Augusta kids killed (Another Homeschool Killing)

Helena Independent Record ^ | 8/27/2002 | CAROLYNN BRIGHT

[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.

[MissMillie]

"The majority of the country's teachers are not in the northeast under the protection of labor unions."

And not all unionized teachers in the northeast are rolling in the dough. In the small school district I attended, starting pay for teachers was under $20K right up until 1995, and a teacher (with a Master's degree) who had been at that district for 15+ years, was earning > $40K.

Small schools have small budgets with which to work. Unionization is not always the deciding factor.

[Tired of Taxes]

There you go again making "homeschooling" the central issue. Here's the real moral of the story: Not all PARENTS are fit to be PARENTS. No, the gov't should NOT be determining who is fit or not. But, I fail to see how homeschooling has anything to do with this crime. If a working mom kills her children, should we blame the crime on her working? If a stay-at-home mom kills her children when they come home from school, should we blame it on her children attending school? Geez, I would hope you both would answer "no". So, WHY on earth do you seem to think that homeschooling has ANYTHING to do with this murder. How do you know she wouldn't have committed the crime if her children were in school (which, technically, they were)?

[hobbes1]

Here's the real moral of the story: Not all PARENTS are fit to be PARENTS.

YES!!! The government should get into the business of regulating the act of Procreation....

[Tired of Taxes]

I'm going to assume you're just joking.

[hobbes1]

Note to Self: Go home. Start working on New Book
"It takes a Village to HAVE a child"... ; )

[xsmommy]

i think you should go home and see about a license for procreating number four....; )

[hobbes1]

Bite ME. and If it happens, you'll be the subject of never ending Voodoo curse ; )

[xsmommy]

oh it'll happen i wager.

[CholeraJoe]

Did these ppl actually know her? Or did they hear this about her?

At least two were from Augusta and knew her at least by sight and reputation.

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

Ten to one that NOW blames this whole thing on the husband like they did with Andrea Yates.

NOW? There were a lot of Freepers who blamed the husband. Believe me, I know. I battled them. :-)

[Michael Maher]

I just do not agree with homeschooling period.

[CholeraJoe]

You'd better have brought your asbestos undies. There are some rabid homeschoolers on this thread.

[Argh]

I'm a raving lunatic

That's one way of looking at it...

:^)

[mikhailovich]

Yes.

[KineticKitty]

Dont worry there are many people here that do not agree with public schools. period. lol.

[mikhailovich]

You can be irritated if you want. Touche on your last sentence. But the bottom line is that over the course of the past year, having watched these children interact from age 4 to now 5, the ones that are the most unruly, out of control, snotty kids are the ones with extremely conservative SHMs. Not only that, the adjoining classrooms have these hellions too. Once again.....SHM's. If it appears I'm stereotyping SHM's, I'm not, I'm just defending the truth that often their children are more uncontrollable and bratty than children whose parent(s) both work. Why would I waste my time discussing this if I didn't witness it firsthand every Sunday? Please note I also paid them a compliment - these children are very smart. But they're brats and require constant correction. Your "aloof" example was a weak attempt to shoot below the belt. Besides, a 2 year-old and a 4/5 year-old are two different matters.

[KineticKitty]

Well one things for sure, I bet more people know of her by now in Augusta. You know how local gossip can get. lol (not to say that it is, or is not true)

[CholeraJoe]

This one will be Front Page news up here for days. I'll post another thread tomorrow and ping you.

[bokonon]

Perhaps you didn't see my theory.

[bokonon]

I'm curious about why you or anyone might say such a thing.