5. The laudatory report had to have been written without verification from outside sources. Harris and Klebold each may have acted like little boy blue seated alone across a desk, but even a cursory inquiry of students or the teacher who ostensibly knew of their perversion of a school assignment or a look at the web page would have indicated otherwise—and this omits the guidance counselors and others higher in the chain. For one probation officer to use his own assessment exclusively in what is a staged, very structured, very scheduled, and very brief series of interviews is high conceit. The masterful act of pretending penitence may have brought as much delight to these twisted youths as the anticipation of pain and death.
6. As far back as April, the father of a Columbine student sent print-outs of Harris’s web page to the deputy sheriff. No action was taken. This material was so despicable that, to this moment, none of it has been shown on national television. Tom Brokaw, reading a snippet, warned the audience of its repulsive content. Why no action was taken, why the probationary officer wasn’t informed, nor why school officials weren’t shown this rancid handiwork demands answers. Someone made that decision, and should be held accountable. The State, as protector, favored the wrong side.
7. The father of the one black student who was murdered twice complained to the sheriff's department about threats to his son. The windshield of his car was smashed, and again nothing. Had the windshield of the school principal’s car been smashed or that of some administrator, would the outcome have been the same?
The Parents
8. The sawed-off barrel of one of the shot guns used in the slaughter was found “in plain view” in Harris’s room, according to a report issued by police after conducting a search. Further, the press mentioned that during the carnage, Harris’s father wanted to talk his son out of danger even though his name had not at that time been aired. I ask parents who read this: could it be that for over a year while living under the same roof the knowledge that your progeny has become a Hitler acolyte, obsessed by guns and hatred, wearing the weird garb of a strange sect, while spending what must have been vast amounts of time on the Internet remain hidden, unexplained and private? What house has any door, literal and metaphorical, closed for that length of time?
9. Again, I leave it to the reader to assess the comment of Klebold’s mother while having her hair done in the middle of the week after the tragedy: “There’s no way I could’ve known this would happen.”
A lot of lawyers will soon be gainfully employed. Members of Congress and our lying, amoral President will wax and wane about creating new strategies to restore faith among the young. The fact is that to look to government for help one may as well stare into a cesspool of dollar signs.