The subsequent police report states that David opened the door from the connecting bathroom, shot his injured wife in the head and killed her,[9] shot and wounded John Miller, a music teacher who was trying to flee, then closed the bathroom door and killed himself with a shot from a .45 pistol to the head. Mark Junge: Interesting, for a man to be called Sharon. The explosion would travel outward in a 360-degree circle, engulfing the room in flames.. After a standoff lasting two and a half hours, the gasoline bomb the couple had brought into the school went off prematurely, badly burning Doris Young while David Young was out of the room. Christensen loves a good story. Instead, the scars I would have to heal from would be those of forgiveness and trust.. Their only claim to fame is a boarded-up bank on main street that was once robbed by Butch Cassidy. And of course, that was very useful when this actually happened, because we cleared the room, someone said in forty-five seconds. Cokeville - old-fashioned America at its best Located in Wyoming's southwest corner, along the Idaho border, Cokeville is a small community of less than 1,000 people. And he was the one that came up with this? . Janel Dayton: Oh, time was totally immaterial! So I went through the door and tried to move the barricade. Doris then manipulates the rest of the school to go into Room 4, telling them "a surprise" waits for them. In 1979, he had been the towns marshal for only six months and residents remember his Wyatt Earp style of law. The incident was detailed in the book The Cokeville Miracle: When Angels Intervene[12] by Hartt Wixom and his wife Judene, published by Cedar Fort, Inc., which formed the basis for a CBS made-for-TV movie titled To Save the Children. The Cokeville Miracle: When Angels Intervene Hartt Wixom, Judene Wixom 3.83 254 ratings43 reviews "This is a revolution! You and I are only one-half inch from death." He visits multiple families who inform him of similar stories from their children. But the kids kind of settled in, and then toward a little later in the afternoon, not sure exactly what time it was, David needed to come in the bathroom and this other teacher and I thought well, maybe we can lighten him up a little bit and hell think, well, lets just all just go home. She dropped to the floor and started rolling to put out the flames. My husbands grandfather, or great-grandfather was in the Nauvoo period when there was a tremendous amount of persecution. Trying to get in the U. S., granted, but they were innocent people and they just got wiped out. In May 1986, cop Ron Hartley (Jasen Wade) is at a crime scene, during which two people were murdered. Debbie Sparks and Steven Moore, both EMTs, discuss on May 9 the elementary school bombing. In what is called The Cokeville Miracle, the lives of the children and teachers were miraculously spared. What made you do that? David had unloaded an arsenal of weapons along the blackboard, and I was pretty close to him and talking to him. Barta Heiner as Verlene Bennion, an elderly teacher at Cokeville Elementary who suffers from smoke inhalation after the bomb goes off. But it was really. But any rate this one teacher was on the floor and I pulled on her to get her up, and then when I got out, her husband said, Have you seen Jean? and I said, No. Because you know, he adrenalin had really kicked in and you werent sure what had happened. Play trailer 2:15 1 Video 6 Photos Drama Family History Children who were held hostage in their elementary school tell stories of miraculous things, but many adults are skeptical that the Cokeville Miracle ever truly happened. Liz Christensen as Pat Bennion, Verlene's daughter-in-law and one of the teachers at Cokeville Elementary. Janel Dayton: Well, everybody knows everybodys business. He had worked with dynamite, blasting caps, fuses, and seismographic charges. Based on the true story of a school taken hostage by an armed couple, who threaten to blow the place away with bombs. Thats one thing he cannot do, she says. While looking through a family album with her grandmother, Johnson stopped at a familiar face. Mark Junge: Oh, yeah. As I sat there and watched him, I could feel he was becoming agitated. They were just innocent people. Do you have a strong faith in God? I remember that same feeling I felt in the classroom when I prayed, she recalls. Do you have. In one careless instant (some say she was startled), her animated movements pulled the cord on her wrist too tight. She had short, dark brown hair, Payne recalls. Janel Dayton: Mm-hm. If you ask residents of the town how such a thing could happen, they will look you in the eye, smile, and answer in one word Angels. Were we to continue, however, the invextigation of knowledge, wed need to internalize Socrates; All I know is that I know nothing. On May 16th, 1986, in the small town of Cokeville, Wyoming, David and Doris Young entered the local elementary school with a bomb and held the entire school hostage in one room. Janel Dayton: Inspiration! He found his wife engulfed in flames, staggering around the room. I began to wonder, What happens if I die today? TRUTH! On May 16, 1986, when former town marshal David Gary Young and his wife Doris Young took 154 children and 13 teachers hostage at Cokeville Elementary school in Wyoming, and kept them at bay with a shopping-cart sized bomb attached to five hairpin-trigger blast caps, it should have ended in great tragedy one of the worst in American history. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Morning News. WyoHistory.org welcomes the support of the following sponsors. Meanwhile, David is travelling with Doris, buying groceries as materials. Be this as it may, knowledge and its attendant proofs remain but a way among ways. I was never really big on it, but when you find out that these things do happen, then its. Emergency management coordinator Kathy Davison instructedthe town clerk to call dispatchers. I took a few steps and started feeling heat on my skinI realized I was on fire.. Windows were opened to rid the room of gasoline fumes, and prayers were offered in small groups among the children. But it gets brought up a lot. The square serves as a boundary between the bomb and the children. With no real reason to question Doris, Williamss class made its way down the eerily silent hallway and into the 30-by-32-foot room where the rest of the school was being held154 people in all. But something would trigger and then wed go clear through it again, and then it was done until a trigger came again. Young grew increasingly agitated as the afternoon wore on. There was a lot of controversy over it. Mark Junge: Im just curious. Because nobodythe parents didnt know what had happened. (Laughs). Ron begins to return to Cokeville, when he is informed of the hostage situation. find out how After a few threw up in trashcans, Young allowed the teachers to open a window, creating a vent that would buffer the force of the blast. They knew that it was extremely hard for me to be on set, but it really helped my anxiety to process the events of the day more.. The Cokeville Miracle. They are strong believers in a higher power and if you argue otherwise, they will throw down the gauntlet and tell the tale of the events that transpired on May 16, the day an army of mysterious ethereal entities were sent to protect their precious children. Because one of the policemans little sons came out of the door and looked at the barricade, and I knew what he was thinking: Should I go over that and get out of here? I said, No, you cant do that. I felt bad about that, but that was my assignment. As tensions mounted, some of the younger children began to edge towards David Young. I told him hed have to wait in line to go in the restroom, cause it was occupied and he didnt think I was very funny at all. Mark Junge: Do you speak any [other] language? So we waited in there for a few minutes and pretty soon Doris came and got us and took us down the hall. Penny speeds to the local police station where she informs them of her father's plan, proving it by showing them Deppe and Mendenhall, still handcuffed. Thats the lady, she said, She was the one that was there with me. Her grandmother explained that she couldnt have known her. But when they got us all in, he passed out something that hed written to the teachers and some of the students. Frantic parents, gathered behind police barricades, cried out for their children as police officers ran toward the school. I didnt even know whereto go or what to do. Conger continues, I found my older brother pretty quickly, and we just started walking toward our home. Kymberly Mellen as Doris Young, David's second wife, who accompanies him on his devious plan, but treats the children with much kindness. The childrens wild tales had just been fortified with physical evidence. The bomb is about to go off. I did just what she said. Did they go to court? Contact us at editor@wyohistory.org for information on levels and types of available sponsorships. My husband had had an association with him, but Id never seen him before. We just have to look deep enough to see them, because they are there.. That, in addition to the fact that he picked out Grandma Elliott, is evidence I cant deny, he says. He said that he and his wife had lost their home five times and he said, Neither of us have ever murmured. So thats faith! Mark Junge: Everybody. Janel Dayton: Hed come to town with his gun. In another instance, young Jennie Johnsons story began to unfold: Jennie Johnson crawled to a hallway connecting her classroom to another. Janel Dayton: Oh, well! He shows off his firearms and explains hell kill children with a .22 because theyre innocent, while his .45 is reserved for teachers. But even they have no doubt that miracles occurred. I was frightened and felt that we needed to do something to try to calm down or to be careful, because he was so agitated. Some were holding hands. Some people said they thought the one on the grass was me, because we were about the same build, same height, same coloring. That looks like a deaths head with his arms spread out. And he says, No, thats where the Lord stood when he protected us.. Cause and effect didnt add up for him. Yes, the bomb did explode and it exploded in a room packed full of children, but the only persons to die that day were Mr. Young and his wife. [2] Before leaving the room, David attached the bomb's detonation device to his wife's wrist. ~ Transcriber Russ Sherwin, Oct. 28, 2010. The individual remembers reality only in learned (rather than the original and innate, therefore false) responses to right (his combinations values) and wrong (other combinations values differing from his own.). Stevens, who may be recognized for starring in the 1986 Church film Our Heavenly Fathers Plan, explains that his character embodies numerous people and does not represent a specific denomination. Williams, who was severely burned in the explosion, did not see angels that day either, but she experienced a different kind of miracle after being rushed to the hospital. So if you would just give me your name and tell me what you did at the school, and then on what day it was, and so forth. On May 16, 1986, an elementary school in the tiny town of Cokeville, Wyoming, was held hostage by a married couple with a bomb. He has his two friends Gerald Deppe and Doyle Mendenhall (Channon Voyce and Paul Hunt) meet him in Cokeville. (Laughs). Janel Dayton: No, on the other side. Reach the reporter at randy.cordova@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8849. And he demanded a ransom of $2 million per child. Id read an article that there was a group of dissidents coming up from the south. At best a probability, at worse nonsense, proof in any event is very distant from reality. So when you got out there, what did you see then? They take her hostage, and when David starts harshly yelling at a student, Penny confronts him. Wed taught for years together and one of em after the incidentI was over here preparing, and one of the men teachers came in and I said, Look across there. Because the teacherd had some papers up here, and you know, the smoke had seeped up underneath em and when she took the papers down it looked like a deaths head with its arms spread out. And I'm sure that that made him very nervous. So I went down to the office and by the time I got there they had talked to the secretary. But anyway, it was finally his turn and he went in the restroom and I turned to the school secretary, Tina Cookcause he had given the bomb to his wife, and attached it to herI turned to the secretary and I said, She wouldnt blow these kids up! The secretary says, Dont be too sure! And when I turned my head I saw a fireball hit the ceiling. On May 16th, 1986, in the small town of Cokeville, Wyoming, David and Doris Young entered the local elementary school with a bomb and held the entire school hostage in one room. Kam's lessons from Cokeville are profound: 1.Bad things can happen anywhere, anytime. Teachers were confused and baffled by Young's nonsensical, strange writing. I shut that off so fast, and Ive never watched one since, because I found out bad things do happen. . His dutiful wife, Doris (Kymberly Mellen), willingly participates, but his teen daughter (Caitlin E.J. My angel was a beautiful shining woman. She said, Lets go out the window. I said, No way! Because there was too much at stake. Which really, you know, with all the emotion of the rest of the daycause around here we treat each other niceI thought, how insensitive of you! Our job was to tell people about the church and. That is probably the movie's biggest problem. I believe what everybody else says and have faith that they saw what they saw. I dont know where to go. Some of the teachers said, Oh no, she was in on it! She wasnt. In the classroom, David held the gasoline bomb, with the triggering mechanism attached to a string tied around his wrist. Located in Wyomings southwest corner, along the Idaho border, Cokeville is a small community of less than 1,000 people. I saw bodies all over the lawn, and I didnt know if they were dead or alive, recalls Conger. The woman attached the clothespin to her wrist, ensuring the triggering mechanism was tightly secured to her body. As they entered the room, each teacher was handed a typewritten manifesto with quotes from Shakespeare and Socrates and a mysterious title across the top of the paper that read, Zero equals Infinity. Do you have anyyoure a pretty perceptive person, so what do you think was goin on? Janel Dayton: Well, and then this other teacher, or one of us said, Youll just die when you go in there. And the other one said, Yeah, the pottys only a foot high. He didnt think we were a bit funny! My hair and eyelashes were gone. The Cokeville Miracle follows the true story of that fateful day, and the. Janel Dayton: No. David returns to the bathroom where he kills himself, making him and Doris the only two to be killed during this event. Another teacher was trying to help me escape. Immediately after the detonation, teachers began feeling their way around the room, groping for children, snuffing out the flames on their clothing when a burning child was found in the dark. . But they let him go because I think he didnt serve their purposes at all. As the children were being sheltered, the drama inside the school continued to unfold. The man pointedly told the hostages that he could, at a moments notice, simply twitchhis arm totrigger the bomb. Janel Dayton: Very cohesive. But it was a very valuable experience. Because economically, its probably very expensive to have a school here. I was just feet from him. She said to me, Katie, I love you very much. No, but its a huge part of our lives. They wanted to do it for me, she says. He confides in them that he saw people dressed all in white angels. The room quickly filled with smoke so dark, occupants could not see the person sitting right next to them. David Young was the only police officer in Cokeville for six months in 1979. One child, named Nathan, explained what happened to him at that precise moment: I was sitting in the classroom playing with a toy when something made me look up. Wielding a homemade bomb and several guns, the Youngs took staff members hostage as they made their way to the first-grade classroom. I didnt see when Doris was on fire and stumbling around asking for help. Mark Junge: Where was your classroom in relation to the one you were forced into? The knowledge of their experiences has shaped my life personally, and now with this movie, even more lives can be blessed with the knowledge of what help there is from the other side, he says. I dont remember much of what she said, but I remember suddenly feeling like I had a warm blanket around my shouldersthis incredible amount of comfort and joy that I cant explain. Mark Junge: Coming out of Timpanogos Cave, or something? Words emphasized by the speaker are italicized. They began lifting children out of a blown-out window and instructing them. Although Cokeville is a predominantly LDS community, Christensen says he chose not to portray any specific religion in The Cokeville Miracle, now available on DVD. Believing 2 plus 2 equals 4 hardly invalidates Knowing 0=[infinity]. I dont know why I didnt think of it, cause I do about everything else, but I didnt. I think they didnt understand what its like to be with children. Returning to the scene, David shot his wife, a teacher, then himself. [5][10][8], When the bomb detonated, the majority of the explosive force was channeled through loose ceiling tiles into the roof, and open windows acting as vents. (Laughs) Wont go quite that far! How we deal with our brothers and sisters questions and doubts in the Church today is one of the most pressing tests of our collective discipleship. He then expresses his triumph with his second wife, Doris (Kymberly Mellen). Pickup your copy on DVD or Blu-ray at Deseret Book stores or at deseretbook.com. David attached the bomb trigger to his wrist and threatened the group that he might, at any time, move his arm and ignite the bomb. Hartleys son told him there were angels for everyone in the room that day, and just prior to detonation, the angels joined hands around the bomb and went up through the ceiling with the explosion. Ron Hartley, lead investigator for the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office, had four children who survived the bombing. Mark Junge: Why didnt they want their names attached? At approximately 1:30 p.m. on a sunny Friday afternoon, David Young and his wife, Doris, quietly and methodically took control of Cokeville Elementary. The Wyoming State Archives collects, manages, and preserves public records from Wyoming state and local governments that have long term administrative, legal, and historical value. [5] The leaking gasoline's fumes prompted teachers to open the classroom windows, unknowingly creating vents for the impending explosion. Knowledge is again a way to conceive, but conception is enlarged through rules less combination specific. As survivors would later attest, and against all rational explanations, a tragedy of immense proportions had not been set into motion. After a standoff lasting two and a half hours, the gasoline bomb the couple had brought into the school went off prematurely, badly burning Doris Young while David Young was out of the room. I remember thinking, David Young can control a lot of things, but he cant keep us from praying. But some of the little children went over and prayed. A rope was attached from the cart to the mans wrist, held there with a clothespin. So they moved furniture out of the middle of the room and taped off an area that he had the bomb in so that the kids werent with him. While he was gone, the unthinkable happenedDoris accidentally jerked the string and the bomb exploded. Behind him, leaning against the chalkboard, were a line of guns four rifles and nine handguns. Kamron Wixom recognizes the courage of his fellow survivors for sharing their sacred experiences at the risk of ridicule and suffering emotionally by revisiting such traumatic experiences that took place the day of the Cokeville miracle. During the past few days at the school, the fire alarms have been going off without any smoke or any other trigger, baffling the staff. The Cokeville hostage crisis began the afternoon of May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young took 154 children and adults hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School in tiny Cokeville, Wyo. So, I mean, its pretty close. 4.I need to pray. The film was based on the Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis in 1986 and the book The Cokeville Miracle: When Angels Intervene by Hartt Wixom and Judene Wixom. But that was when David Young came out and shot him. Therefore, rather than learn the reality and limitations of knowledge, we refute truth with some age old axiom (bullets conquer stone axes), note the bobbing heads of surrounding bigots (99.9% of everyone) and return without doubt or question to selfish, self-centered, egotistical sub systems and social specific cultures fromwhich we otherwise might free ourselves. Janel Dayton: My name is Janel Dayton. Everyone seemed to have an angel. Then they picked me up and told me to run, she says. Not everyone who was in the school that day saw angels or ancestors. Because in the bus, everything was solid in the school bus. It would not have been fair to portray this as an LDS-specific miracle..
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