5 sixth-graders suspended, charged after razor plot uncovered in Mount Marion

[voivod]

Mount Marion — The plan was to slit Ethan Travis' throat during elementary school recess.

The five students at Mount Marion Elementary School had planned the attack for days. Four of them would block Ethan as he came out of school. Then the fifth student, a boy, was supposed to jump Ethan and slit his throat with a razor.

It was not an idle playground boast. The five students got the razor blades and hid the weapons in their backpacks Tuesday, Ethan said.

And now Ethan's mother is demanding to know why more action hasn't been taken by local police and school authorities. The five students were suspended by the district, but are still free in the community.

Cindy Travis wants Saugerties police to issue an order of protection banning the students from going near her son. She said police refused. Without it, there is nothing to stop them from threatening or attacking her son again. "Does he have to be dead on the floor before they do anything?" she said yesterday.

Ethan, 13, said the threat began over a girl who had broken up with the would-be attacker and then began seeing him.

Ethan said that, at first, the boy threatened to beat him up on the playground. Ethan said he is not into fighting; he prefers baseball, riding his bike in the woods with his friends and singing in his church choir.

Monday, Ethan said, friends started telling him not to go outside at school. "People were saying, 'Watch out for him.' A girl on the bus said she had heard him saying he was going to cut my throat," Ethan said.

That night, Ethan told his parents. On Tuesday, he went to Principal Tim Farley, who said he would talk with the boy in question later, Ethan said. Ethan then mentioned the threats to one of his teachers, who went to Farley as well. Farley called in the students.

One of the girls involved in the plot confirmed the planned razor attack to Farley, Ethan said. The principal ordered a search of the backpacks and discovered the razor blades, Ethan said.

Farley wouldn't comment today.

The district has suspended the five sixth-graders — two boys and three girls — but only for five days, Travis said. She said she told Saugerties Superintendent Richard Rhau she is worried that they could end up back in school with Ethan. "Are these children going to be there or not? I told him if they are, then you are going to be paying for a different school," she said.

Travis called state police who, in turn, called Saugerties police. The five students were subsequently charged with weapons possession, but a Saugerties police detective refused to file other charges, she said. "He told me, 'We don't handle things that way,'" she said. "He was just trying to get me to shut up." The same detective told her that she did not need to seek an order of protection, she said. Saugerties police declined comment today.

Rhau said that the students could face stiffer penalties depending on the outcome of the investigation and superintendent hearings. They could be barred from school or moved to a different location.

Ethan worries about what happens next year when he goes to junior high school. "I know I am going to have to deal with this," he said. "Their friends are going to want to come after me. "¦ It's scary."

[jimmy812]

Sounds like Ethan might want to start carrying a gun....

and, once again, it's over a stupid girl. she probably has cooties anyway.

[graeme]

Almost beyond words.

I just wonder why the press has to put in the singing in the school choir bit. They don't need to paint this guy like an angel just to show the idiocy of the whole thing.

Bring back the birch.

[Limecuda]

Sad, this is how society has become. Before everyone gets really up in arms about a five day suspension, different states have different rules in regards to student ages. Around here I could only suspend for 3 days, but I would then be allowed (due to age) to place them in an AEP until an expulsion process was started. I would have absolutely no jurisdiction over how the judicial system went after the kids. I would venture to say due to privacy concerns the school was not the one to tell of the students' suspensions. More information is definitely needed.

[LLFHS]

"Does he have to be dead on the floor before they do anything?" she said yesterday.

That seems to be the only way to enact change these days, don't it. Only when the shit hits the fan does anyone with any pull actually say "gee, maybe we should do something about this."

[valdez44]

sad.....if I were Ethan's parents, I would yank my kid from that school, and put him somewhere else to avoid these students following him all the way through jr high, and high school.

I realize not all parents would be able to do this, but I wouldn't be waiting around for the school or the police to figure out their tangle web of red tape they have to sort through. In the meantime, this kid could again be a target and who knows if their plot will succeed the next time.