Before you read this, please know this is NOT to scare, but it's to shake parents up on how important it is to get treatment as EARLY as POSSIBLE, DO NOT WAIT if you suspect something is wrong and be VIGILENT no matter what and  we must watch our children and teens and their activities "like a hawk "because it's OUR JOB!...  God Bless this young man, I hope he gets the help he needs and deserves.

This is a true incident.   It happened on March 18th, 2004  in my state of Nebraska -

 A Malcolm, Nebraska teenager is charged with Attempted First Degree Murder for bringing twenty pipe bombs to school on Tuesday. A Seventeen-year-old was arrested after authorities found the bombs and a loaded rifle in the trunk of his car.

The State Patrol's bomb squad used a robot to inspect the vehicle's contents at Malcolm High School. Some of the explosives were destroyed on site and two items were taken to a State Patrol facility for safer detonation.

This boy,  a long-distance runner in track and a Speech Club member just turned 17 and he is being charged as an adult.

Newly released court documents indicate that he had a plan.

A police statement on the incident states, "XXX said he intended to have principal Earl Nannen lock down the school.  Then said he would detonate the bombs in the school. He also said he would use the rifle as a last resort on law enforcement."

Since it appears that part of the plan was in motion, with the school in lockdown, he's being charged with attempted murder.

While things are getting back to normal at the school, Malcolm Superintendent Gene Neddenriep says he knows it could have turned out a lot worse. He hopes students, parents and faculty learn something from the incident.

He says, "I think we've learned now that when a student says something you better be alert and ready to respond and act on it because it could be the real deal."

Court documents indicate that this boy has bi-polar disorder and that he was not taking his medication.

Channel 6 News spoke with his mother on Wednesday. She said she doesn't want to comment on the incident until she's able to talk more with her son.

The attempted murder charge carries a possible penalty of one to 50 years in prison. Additionally, he is charged with Possession of an Explosive Device and Use of a Weapon to Commit a Felony.

No one was injured in the Tuesday incident.

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- 13.7 million or 20% of out nation's children and adolescents have a diagnosable mental illness

-6 to 9 million or 13% of our nation's children and adolescents have a mental illness that causes serious impairment.

-About 80% of children and adolescents with mental illnesses fail to receive treatment or services (personally, this crushes me the most.)

-Suicide is the 3rd LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH in YOUTH aged 10 to 24 years of age. More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia and influenza, and chronic lung disease COMBINED!

-The evidence is strong that as many as 90% of those who commit suicide have a diagnosable mental disorder.

-According to the recent study - the largest ever undertaken - an alarming 65% boys and 75% girls in juvinile detention have at least one psychiatric diagnosis.

-Our nation currently has approximatly 6,300 child and adolescent psychiatrists with a need of 32,000.

-Students in the emotionally disturbed category (which includes youth with mental illnesses) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) fail more courses, earn lower grade point averages, miss more days of school and are retained  at grade more then students in any other disability categories.

-Bibliography: Institute of Medicene 2002 and Sugreon General 1999. Teplin L. Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 59. Dec. 2002, American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Work Force Report, US Dept. of Education's 20th Annual Report to Congress 1998.

KNOWING THESE FACTS...

Gives me the FAITH  and should give YOU THE FAITH that when you ADVOCATE at your child's school, SEEKING AND RESEARCHING to find a good DR, to find more information about the illness online, and through books, to find a support group whether  it be in person or a forum online, to talk to other parents who  are going through the same things you are, seeking to come to and act on the very real and unfortunatly, guilt feelings of finding an RTC (residential treatment center) or placing your child in a children's psychiatric ward of a hospital due to erratic, dangerous, destructive, life threatenning behavior of ones self or a danger to others in the home or outside of the home. THE STATISTICS ABOVE MORE THEN ANYTHING ELSE tests your will to do the RIGHT thing and I know many of you who I have had the privilidge to have met and those I have not met are  facing these challenges of the mind and of the HEART.

If you can step back and think of the things you know, the things you've read, in particular the very alarming statistics I have posted here, I hope the decision of getting your child help is a little bit easier to take and gives you the THE STRENGTH OF A LION'S HEART AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF AN EAGLE'S EYES AS YOU SOAR ON THIS FOREVER JOURNEY WITH YOUR CHILD.

Hugs to ALL,

Jen