are plain and private.
There is a short sermon and scripture is read.
There is no eulogy.
Just respect for the life.
But not praise.
They reserve that for god.

Kevin King:
There will be ah 
Words of comfort.
Read from the bible.
From the german bible.
Ähm
It will be a solemn time.
It will be a time of we´re coming together once again
And just being together.
Ah-Crying on each others shoulders.

Rehema Ellis:
While the non-Amish community was not part of the processions 
Many are showing support in other ways.
Much of it in the form of money.
More than 500.000 dollars has been donated to charities
set up for the Amish,
something they are unaccustomed to accepting.

Kevin King:
Far and wide the churches are bringing meals.
We are hearing of co-operations and companies providing food.

They said to me: 
you know,
we could handle this on our own.
But- that would not be Christ-like.
Why should we stop people from being a blessing to us?

Rehema Ellis:
And although the Amish recognise the community outpouring as a blessing
What´s needed most now, they said,
are prayers.

Tonight four other girls remain hospitalised,
another student reportedly has been taken off life support.
There is another funeral tomorrow.
But members of this Amish community fear 
it may not be the last.

Keith-

Keith Olbermann:
Rehema Ellis
Great
Thanks