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.