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.

[Tired of Taxes]

Your "aloof" example was a weak attempt to shoot below the belt.

No, like you, I was only stating my "observations". Those children really did behave like they never received much attention. I don't know why you think I'm hitting "below the belt" with my comments, yet you claim your comments are simply "nonjudgmental". BTW, I'm not "irritated". Just trying to make a point. Hope you get it this time.

[KineticKitty]

IMHO It boils down to parenting skills, not if someone stays at home or works... I have seen examples that have given support to both sides of this debate. But yes sometimes it's hard to ignore what seems to be a pattern when you do notice that certain kids act worse than others more than a few times...

[mikhailovich]

I don't agree with it either. Home-schooled children are DENIED much. Drills, such as being called to the front of the class before one's peers to answer a question and write down the answer for all to read.....are huge. These things cannot be simulated on a sofa with a kitty cat rubbing on your feet and a nearby parent who you know will break - if you bend hard enough. Responding positively to people you don't necessarily like or feel comfortable with is another thing they miss -- a harsh teacher, learning to overcome fears, and achieve despite them. Working up a frog in biology lab, collaborating on the trumpet with 7 other schoolmates, preparing to join in with the woodwinds. The list goes on and on.

[KineticKitty]

Please do.. These cases/threads tend to get very charged. Everyone has set opinions most of the time. I wouldn't mind following it, even if I don't really agree with your opinion per say. :)

[KineticKitty]

So there are no "cons" to public school?

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

And just exactly what were you looking at? lol

[Illbay]

Of course this one happened in Montana where wacko is a way of life...

That was my thought when I read it. Montana's "Big Sky Country" seems to be the perfect place for whack-jobs to "get away from it all." And in so doing, I think their isolation puts them right over the edge close to which they were living all along.

How sad for the children. What a whacked-out world we're living in now.

[Tired of Taxes]

IMHO It boils down to parenting skills, not if someone stays at home or works...

I agree 100%. I was a working mother myself up to a year and a half ago, though we avoided daycare by working split shifts. However, the other poster claimed first that SHM's children are ill-behaved. By making the opposite claim with my own observations, I was just trying to point out to him how his generalization is, indeed, "judgmental". And, if he can dish it out, he should be able to take it. That's all.

[Illbay]

You have it back'ards. In fact, the very strange types who are all on fire to isolate themselves and their families like this, who fear "contamination" with the outside world, and hole up with guns and their twisted paranoia, are naturally going to "home school" their children.

IOW, not all homeschoolers are whack, but nearly all such whackos are going to be homeschoolers.

[TxBec]

Whew! Is the coast clear yet?

[CholeraJoe]

I think their isolation puts them right over the edge close to which they were living all along.

Ever since I moved here, I see wacko every day. When a nut job makes national news, odds are good they're from Montana.

[mikhailovich]

A 2-year old who seems aloof and indifferent toward strangers......is not that uncommon. Some 2 year-olds can be handed from one person to the next without a whimper, regardless of the working/stay-home status of their parent(s). By age 4, generally things change. Thus, your analogy is weak. Try again. And as Bill O'Reilly says, "you get the last word."

BTW, if you worked, you'd be even more "tired of taxes"....sorry, I couldn't resist.

[Illbay]

Teachers make roughly 50 Grand a year,...

Hey, PLEASE let me know where that happens! My wife is a teacher and doesn't make NEAR that much!

[KineticKitty]

"I couldn't resist."

What? a cheap shot?

[mikhailovich]

There are many "cons" to public schools. I would be all for home schooling, were it not for the MEGA VOID in socialization during those critical years.

[mikhailovich]

What? A cheap shot?

Dish, counter-dish, dish, counter-dish.

(Or something like that!)

[Tired of Taxes]

When I was working graveyard shift and weekends, then catching three hours' sleep before waking to care for the kids everyday, I WAS very tired of taxes. We cannot manage that schedule with three kids, though, and, even if we wanted to put them in daycare, we could never afford it. So, I'm not trying to criticize working moms. I don't care how anyone else decides to raise their children, as long as (1) they're good to them and (2) the rest of us don't have to foot the bill.

A 2-year old who seems aloof and indifferent toward strangers......is not that uncommon. Some 2 year-olds can be handed from one person to the next without a whimper, regardless of the working/stay-home status of their parent(s).

Not the ones I know. Gotta go.

[mikhailovich]

......plus, my name, by itself generally gets people riled up....go figure.

[mikhailovich]

Hey, nice chatting with you. You're one sharp tack, in all honesty! Cheers, and I agree with your last post.

[mikhailovich]

.....(that was to #1 and #2)......