'Everybody will die on May 11'
Note found on bathroom wall at Navajo Prep

By Natasha Kaye Johnson
Diné Bureau

GALLUP — Parents of students attending Navajo Preparatory School received an e-mail from school officials notifying them about a threat that was written on a boys bathroom wall.

"Somebody wrote on a bathroom wall that 'Everybody's will die on May 11, 2007'," said Sgt. Jim Thode, with the Farmington Police Department.

Betty Ojaye, executive director for Navajo Prep, sent a mass e-mail to parents notifying them of the message that was discovered on Wednesday afternoon.

"Navajo Prep School is treating this message as a serious matter that can be considered a threat," the e-mail letter from Ojaye stated. "Therefore, the school is put on high safety alert on May 9-11."

The e-mail also informed parents that they will be having a lockdown on Friday, May 11, as a precautionary measure.

Ojaye said because they are a boarding school, they notify parents of any incidents via e-mail, especially since many parents cannot get through on the phone lines and become frustrated. With high volumes of incoming calls from parents, most of which are four to five hours from the school, Ojaye said utilizing e-mail helps to alleviate phone calls.

"We have direct communication with them that way," Ojaye said. "Whenever we have to give information to parents, it's through e-mail."

The e-mail sent to parents also said stated that the school did not feel that there was a need for parents to take students home, but said the decision to do was so was up to them. One parent, who asked to remain anonymous, said he was not taking any chances with keeping his daughter in school, especially since the Virginia Tech massacre. He checked his daughter out on Thursday.

Sgt. Thode said that there was a briefing to closely patrol the school, but he does not feel that threat is credible and said they get reports of random anonymous threats very frequently, although not necessarily from schools.

"Having been in law enforcement for more than a decade, I would say that its not a credible threat," Thode said.

Thode first heard of the incident from his daughter, who attends Navajo Prep, but said that he did not get an e-mail regarding the incident.

"We probably get a dozen threats a day," he said. "I can't remember any of them happening."

As a precautionary measure, the school had an entire sweep of the campus done and is on safety alert status.

"We just want to take precautionary measures," said Ojaye. "We have extra security provided and are in close contact with Farmington police."

This past week, the school has been practicing lockdown drills with a training company from Phoenix. All schools are mandated to have a lockdown plan in place for the occurrence of an unexpected disaster or incident.

Neither police officials or school officials have identified the individual who wrote the threat. Classes will resume as usual today.to another. He replied that the city's attrition rate is so high, that within a year or so, the city would be seeing some significant personnel savings by the privatization.

If the facility is leased, Honeyfield said some restrictions will be put in the contract prohibiting certain kinds of events, like heavy metal and hip-hop concerts.

The city has learned from experience that young people who attend these kinds of concerts have a tendency to get wild during the performance, and there is risk of vandalism to the facility.

But it is not only the building city officials are worried about. Honeyfield said in the past there have been times when not only was the building vandalized, but other parts of the Gallup's downtown as well.