I received a telephone call from my dispatcher informing me that an incident had taken place up in Cokeville and they were requesting me to drive to Cokeville for assistance. With the explosionwhat occurred? Following the explosion, 79 children were taken to area hospitals, most of which were located more than an hours drive from Cokeville, for treatment for burns and smoke inhalation. Mark Junge: And you know, in Sue and I's conversation with these dozen people we've talked to now, seems like they also feel the same way you do. She acknowledges these students for assisting her in researching her contributions to the WyoHistory.org web site. Rich Haskell: Well, by none of the kids bein' hurt that was supposed to be hurt. On May 16, 1986, a man and his wife with a bomb took . Davids friends did not know that the Biggie was a plan to take over Cokeville Elementary School, hold each of the children hostage for $2 million dollars apiece and then detonate the bomb, transporting the money and children to his Brave New World, where he would be God. I later learned he'd been shot in the back. Well, you know how fine that dust is. In their minds they could start another world. I was still trying to make sense of it all! In the movie, it shows the tension building towards the prayer and then shortly after the bomb went off. But he knew the culture, he knew the type of people, and I'm not sayin' that Mormon people are better than anybody else, but their way of life is family is first. A new movie is coming out on Friday called "The Cokeville Miracle" that depicts not just this terrible event, but the various miraculous stories that emerged afterward. I really did not even want to walk inside that building because I was just afraid that I'd see kids all over the place. Mark Junge: to go through all this? Rich Haskell: Yes, absolutely. Couple Take Over School But Die After Bomb Blast Angelic Intervention save all 153 in bomb blast - Cokeville Wyoming - Unexplained Mysteries - Angels Brain Boyle 2.05K subscribers Subscribe 928 158K views 11 years ago All 153 Children &. No. I'm not saying all of 'em were bombs, but why did God cut out Cokeville and say nobody's going to get hurt in this? The Cokeville Town Hall is located at 110 Pine St. For more information, visit the website of the Cokeville Chamber of Commerce at http://www.cokevillewy.com or call (307) 459-4195. I think it's because of the ages of the kids, to start with. Rich Haskell: No. May 12, 2011, 2:30am PDT. I saw an early screening of the film and absolutely loved it. I think you should know that it can be difficult to watch - but that it has a very rewarding outcome. Mark Junge: Do you know the names and birthdates of all your grandchildren? Twenty-five years ago on Monday, a man and his wife pushed a homemade gasoline bomb into Cokeville's sole elementary school and demanded $300 million in ransom. I have given that some thought. Totally destroyed it! Sue Castaneda: Which is the son who is also running for sheriff? Mark Junge: And when you went into the classroom you saw holes in the walls? Now you've got problems. He just said just go do it. The kids couldn't have cut it. When I arrived I could see out on the lawn, there was a black object laying out on the grass. Who died in the Cokeville bombing? A compilation project by the Cokeville Miracle Foundation, a 501(c) (3) charity. Cokeville officially has only536 people in it and two LDS wards that meet in the same chapel. Mark Junge: In fact, didn't you say you burned up your engine? #TodayInHistory: Today in 1986, The Cokeville Elementary School crises happened. Rich Haskell: The bullet in him was in the bathroom. You can ask me anything about this today between 1-2pm. Bullet Hit Woman Who Died in School Siege - Los Angeles Times There was nobody killed but the perpetrators. Mark Junge: And the explosion went straight up? Whenever they would come to Wyoming I would be part of their security team. Rich Haskell: Well, after I arrived it took probably three to four hours to make sure everything was neutral and everything was not going to be a threat any longer. Couple in School Blast Linked to Extremist Group Rich Haskell: Well, I like to think I'm a better person because of it. This can, the aluminum powder, never went off. He used to work in Cokeville. It'sI'm still doing that kind of thing because whenever they hold General Conference in Salt Lake City I go to Salt Lake City to be part of the bomb team for the church while they have General Conference. She has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals on the history and heritage of Germans from Russia on the Northern Plains. And I'm sure that that made him very nervous. I actually hadn't thought of doing that, yet. COKEVILLE, Wyo. And I think it's made me a stronger person. One teacher was shot when he tried to flee,. As time progressed, however, a different story emerged in this highly religious and largely Mormon community. And you could see that she had been burning by just looking at her out on the front lawn. It became a story of a miracle rather than a tragedy. How much interaction did you have with the director/producers of the movie? It would have killed them. After a stand-off lasting two and a half hours, the gasoline bomb the couple had brought into the school went off prematurely, badly burning Doris Young while David Young was out of the room. Maybe writing that up 2 years ago when this came along was more healing for me than for him, but I gave it all to him! He knew it was a predominantly Mormon [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] community. Welcome to /r/latterdaysaints, a sub for members and friends of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (formerly known as Mormons). Then when I became a deputy, Sheriff Stark says, "You know, we're going to start finding a bunch of old explosives, dynamite and things. Davids writings reveal that he hoped life would be better for him and Cokevilles children in this imaginary place. Educated at Chadron State College in Nebraska, he had earned a degree in criminal justice, and was hired as Cokevilles town marshal in the 1970s. I know it is real. As I come to the junctionI'm sorry, I don't know what the road is that goes over to Bear Lakebut as I was passing that intersection, they did inform me that the bomb had exploded. Returning, David Young shot his wife, then himself. I just stayed right there and we processed the scene and did the scene. It brings back lots of memories but it doesn't hurt because actually it was a positive experience. What stands out in your mind the most, looking back? Survivors began to tell their stories through a spiritual lens. On May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young took 154 people hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School in tiny Cokeville, Wyo. P. O. Both David and Doris had ties to white supremacist groups, including the Posse Comitatus and the Aryan Nations. After a stand-off lasting two and a half hours, the gasoline bomb the couple had brought into the school went off prematurely, badly burning Doris Young while David Young was out of the room. She's an avid genealogist, so maybe get involved with that, and maybe go on a mission for the church. Princess, Deppe, and Mendenhall were never charged in relation to this crime because of their refusal to participate.[6]. Windows were opened to rid the room of gasoline fumes, and prayers were offered in small groups among the children. Rich Haskell: Yeah. Cokeville Children Held Hostage by Bomber., Cokeville Elementary School Bombing: 25-Years Later. Accessed May 17, 2013, at, Fagg, Ellen. David went to the school office, handing out a manifesto titled "ZERO EQUALS INFINITY" and announcing "This is a revolution!" Mark Junge: Well, yes. There was no give in the school bus. http://www.cokevillemiracle.com/movie.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cokeville_Elementary_School_hostage_crisis. Cook, the school's secretary and the first person taken hostage, could tell Young's threats were serious. Number one, that's where he worked. Which is hard to believe, but a positive experience in that they learned something. . She is a trained rural historian who specializes in oral history, childhood history and memory studies. She was a divorce who earned money working as a waitress and singer in a local bar. Mark Junge: Are you one of the most experienced people in the area? Mark Junge: That's a mighty powerful gun! Interview by Mark Junge. Located in Lincoln County and nestled between the towns of Star Valley and Kemmerer on the Wyoming-Idaho border, Cokeville, many residents believed, was a safe place to rear children. It is a touchy topic for us, and could come across the wrong way. Hey, I am not the survivor, but I spent my summers in Cokeville, my family is from there, and I have been helping on publicity for the film. He instructed Doris and Princess, by now a young adult, to handcuff them inside his van. I was one of 154 survivors in the Cokeville bombing, ask me - Reddit While David and Doris Young were not involved in an organized religion, both were deeply spiritual. But I know that, well, I'll just be quite frank. I've been involved with law enforcement since 1977 in Sweetwater County. I've got a couple of questions. Rich Haskell: Well, run fordo another term as sheriff and then retire, and my wife and I are going to doshe loves genealogy. Rich Haskell: I am. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. There are some survivors that couldn't believe how accurate much of it was. I walked into the bathroom and there was the suspect that had started this whole mess, layin' there on the floor with ahe had a pistol in his hand and you could tell he had shot himself in the head. Journal entries also indicate that he saw opportunity in the close-knit community; he wrote, "Threaten one and all are at your mercy." Rich Haskell: Well, I didn't know a lot about 'em and I still don't know a lot about 'em. Rich Haskell: I took pictures of it. Rich Haskell: Yes, I did. The Cokeville Miracle - Was It Angels? | Light Force Network Doris accidently triggered the bomb by motioning to her hostages with her arms. That's what David Young forgot to realize just how important families were. For instance, The Cokeville Miracle Foundations 2005 book Witness to Miracles: Remembering the Cokeville Elementary School Bombing and the Wyoming State Archives oral history project called Survivor is My Name both focused on the reconstructing of this narrative as a miracle instead of a tragedy. Retro Report took a look back at this episode, with a focus on how Johnson & Johnson and . You could see that the roof tiles had been lifted out of their brackets. The bomb did detonate and fire, thick black smoke and toxi fumes filled the room. On May 16, 1986, an elementary school in the tiny town of Cokeville, Wyoming, was held hostage by a married couple with a bomb. I believe there was a hundred-and-sixty-plus people involved that was being held. So I went to Huntsville, Ala., to Redstone Arsenal. Rich Haskell: That's my oldest boy, Steven. So if it can happen there it can happen anywhere in the United States. They messed with the kids and that brought a whole communityin fact, it brought the whole western half of the state all together. In the classroom, David held the gasoline bomb, with the triggering mechanism attached to a string tied around his wrist. Had a gallon milk jug full of gasoline on one level, had aluminum powder, flour and those two components was in tuna fish cans directly under the gasoline bomb. Students, teachers, staff and visitors frantically exited the building, with teachers helping many of the children escape through the windows. Mark Junge: That's a record of all the people we've talked to! Chalkboards andwhat do they call those?whiteboards, I think they are, along the walls. One thing to mention is that the tension in real life seemed much more present at first, and then once prayers were said the mood really lifted. Rich Haskell: Yep. Do you ever think about that? Carbon County School District No. When they asked pointed questions like "what did the angels look like?" Family is the most important thing in a Mormon family. Rich Haskell: You know, with 33 years of law enforcement, I've seen a lot of things. So if the state didn't pay him, he figured the Mormon church would pay him because the Mormon church has money also. Mark Junge: Well, I want you to know that we think you're courageous for doing this with us. No need to troll. The two brought in a bomb attached to themselves with a lanyard. [5][10][8], When the bomb detonated, the majority of the explosive force was channeled through loose ceiling tiles into the roof, and open windows acting as vents. May 16, 1986, will never be forgotten by the residents of Cokeville, Wyo. They attempted to crowd 154 people into one of the two first grade classrooms, a room with a total capacity of 30 students and a teacher. Rich Haskell: If it would have went off like it was supposed to have gone off, it would have lifted the roof off of that school. And what happens if they trigger something accidently?" On May 16, 1986, when former town marshal David Gary Young and his wife Doris Young took 154 children and thirteen teachers hostage at Cokeville Elementary school in Wyoming and kept them at bay with a shopping-cart sized bomb attached to five hairpin-trigger blast caps, it should have ended in great tragedy - one of the worst in American history. No, we can't do this. This significantly mitigated the explosive power of the bomb. Do you think this is a historical event? When you say what cut the wire? It's a continuous training thing and years and years and years of continuous training with the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, with the fire marshals and now that it has come into it with the hazardous materials and everything else. Mark Junge: Did you find the bullet that killed him, too? My name is Kamron Wixom, I was a 12 year old 6th grader in 1986 when a mad man took over my school (Cokeville Elementary) with a bomb and his guns. So we decided to take some masking tape, and we tapedI think it was an eight-foot square in the middle of the room, right here, and he pushed the cart, the homemade bomb into this, and we told the children this was the magic square. Have there been any lingering psychological effects from going through something so traumatic while so young? She fled the building and drove the Youngs vanwith Deppe and Mendenhall still insideto the town hall, where she reported her fathers plan. David Young entered the school with his wife transporting a large gasoline-filled device that appeared to be a bomb. Many recalled praying silently, forming prayer circles and seeing angels during the crisis. Rich Haskell: You walk into the door, and I don't know if you got to go into the classroom, but you walk into that door and it opens up into the whole thing. The mood did not lift with the singing and teachers quickly negotiated with the hostage takers to get items from the library to help the kids get their minds off the siege,[8] and help to pass the time. Below the jug in the bottom basket were two tuna fish cans filled with a mixture of aluminum powder and flour meant to aerosolize and deflagrate following detonation, each with its own blasting cap. School Bombing Survivor Converted after Priesthood Blessing And I didn't know about the angel thing comin' to the kids until many days later. TC (the director) also worked incredibly hard to make this a story that can be widely appreciated by members of all faiths. Wyoming Town Still Healing a Year After School Bombing., Schoolhouse Blast Still Felt a Year Later., Survivor is My Name: Cokeville Elementary School Bombing1986 News Report Audio. Audio Recording. On May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young took 154 people hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School in tiny Cokeville www.wyohistory.org 25 years after school bombing, Wyoming town remembers the . That much I know. You have to think about what you're doing right at that particular time so you can stay focused on what you have to deal with. Because in the bus, everything was solid in the school bus. Encircled it. Go to their hands and knees and crawl out. Rich Haskell: Well, as we were talking before we started recording, because of my knowledge with the explosives and with the law enforcement and everything else, I've had many opportunitiesbecause of the explosivesI've been with Vice President Cheney when he was here in Wyoming up in Pinedale. She was totally burned. Over the course of time he did various things to get our input from script readings early on, to being there on set, etc. 96 views, 2 likes, 0 loves, 0 comments, 2 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from J.Cano: Law & Order: SVU - Best Episode It's a little basket that has different layers on it. I'd like to think so. He hadn't had anything to eat and she finally convinced him to get something to eat, and he let her be in charge of that bomb. Is that morbid thinking on my part? In most cases I have deleted redundant ands, ers, uhs, buts, false starts, etc. You can see what's happening in the world today. The wire was cut. Mark Junge: They don't want it brought up again. who wins student body president riverdale. That your life could change just at a blink of an eye. Personally I gave him 17 pages of journal notes! He was asking large amounts of money. It was a great movie, very well directed and acted. They forget about what happened in Cokeville with a lot more people and the potential of what was there. The subsequent police report states that David opened the door from the connecting bathroom, shot his injured wife in the head and killed her,[9] shot and wounded John Miller, a music teacher who was trying to flee, then closed the bathroom door and killed himself with a shot from a .45 pistol to the head. Accessed May 28, 2013 at. If you are interested in seeing the film, theaters are listed here. I'm currently the Sheriff of Sweetwater County. I contacted the dispatch up in Kemmerer to get firsthand information as to having second- and third-hand information and they informed me that the school indeed had been taken hostage. AN EXPLOSION of vapors, resultLing from a combination of circumstances at the Kearney, N. J., plant of the Koppers Coke Company, on May 17, 1948, resulted in the death of ten men and started a . Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, Repanshek, Kurt J. Here is a local story from the 20 year anniversary (we are at the 29th year now), What's your side of the story? The Hartley story didn't come out publicly until my parents (who wrote the book in the year after the bombing) began asking questions about this kind of thing. Cokeville Bombing - Wyoming Mark Junge: And your great-grandkids? Audio/Video Recording. (Laughs) Yeah, I understand what you're saying, but it was. At 1:00 pm, they pulled up to the Cokeville Elementary School and unloaded a gasoline bomb, along with four rifles and nine handguns. Returning, David Young shot his wife, then himself. results in the deaths of perpetrators David and Doris Young; 154 hostages survive. On that Friday afternoon in their quiet, rural town, a deranged couple entered the communitys elementary school, took those inside hostage and detonated a bomb in a first grade classroom. Mark Junge: What were they designed to do? Don't go past this square. Cokeville miracle marking 25 years - Deseret News Everyone else survived, and many who did recalled the tragedy with memories of the presence of angels. [8] This unintentionally activated the triggering mechanism and the bomb exploded, severely injuring Doris, and filling the room with black smoke and pockets of fire. I mean, Columbine, it wasn't that way. Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis - Wikipedia I have no doubt about my friends witness testimonies - even though I saw or heard nothing such as they did. It was suggested we say a group prayer and I thought it was a great idea, so I helped gather a group of us together. And that was their whole intent of coming to Cokeville. To go off to the side? I called back to my dispatcher and they did inform me that the school in Cokeville was being held hostage by two individuals and there was bombs involved. ", Mark Junge: So it took you three days, three and a half days. Survivors shared their stories with each other, investigators, family members, and hospital personnel. David attached the bomb trigger to his wrist and threatened the group that he might, at any time, move his arm and ignite the bomb. Can you describe this? David returned to the restroom and killed himself, ending the hostage crisis. [7][5] The reason for the wire cuts are so far unexplained. The only thing I bristle at is that TC has me suggesting that we say a prayer. On May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young entered Cokeville Elementary School with a gasoline bomb, a variety of rifles and handguns, David's philosophical writings and demands for $300 million in ransom. The only two fatalities were David and Doris Young. Eventually Doris lifted her arm sharply and the bomb went off prematurely, injuring Doris while David was out of the room.
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