Wednesday, June 17, 1998
Laredo Morning Times
NATIONAL
Senate panel discusses music warning labels
BY EUN-KYUNG KIM
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The 13year-old Arkansas boy accused
of gunning down classmates
was influenced by the violence
portrayed in the rap music he
played repeatedly before the
shooting, his English teacher
told lawmakers Tuesday.
Mitchell Johnson listened to
gangsta-rap artists including
Tupac Shakur and Bone Thugs
‘N Harmony “over and over” in
the months leading to the
March rampage in Jonesboro,
Ark., said teacher Debbie
Pelley. Often, he sang along to
the lyrics, like the ones about
“coming to school and killing all
the kids.”
“Mitchell brought this music to
school with him, listened to it
on the bus, tried listening to it
in classes .... He was far more
into this music than anyone
else (friends) knew,” Pelley told
the Senate Commerce Science
and Transportation Committee,
which is considering the effectiveness of advisory labels on
music.
Senators expressed concern
that label warnings are failing
to tell parents enough information about such music, which
they said sends strong messages of violence and sex.
But Hilary Rosen, president of
Kinkel arraigned in
school shooting charges
BY BRAD CAIN
Associated Press Writer
EUGENE, Ore. - Standing
before a judge and some of those
he’s accused of shooting, 15year-old Kip Kinkel listened
Tuesday to dozens of charges
against him in a rampage that left
his parents and two classmates
dead.
“He’s going to pay for what he
did,” said Nichole Buckholtz, a 17year-old who suffered a gunshot
wound to the leg. “Seeing him in
handcuffs showed he wasn’t so
powerful. On May 21, he held the
lives of everyone in the cafeteria in
his hands. Now he’s helpless.
He’s not so big and bad.”
Kinkel, wearing a white polo
shirt over a bulletproof vest,
answered softly “yes” when
asked if his name and birthdate
were correct on the indictment.
His attorneys were granted more
time before entering a plea.
When the three-minute arraignment was over, the freckle-faced
defendant was turned toward the
packed courtroom gallery to be
handcuffed. He glanced up and
gave a wide-eyed look at the 60
spectators, including several of
the Thurston High School students injured in the shooting.
Most of the hearing was taken
up with Judge Jack Mattison
reading the list of charges,
stemming from the day before
the shooting when Kinkel was
arrested with a gun at school.
Hours after he was released to
his schoolteacher parents, he
allegedly shot them to death,
went to Springfield’s Thurston
High cafeteria and fired his rifle
from the hip, killing two classmates and wounding 22 others.
Kinkel faces four counts of
aggravated murder, 26 counts of
attempted aggravated murder,
six counts of first-degree
assault, 18 counts of seconddegree assault, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful
manufacture of a destructive
device, possession of a destructive device and first-degree theft.
If convicted of the adult charges,
he could face life behind bars.
Under Oregon law, juveniles cannot get the death penalty.
No date was immediately set
for the next hearing. Kinkel was
taken back to a juvenile detention center where he is being
held without bond under a suicide watch.
The Oregon shooting was one
of several fatal rampages at
schools around the country.
the
Recording
Industry
Association of America, said
lawmakers are using the
school shooting as an excuse
for censorship. During a news
conference before the hearing,
Rosen referred to a media profile of Mitchell that mentioned
his active participation in his
Baptist church and choir.
“Nothing in that music made a
troubled young child commit
that crime,” Rosen said.
Sen. Sam Brownback, RKan., who sought the hearing,
said he was concerned that the
music industry is marketing its
most violent and misogynist
music to teens.
“While industry executives
assert that children are protected from this music, much evidence suggests that most
hyper-violent
albums
are
bought by children. There don’t
seem to be many Marilyn
Manson fans over the age of
20,” he said, referring to the
shock rocker whose lyrics have
been blamed for influencing the
suicide of at least one teenager.
The suicide was the topic of
the panel’s last hearing on the
topic. Sen. Byron Dorgan, DN.D., recalled how the boy’s
father had testified that his son
was listening to a Marilyn
Manson song when he killed
himself.
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