Montrose Slashing - Essay 2 (First Draft)

Montrose Slashing

            Mallory Haulman started her Tuesday morning just any other ordinary school day. She got ready for school and headed to school with her sister. However, at 8:00 am, a boy dressed in baggy clothes walked up to Mallory and her sister and slashed Mallory’s throat with a knife and walked out. Thankfully, Mallory survived this incident. November 11, 2008 marks a life-changing date for the Haulman family and Montrose High School. Many news stories cycled about this unfortunate event. The story mainly passed through Colorado news outlets, but the story changed as more information was presented. The story started with Mallory and her health, then shaped into the consequences of the main and the accomplice, and continued the debate over school safety in Montrose, Colorado.

             On November 12, 2008 at 2:00pm, the Denver Post wrote the article titled “Montrose girl recuperating at home after slashing.” This article was the first posted about the slashing outside of the Montrose, Colorado’s town newspaper, the Daily Press. This article presented the whole story, detail by detail, but began with the gory details about the incident and about her father’s, Denny Haulman, reaction. “He rushed to Montrose Memorial Hospital, where the doctors were preparing for survey on Mallory, 17, whose throat was slit as she headed to class. His daughter was on an operating table, her eyes wide open. All she said was ‘hello,’ but it was a huge relief, he said” (Mitchell). Father/daughter compassion is felt through this quote. A father’s reaction can give a reader an idea of what it feels like to experience an unfortunate event that has happened to someone you love. An emotional story-like tone is set for the rest of the article. The article moves forward into talking about Mallory and her achievements. Mallory is no different than the ordinary high school student.  She is an excellent student who plays sports, softball. By examining Mallory as a person, the reader can relate to her. The questions, “Am I any different than Mallory?” and “Did she deserve this?” are presented. The article gives a full detail background of what happened, starting at 8:00 am November 11, 2013. Mallory and her sister Mae were walking together from the school parking lot into the high school when they first noticed the boy with a baseball cap on and baggy pants. The girls did not notice the boy following them into the high school. Once inside, the boy “…grabbed Mallory’s throat from behind and slashed it” (Mitchell). The boy calmly walked out of the school’s lobby and Mae screamed for 911. Denny Haulman does not blame the school for this incident.  The focus of this article was based on Mallory’s health and the overall story. Information about the suspect was not presented yet. However, information about the suspect evolves into something more.

            On Friday, November 14, 2008, new information on the suspect, or should I say suspects, were presented. There was not only one 14-year old boy involved in the slashing, but two. The boy who performed the actual act of slashing was not enrolled in the school. However, the second boy was. The first suspect was caught almost immediately after the incident and is being held on attempted first-degree murder charges, according to Coloradoradio. The involvement of the second boy has been questioned. Conspiracies arose about the purpose of the slashing. Did the slashing have some kind of gang involvement? Were the boys mentally ill?  The first boy was ordered to remain at Grand Mesa Youth Services in Grand Junction, Colorado due to safety reasons. It was not until Monday, November 24, almost two weeks after the incident, that the boys had formal charges. The first boy is being charged as an adult in attempt to commit first-degree murder and first degree and conspiracy to commit first-degree assault. Both of the boys were sent to Grand Mesa Youth Services Center. On January 15, 2009, the Denver Post wrote an article called, “Second teen charge in Montrose slashing.” The first boy is now addressed by his real name, Michael Yates. The second boy is still not identified. Yates appeared in court. A new concern was added to this investigation. “Court documents say Yates told investigators he had been up all night before the attack and the voices were instructing him on what to do”(Denver Post). Yates’ mental health is now a concern for the jury. Yates brought up the argument that the “voices” were instructing him to commit the crime. “When he saw Mallory, the voices told him ‘her’” (Denver Post). The way the articles explain the new information is like a traditional news story. There is no emotional contact anymore between the horrible incident and Mallory. The main focus of these articles is to explain what is happening to the boys who have committed the crime and their motive. Now, the motive is unclear when the mental health aspect is added to the table.

            Important news concerning the mental health of Michael Yates was presented during a court case in September 2009. Two eye witnesses became part of the investigation. One of the girls knew the boys personally and the other was just a passerby. The girl who knew the boys had stronger evidence for and against the boys. She admitted to the court that she lied to the police because she was scared of the consequences. When Yates found out that the girl who knew them personally came forward, he admitted that he acted alone and he did not have mental issues. He pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted murder in May and is serving in a seven year term in a youth offender program run by the Colorado Department of Corrections. 18 years of prison will be served if Yates does not abide to the program’s system.  Andrew Brown’s charges were dropped after this information was presented. He did not meet with Yates before the knife attack on November 11, 2008.  What did Montrose High school do with this tragic event?

            Creating a more secure campus was a high concern on Montrose High School’s agenda. The Montrose community was worried, “Could this happen to my child?” This incident affected other people in many different communities. Deborah Thomas, part of Keepschoolssafe.org wrote “I cannot even begin to describe how distraught I am about what has happened. Some of you may think that I am overreacting – I do not even know the people involved. However, I am looking at the whole picture here. If kids can walk into a school and do something like this, what kind of security measures do they have? And what kind of society do we have now that kids are doing this” (Thomas)? Montrose High School took this incident to heart and improved safety measures. A meeting was called at the high school’s gym. Parents and students were welcome to this meeting to discuss what can be done to improve safety measures and explain what went wrong.

In the picture above, I am sitting in the right hand corner at this meeting. As a freshman in high school during this event, I was affected member in the community. As a member of the high school community, compassion was shown by other schools. A school in Colorado made red, white, and black bracelets for every high school student to show us that we were not facing this unfortunate incident alone. According to a one year anniversary article by NBC 11 News titled “Looking back: One year since the attack on Montrose High student”, Montrose High School made a lot of changes. “They’ve reviewed all of their safety plans, purchased more security cameras, sent staff to receive training from the US Department of Homeland Security, and have bought electronic visitor screening systems” (NBC). Glass doors were also installed in the school and all of the doors are locked during passing periods. But, would this prevent the same situation from happening again? The boy who made the attack looked like an ordinary high school student. The glass doors are unlocked during the morning for students and their identification is not checked. In order to prevent another incident like this to happen, more safety procedures would be needed.

            The incident on November 11, 2008 changed the Haulman family and the Montrose community. I followed the story of the slashing when it was a current event and re-followed the story once it was few years old. It is interesting to see how my view has changed when re-reading the story a few years later. During 2008, I viewed the story as something that could happen again and there could be another attack. While reading it again in 2013, my view has changed. I view is as a resolved story. I know how the conflict ended and the safety measures have improved. But when it comes to schools, there will never be enough safety. When will the school violence end?

Works Cited

Heidelberg, Katharhynn . "DA moves to amend charges in slashing." Daily Press. Daily Press, 05 Feb 2009. Web. 3 Mar 2013. <http://www.montrosepress.com/news/da-moves-to-amend-charges-in-slashing/article_c9599583-6272-56ea-bad9-e4cf49ed2b62.html>.

"Looking back: One year since attack on Montrose High student." KKCO11 News. Gray Television, 11 Nov 2009. Web. 3 Mar 2013. <http://www.nbc11news.com/home/headlines/69804897.html?site=full>.

Mitchell, Kirk. "Montrose girl recuperating at home after slashing." Denver Post. Denver Post, 12 Decembre 2009. Web. 3 Mar 2013. <http://www.denverpost.com/ci_10966214>.

Phillips, Steve. "NEWS: Thursday September 24, 2009." Colorado Radio. Colorado Radio, 24 Sep 2009. Web. 3 Mar 2013. <http://coloradoradio.com/2009/09/24/news-thursday-september-24-2009/>.

Phillips, Steve. "SERIOUS INJURY IN MONTROSE HIGH SCHOOL ATTACK." Colorado Radio. Colorado Radio, 21 May 2009. Web. 3 Mar 2013. <http://coloradoradio.com/2009/05/21/serious-injury-in-montrose-high-school-incident/>.

"Second teen charged in Montrose slashing." Denver Post. Denver Post, 15 Jan 2009. Web. 3 Mar 2013. <http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_11462060>.

Thomas, Deborah. "High School Girl’s Throat Slashed." Keep Schools Safe. Keep Schools Safe. Web. 3 Mar 2013. <http://www.keepschoolssafe.org/high-school-girl’s-throat-slashed/>.