A Poem on the 6th Anniversary of the Chardon High School Massacre

Can you believe it? School massacres are becoming routine in the USA! Here is a poem I wrote this week on the 6th anniversary of the massacre at Chardon High School--in Geauga County, Ohio, my home. My nephew Dillon Coughlin was in the cafeteria when this happened.

The Chardon High School Massacre—6 Years Later

It doesn’t even count as mass murder,

Only three children dead, another paralyzed,

Another gravely wounded, a sixth nicked.

The shooter, T.J. Lane, an insecure boy from a destroyed family,

Shot up his table in the cafeteria before classes began.

A 22-caliber handgun—almost quaint in this brave new world

Where children are mowed down with weapons of war.

At least two hero teachers, Frank Hall, chasing down the shooter,

And Joe Ricci, running in to a hallway where bullets were flying,

Rescuing Nick Walczak, the boy permanently paralyzed.

Three boys lay mortally wounded, Danny Parmertor,

Russell King, Jr., and Demetrius Hewlin.

Joy Rickers wounded, Nate Mueller grazed.

Two funerals at St. Mary’s Church, across the street from the high school,

Thousands of people forming a human chain to protect the funeral mass

From threatened protest by Westboro Baptist Church.

The community did everything it could think of to support the students,

Their families, and the families of the deceased, but . . .

The spirits and bodies and dreams and hopes of so many

Were shredded by unfeeling bullets fired

By the desperately unhappy boy, who

Will spend the rest of his days in prison.

                                    Robert M. Coughlin / February 27, 2018

Gun Policy: Trying to Influence It

St. Mary Parishioners Try to Influence Governmental Policy on Guns

American Catholic Bishops have spoken out clearly on gun violence and too-easy access to deadly weapons. Echoing Pope Francis’s call for mercy and peacebuilding in our communities, the Bishops have asked that America implement reasonable regulations on firearms, such as: requiring universal background checks for all gun purchases; limiting civilian access to high-capacity weapons and ammunition magazines; making gun trafficking a federal crime; and improving mental health care for those who may be prone to violence.

To this end, three St. Mary parishioners, Krista Zivkovich, Dan Bergen, and myself, and the leader of the Cleveland Diocese COAR ministry, Mary Stevenson, met on January 27^th with Nick Ciofani, assistant to US Representative David Joyce. The meeting was held in Mr. Joyce’s Painesville office and lasted an hour. We introduced ourselves to Mr. Ciofani and were struck by all the personal connections we had to him and his family. Then we each proceeded to tell our stories why we were interested in this issue. The stories were riveting. I told the story told of my nephew Dillon Coughlin being in the Chardon High school cafeteria during the mass shooting that took place in 2012, leaving three students dead and one paralyzed for life. I also told of gun suicides of Lakeland College colleagues: our long-time psychology professor, a campus police officer, and one of my creative writing students. These tragic deaths profoundly affected me, my friends and family. Dan told of his wife’s work as an emergency room nurse and all the terrible shootings she had to deal with over the years. Mary Stevenson, the representative from the diocese’s COAR office, told how she herself had been shot in 1988, and the lifelong physical injuries she lives with. Krista told of her best friend’s suicide, a friend who was her son’s Godmother. In an astonishing twist of fate, that suicide victim was also the Godmother of Nick, Representative Joyce’s aide.

After telling our personal stories, we presented petitions signed by 134 St. Mary parishioners asking for reasonable limitations on gun availability. And we asked Nick to present these to Representative Joyce along with our hope that action could be taken in the future on these issues.

We left the meeting with no guarantees. But we did establish a relationship with Representative Joyce and his aide Nick Ciofani, and we did make clear the wishes of American Bishops and many St. Mary parishioners. We will continue to nurture this connection with our representative and keep trying to advocate for reasonable gun safety regulations. Our goal is in line with the goals of Pope Francis, the American Bishops, and many St. Mary parishioners: a safer, more merciful, and more just community. We are trying to do our part in building the Beloved Community, the Kingdom of God on Earth.

Postrcript: The petitions presented to Representative David Joyce have also been sent to Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman and to state legislators, Kenny Yuko and John Rogers. Let’s hope that they pay attention to the wishes of the American Catholic Bishops and many members of St. Mary’s Church in Painesville, Ohio.

Visit to the University of Notre Dame

Our visit to Notre Dame on August 31st for the Notre Dame-Temple football game. The campus was beautiful and full of fun and everybody seemed so happy. We parked at St. Mary's College and walked over to the Grotto, where we met my brothers and their kids. Minutes later I met Chris Cotter, his son Daniel, and Becky Cotter's son Austin. Chris and I, friends since 1966 or so, barely had time to talk, but it was wonderful to see him. At times I felt almost overcome by memories. As we prayed at the Grotto, I especially thought of my mother, who loved Notre Dame and visited it often as a girl. I imagine I went to the school because of my Mom. Below are some photos from that wonderful day.

Linda by St. Mary's Lake

Linda and Bob near the Golden Dome

Bob, with Washington Hall in the background

Hesburgh Library and the mosaic of the Resurrected Christ

Bob, Jim, Darby, Kevin, Tommy

Chris Cotter and Bob

Dillon and Harmon

iI the Grotto, lighting a candle

The Chardon High School Shooting

This morning at 7:50 a.m. I was driving through Chardon Square; about a quarter of a mile away, a student (alleged to be T.J. Lane) was running away after shooting 5 classmates in the Chardon High School cafeteria; one boy, Daniel Parmertor, lay mortally wounded on the cafeteria floor; two other boys, Russell King and Demetrius Hewlin, were critically wounded, and a couple other students had less serious wounds (Nate Mueller was the name of a boy grazed on his right ear; Nickolas Walczak has spinal cord trauma--his life was saved by math teacher Joseph Ricci; a girl was also wounded and has now been released from the hospital). The 911 call went to the police at 7:38 a.m. and shortly after that reports were on the radio stations. I listened to 100.7 FM as I drove to work as someone described ambulances coming to the local Walmart store and as a medical helicopter landed to evacuate seriously wounded kids to Metro Hospital in Cleveland. That's when I knew it was bad--Metro has a trauma ER unit that sees the most serious cases in the area. As it happened, one student died at Metro; two others are in very serious condition--and we pray that they survive. [We learned the next day that these two boys, Russell King and Demetrius Hewlin, died from their wounds].

My nephew Dillon Coughlin was in the cafeteria when the shooting took place. If I heard the story right, Dillon led classmates into an adjacent room, where they barricaded the door with a piano. There were many courageous and even heroic actions at the high school. I hear that a teacher (it might have been Coach Frank Hall) was involved in chasing after the shooter and comforting the severely wounded students. Other teachers (Mr. Joseph Ricci is one), janitors, and students acted heroically--we may never know all their names. Teachers and other school workers have the instincts of parents--they will risk their own lives to save their students.

From everything I have heard, it seems that teachers, administrators, and police handled this terrible situation correctly. Now all adults in the area must help the children, teachers, police, rescue workers and others involved process this tragedy. There can be a delayed reaction and PTSD in situations like this.

Everyone who lives in the Chardon area will know someone involved in this shooting. My daughter was friends with the aunt of the alleged shooter. The dead boy lived in my brother Jim's neighborhood. This is a small and tight community. We all share in the tragedy. We will pray for everyone tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. at St. Mary's Church.