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Augusta kids killed (Another Homeschool Killing)
Helena Independent Record ^ | 8/27/2002 | CAROLYNN BRIGHT

Posted on 08/27/2002 5:47:49 AM PDT by CholeraJoe

Augusta kids killed
By CAROLYNN BRIGHT, IR Staff Writer - 08/27/02

Swanson faces 2 counts of murder.
A 46-year-old Augusta mother allegedly shot and killed two of her four children as they slept in their beds at the family ranch about 15 miles southwest of Augusta early Monday.
Jeanette Swanson faces two counts of deliberate homicide in connection with the shootings and is being held in the Lewis and Clark County Jail without bond.
Swanson was placed on suicide watch at the jail Monday afternoon while the bodies of her children — a 10-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy — were brought to the State Crime Lab in Missoula, where an autopsy will be conducted, said Undersheriff Cheryl Liedle.
According to Liedle, emergency responders flocked to the Swanson Ranch just before 6 a.m. after Swanson called 911, reporting that she had shot her two children.
Swanson’s other two children — boys, ages 16 and 20 — were in the house at the time of the killing, but were unharmed in the incident.
Swanson’s husband, Gene, was sleeping in a camp trailer outside the residence when the shootings occurred, Liedle said.
According to reports, Swanson was waiting at the door of the residence when emergency crews arrived.
Her children were located in their beds inside — both were dead at the scene, Liedle said.
Liedle said a firearm believed to have been used in the shootings was recovered at the family home, but officials will await the results of the autopsies to determine whether it was, in fact, the murder weapon.
Court documents indicate that Swanson’s 20-year-old son reported to authorities that his mother had a .38 Smith and Wesson gun in her possession when she placed the 911 call, but Liedle would not confirm whether that was the same make of gun seized at the scene.
Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Sam McCormack said Monday morning that a motive for the killings was sketchy.
However, he said that Swanson and her husband had argued last week about Swanson’s decision to enroll the two children in school in Augusta — Gene Swanson wanted his wife to continue to home school the kids on the ranch while she wanted them to attend public school.
The children attended their first classes at school in Augusta last week.


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; US: Montana
KEYWORDS: homeschool; homeschoollist; montana; murder
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To: Aggie Mama
well dang, there ya have it!! : )
101 posted on 08/27/2002 6:48:52 AM PDT by xsmommy
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To: CholeraJoe
and....you... i am seeing a pattern here....; )
102 posted on 08/27/2002 6:49:33 AM PDT by xsmommy
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To: CholeraJoe
WRONG. They had been homeschooled for years. They started public school last week.

So, I assume if you started college yesterday that you are still a high school student? After all, you've only been there 1 day.

But you miss the point entirely. Why don't you like homeschooling? Just spit it out.

Are you willing to ascribe all child deaths by parents of public school children to the fact that they were publicly schooled?

103 posted on 08/27/2002 6:50:08 AM PDT by xzins
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To: CholeraJoe
Actually, since she's 45 they could make a case for blaming it on menopause.
104 posted on 08/27/2002 6:51:27 AM PDT by ward_of_the_state
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To: Pete
my guess is that the marriage was on the rocks anyway. Perhaps dad was holding out in the trailer until she decided to homeschool. Mom got revenge--hey kids are gone, now there is no issue. It was a power struggle--schooling was the issue that power struggle manifested itself into, but it's unimportant really--the power struggle could have been over anything(pushing kids to be competative or not, discipline, etc), but the homeschool critics here caught the fact that this is what they were griping was over and pounced.
105 posted on 08/27/2002 6:51:30 AM PDT by glory
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To: CholeraJoe
Ten to one that NOW blames this whole thing on the husband

I think the better bet would be HOW SOON will they be on TV blaming him. I will wager that we will here the cries of sympathy from NOW and calls for them to get her some psychological "help" no later than 9:00 PM Pacific time. Of course it will all be the fathers fault. They will play it up like he was living the life of Riley out in the camper when he should have been inside making sure that his wife wasn't murdering their kids. 9:00PM folks...set your clocks.

106 posted on 08/27/2002 6:51:56 AM PDT by Orangedog
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To: Intimidator
Reread #82. You definitely aren't Sherlock, are you? Time for another course in reading comprehension. This time concentrate on learning about "hyperbole" and "sarcasm." :^)
107 posted on 08/27/2002 6:52:37 AM PDT by xzins
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To: xsmommy
i have troubles with those that think that if you choose not to homeschool you are 1. lazy or 2. a feminazi.

Sorry that we come across as mean sometimes. But, that's because we're often hopping-mad about something the NEA said against us, or we've been put into a defensive mode by anti-homeschoolers. There has been a stigma on homeschooling for a long time (not to mention laws restricting it), and the movement is still fighting hard against it. Unfortunately, sometimes it means that we have to lob a few in the public school direction. =)

Our school taxes are very high, and we intended to send our children to the local public schools. In fact, we live just around the corner from both the high school and middle school and just a 20-minute walk from the grade school. But, after I had my oldest in preschool there for just two months, I was forced to take him out by the educrat principal (long story). I know other homeschoolers who took their children out of public school, too, so obviously many of us are not fans of public school for those reasons.

108 posted on 08/27/2002 6:52:54 AM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: CholeraJoe
Had enough? They were in public school at the time they were shot so what the hell are you talking about? Apparently she got her break from homeschooling.
109 posted on 08/27/2002 6:53:06 AM PDT by glory
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To: CholeraJoe
Swanson’s husband, Gene, was sleeping in a camp trailer outside the residence when the shootings occurred, Liedle said.

This is normal? Daddy kicked out of the bed?

110 posted on 08/27/2002 6:53:15 AM PDT by sam_paine
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To: Diva
Diva,
agreed...definitely more problems than we know. I think your argument has creedence and would explain why she didn't attack the husband.
111 posted on 08/27/2002 6:55:25 AM PDT by glory
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To: CholeraJoe
Of course this one happened in Montana where wacko is a way of life.

That's a funny observation. Is it based on anything solid?

112 posted on 08/27/2002 6:55:27 AM PDT by Protagoras
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To: xsmommy
Dad wants kids homeschooled.
Mom wants kids public-schooled.
Mom seemingly gets her way...Kids attend public school last week. Dad sleeping in the doghouse.
Mom kills younger kids.

There's a disconnect here, folks. Much more here than meets the eye. Everything based on this is pure speculation, the sheriff himself, who was the source of the homeschool/public school argument, said the motives for the killings were sketchy at the time of the interview.

113 posted on 08/27/2002 6:55:45 AM PDT by Sangamon Kid
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To: asformeandformyhouse
?Would It be as funny If I Implied the same thing about your mother ?
Only if my mother were in the news for sexual molestation.

Oh, no no no.....See, you didn't say "Let's not bring Rengade Homosexual Priests into this", you indicted a whole organization, so using your broad brush method, since a few women are cheap, easy sluts, your own lineage is questionable by extension.....

114 posted on 08/27/2002 6:56:28 AM PDT by hobbes1
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To: xsmommy
she wasn't forced to homeschool--the children were attending public school. I think any rational person can see there were bigger issues in this home--homeschooling was but one thing they disagreed on.
115 posted on 08/27/2002 6:56:33 AM PDT by glory
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To: Tired of Taxes
oh i understand perfectly where you are coming from T of T! i have spoken with Txbec about this as well. i think it is truly marvelous for those that can do it, and i DO think it is the best way, but only if the parent is equipped to do so. i am not a whackjob, and i am not stupid, but i am severely lacking in patience and i have one child with a learning disability. As it is, i have to do a fair amount of remedial and tutoring work with her and it DEFINITELY puts a strain on our relationship. i wish it didn't, but often one or both of us end up in tears. i KNOW that i am NOT the best person to teach her, that there are those who have patience and understanding and also are more schooled in alternative methods of teaching for those with problems learning.

i know that homeschoolers take a lot of flack, and so i understand where you are coming from on this. after all, i live in No.VA which is a HQ of sorts for homeschoolers.

116 posted on 08/27/2002 6:57:39 AM PDT by xsmommy
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To: Tired of Taxes
That is the case here. My husband would be perfectly satisfied with public school. I am the one who wants homeschooling and thinks it is appropriate and he supports me, but is worried of course.
Most homeschool families I know, it is the same configuration if you will--willing mom, hesitant dad.
117 posted on 08/27/2002 6:58:12 AM PDT by glory
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To: CholeraJoe
Ten to one that NOW blames this whole thing on the husband like they did with Andrea Yates.

You don't believe that Mr. Yates bears some culpability in the deaths of his children?

118 posted on 08/27/2002 6:58:54 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts
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To: glory
she wasn't forced to homeschool--the children were attending public school

she wasn't forced to homeschool in that he wasn't there with a GUN to her head, but obviously it was an area of continued TENSIONS between them. They had been attending public school classes but clearly it was not a MOOT POINT.

119 posted on 08/27/2002 6:59:20 AM PDT by xsmommy
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To: Intimidator
I think xzins was just trying to point out how the press doesn't blame public schooling when parents of public school students murder their children. Homeschooling gets an undeserved stigma.
120 posted on 08/27/2002 6:59:22 AM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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