LAKE CRYSTAL — He’s not sure how a routine drug search evolved into false reports of a shooting at Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial High School Tuesday, but Police Chief Tony Cornish suspects it had something to do with cell phone-toting students.
The school was locked down Tuesday after school officials requested a locker be searched, Cornish said. It was following procedure to have students stay in their classrooms because a drug-sniffing dog was brought in from the Nicollet County Sheriff’s Department.
It wasn’t until after the job was done and Cornish had returned to his office that he found out rumors had taken the lock down to another level.
“We had just gotten back when the calls started coming in that there were guns in the school,” he said. “It got to the point where a hospital called our clinic and asked if they needed help with the school shooting.
“I can only guess that when we did the lock down so we could search the lockers, the rumors got out of hand.”
Those rumors can travel fast these days through text messages and cell phone calls, Cornish said.
A handful of parents called the Police Department to find out what was going on and were quickly put at ease, Cornish said. He didn’t think it was worth making any calls himself to find out where the rumors had started.
“I figured the more calls we made, the more the rumors would get going.”
It will be a while before officers will know whether the search will result in any student discipline or criminal charges.
“We did find some contraband, but it hasn’t been tested yet,” Cornish said.
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Rumors get out of hand at LCWM
He’s not sure how a routine drug search evolved into false reports of a shooting at Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial High School Tuesday, but Police Chief Tony Cornish suspects it had something to do with cell phone-toting students.
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Rumors get out of hand at LCWM
Routine drug search mistaken for a shooting
By Dan Nienaber
LAKE CRYSTAL — He’s not sure how a routine drug search evolved into false reports of a shooting at Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial High School Tuesday, but Police Chief Tony Cornish suspects it had something to do with cell phone-toting students.
The school was locked down Tuesday after school officials requested a locker be searched, Cornish said. It was following procedure to have students stay in their classrooms because a drug-sniffing dog was brought in from the Nicollet County Sheriff’s Department.
It wasn’t until after the job was done and Cornish had returned to his office that he found out rumors had taken the lock down to another level.
“We had just gotten back when the calls started coming in that there were guns in the school,” he said. “It got to the point where a hospital called our clinic and asked if they needed help with the school shooting.
“I can only guess that when we did the lock down so we could search the lockers, the rumors got out of hand.”
Those rumors can travel fast these days through text messages and cell phone calls, Cornish said.
A handful of parents called the Police Department to find out what was going on and were quickly put at ease, Cornish said. He didn’t think it was worth making any calls himself to find out where the rumors had started.
“I figured the more calls we made, the more the rumors would get going.”
It will be a while before officers will know whether the search will result in any student discipline or criminal charges.
“We did find some contraband, but it hasn’t been tested yet,” Cornish said.
December 23, 2009
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September 24, 2009
The Minnesota Republican Party will be running a TV ad beginning today and lasting for a week on KEYC mocking Democratic attempts to reform the nation’s health care system.
August 11, 2009
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