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DISCLAIMER: ‘Letters to the Editor’ is a platform for members of the public-at-large to express their personal views on current events. The views expressed in these letters do not reflect the views of The Ratonian. The Ratonian has no affiliation or attachment to any of the information, content, material, products or services included in the Letters to the Editor published and, subsequently, will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, punitive or consequential damages that may incur.
Raton School Lock Down
September 21, 2024 Letter to the Editor
Although I am neither a parent, grandparent nor family member of any of the children attending Raton Public Schools, the lack of information disseminated to the community during the threat/lockdown situation on Tuesday, September 17, 2024 was absolutely appalling.
This left students and their families to deal with a terrifying situation on their own. It left the community in a state of shock and bewilderment. With no official word, “rumors” started spreading. Sources of the unofficial information being shared were mostly students in lockdown and relayed assumably by parents, family members and acquaintances.
It would be more than 48 hours before Raton Police Department released a statement; a rather overly wordy account of RPD receiving a report of a “possible threat”, no report received of active shooter on campus, campus, backpacks and lockers searched but no guns found, two electronic devices found (with no mention of what they were) and the mention of several juveniles being interviewed, but no arrests made.
For the better part of that afternoon, a popular Raton community group on Facebook was actively discussing the incident and the information (rumors) shared indicated an 8th grade female was in possession of a gun, had two accomplices and had made threats of shooting up the school. She had a plan to exit a building around lunchtime, pull a fire alarm and lay in wait outside the building to shoot those who she hadn’t already gotten as they evacuated the building.
An Anonymous Participant in the group decided the identity of this girl must be made public, and although the child’s name was not mentioned, this post accompanied a screenshot of the girl’s face in a video on her TikTok account: “It’s wonderful how the kid they “caught” with all the guns in their backpack is chillin’ at home, right now, making content on TikTok glorifying being a school shooter. Wonderful job.” Unfortunately, this child’s TikTok isn’t private, so it was easy to find it as her account name appeared in the screenshot.
The video itself was uncomfortable in that it was set to the song “Pumped Up Kicks” (a song about a youth who is actively planning to shoot up their school) and includes the young girl making gestures indicative of having a gun. The video was captioned: “How I feel after thole school accuses me of being the shooter.” A couple of other videos which appeared to be created at or around the same time (different music) also were posted to her account; one being captioned “Yall stop I’m not the school shooter stop viewing, my profile”. This particular video became littered with comments stating she is the shooter, weird, etc. One of her commentors put up a few of her videos on their profile with a lot of accusatory commentary on things she has done, she’s mental, an “asian fisher” and does “crazy shit for attention”.
Eventually the admin of the group removed the post, but not until after it had been seen and likely widely shared by many.
At the end of the day on September 17, the public had received less than a handful of updates, a couple being from Raton Public Schools. An announcement was made that school was cancelled the next day, to resume on the 19th. Later a reassurance from the superintendent that it was safe for the children to return.
I don’t know the back story of the girl in the Facebook post. There doesn’t appear to be a lot of interaction on her videos and most are what one would expect from a child that age. I’m not sure that she’s from Raton but I’m guessing she marches to a different beat, at least. I also think she’s bullied. There is a string of Japanese (characters) under her name which translates to: “Hello, this is [redacted]. I want to make friends.”
Comments on her videos have escalated since the lockdown. Recent ones are not nice. Would there be such a visceral reaction to her had Raton Police Department released a statement much earlier regarding their findings? Maybe not, and we’ll never know.
At one point, an RPD official did comment on the community page about rumors. Obviously RPD had knowledge that their findings were vastly different than what the public was sharing, so why not release an official statement, even a general statement and advise the public that what was being spread around had no basis in fact? In the press release, it was written: “In a dynamic situation it is not always easy to get the information out so desperately needed by the parents of children in school.” Why is that, RPD? We live in a digital age where information is widely shared in milliseconds. RPD was able to get on social media (the very group aforementioned) to advise people against spreading rumors but unable to make a statement regarding the crux of the incident no sooner than 48 hours later? It takes but a minute to send an email to news agencies with an update. It takes just as long to post on social media a reassuring comment as it does to comment on rumors.
In closing the press release, Chief Garcia said “…The spreading of misinformation and anger amongst social media platforms is uncalled for and quite frankly a shame, and a disservice to this community, considering the outcome of this event.” No, Chief Garcia, the fact that RPD failed to issue any timely statement and allowed the anger and rumors to continue is what is a shame and disservice to this community. Your failure to officially notify the public of the outcome of the event, by the time students were released that day fueled the continuing rumors and left the community in a state of angst.
Counselors were in place to help children deal with the trauma. WHO is dealing with the trauma the girl everyone is saying is “the shooter” is likely experiencing? WHO is even aware that their kids are posting awful things to this girl’s social media and perpetuating her being “the shooter”? WHO even cares? While you may not be able to stop bullying that may be going on, neither did you make ANY effort to dispel the rumors.
DO BETTER, RPD.
Anonymous by request
Our Community Deserves Better
September 22, 2024 Letter to the Editor
The school lock down this past week was handled very well by our first responders and the schools, but, once the actions were taken to keep our students, teachers, and the community safe, the parents and the rest of the community had the right to know what was happening. The Raton Police Department is to protect and to serve, and part of serving is to keep the public informed so that the parents and the rest of the community have the facts of what is happening. There is nothing worse than a vacuum of information. If no facts are given, the void will be filled with their own narratives, rumors, and speculation. Although Raton Police Chief Garcia did finally provide a press release 48 hours after the fact, the public needed to know immediately during the threat that the police were on the job at the time of the lock down, and that information would be released to the community when the threat was over, not two days later. The details weren’t necessary, just a message to the public that everything was under control.
Our community deserves a police department that is engaged in the community, not hidden behind the ivory tower.
Anonymous by request
September 1, 2024 Letter to the Editor
On August 13, 2024, the Colfax County Commissioners met for over 3 hours and during the last half of the meeting, discussed the recent removal and destruction of custom furniture in the former office of the County Clerk in the County Courthouse. The custom furniture was guessed to have been built into the courthouse corner office in the 1970’s. The space and the attached furniture were scheduled to be used by the Colfax County Treasurer’s Office. The furniture was attached to the walls and floors. Removing the property caused significant damage. At this time, there is no estimate of the dollar value of the custom furniture.
The County Manager recounted his experience of the afternoon of July 29, 2024 and provided clips from
security camera video showing a private vehicle leaving with county furniture in the back of a pickup. The
vehicle made three trips with office furniture off of County property. The County Manager texted repeatedly and emailed the County Clerk to return the equipment or the Manager would call the State Police. The furniture had been taken across town, obviously unloaded and then reloaded, onto a trailer pulled by a privately-owned silver pickup. The furniture was delivered in one trip to the County Clerk’s office across the alley from the Courthouse.
On August 13, 2024 the Commissioners heard the County Clerk’s explanation of how she was involved in the July 29, 2024 removal of the furniture from County property, and the return of the broken and unusable custom-built desks the same afternoon. A man, who was seated in the audience and did not identify himself, also gave a detailed description of his involvement. The County Clerk said that she got permission from Commissioner Mary Jane Kern to remove the furniture. Kern declined to comment “upon instruction of my attorney.”
It was recommended to the Commission to take $30,000 from the County Clerk’s office budget (public funds) to begin to replace and repair the damaged work area. The Commissioners voted to transfer, at this time, $10,000 in county funds from the County Clerk’s budget to the Treasurer’s budget to purchase new furniture and equipment for the third-floor corner office.
The elected County Clerk’s behavior is criminal, egregious and should be punished. The County Clerk’s
destruction of county property should be paid out of the County Clerk’s personal funds — not financed out of public funds.
Anonymous (as requested)
Editor’s Note: The Colfax County Commission meeting can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpKZPHSRoNM&t=9657s
December 5, 2023 Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
I am seeking info regarding the lack of transportation options available to the residents of Raton. I know there is a senior shuttle available, but what about individuals who aren’t eligible for that service, such as the disabled or folks who prefer not to or can’t drive?
I can somewhat understand the lack of a public transportation system for a small town, but why is there no Uber, Lyft or taxi service available to fill that void? I’ve heard the city won’t allow at least Uber and Lyft, but would like clarification as to why, if this is true and perhaps you could share with both city and county what is available, if anything.
D Stetser
Posted December 17, 2023 – Editor’s Response
The question of public transportation has been raised at recent city commission meetings. It was pointed out that there is only one grocery store that is located on the south end of town, and that there are many elderly, and others that may not drive, or have a vehicle to drive and either have to walk the distance, or depend on others. However, the Commissioners all expressed their belief that Raton does not need public transportation. They believe that the Senior Center van takes care of the elderly need for transportation and that there are not enough others who need transportation to warrant spending any money on public transportation.
I suggest that a group of citizens, who want the city to address the lack of public transportation, to organize to research possible solutions and present those suggestions to the commissioners and the city manager at a regularly scheduled city commission meeting. The city commission meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesday at 6:00 PM at City Hall, 224 Savage Avenue.