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Everyone else survived, and many who did recalled the tragedy with memories of the presence of angels. I had just cracked a little joke with a toy tank of legos as I drove it "across the death line" or the masking tape square on the floor. Of course, most children were elated by the prospects of an assembly. Well, he had went into the bathroom and she was out with the bomb, and they said she was complaining of a migraine headache. Mark Junge: Why do you think that God chose Cokeville to save? Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Morning News. Dr. Clark is the faculty advisor of the Sweet Memories: Research Group at Western. It was suggested we say a group prayer and I thought it was a great idea, so I helped gather a group of us together. He instructed Doris and Princess, by now a young adult, to handcuff them inside his van. Survivor is my Name: Voices of the Cokeville Elementary School Bombing. Produced by Wyoming State Archives for Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, the package includes interviews with 14 people about the events of May 16, 1986. "The sadness that comes with the death of an 8-year-old, you can . In the meantime, David and Doris Young gathered children, teachers, staff and visitors in the elementary school into one central location. But it still sent flames all over in the room and you can see where all the flames were in that room. We didn't know if the blasting caps were in therejust exactly what was in there. Where to watch cokeville miracle? Explained by Sharing Culture They're the ones that died from the whole thing. And I'm sure that that made him very nervous. The Cokeville hostage crisis began the afternoon of May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young took 154 children and adults hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School in tiny Cokeville, Wyo. First grade teacher Janel Dayton on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville AP file. After a stand-off lasting two and a half hours, the gasoline bomb the couple had brought into the school went off prematurely, badly burning Doris Young while David Young was out of the room. Sue Castaneda: Which is the son who is also running for sheriff? I was literally blown out the door when the bomb went off , and i remember how time slowed down in those seconds. She is a trained rural historian who specializes in oral history, childhood history and memory studies. I cannot tell you what happened. But it didn't. It was in their Tucson home that David came up with what he considered the Biggie, a plan to get rich quick and create a Brave New World. This plan involved Davids longtime friends, Gerald Deppe and Doyle Mendenhall, who believed by investing in Davids scheme they would get rich. The tuna fish cans with the two floury would be spread out in the air likehave you ever seen a grain elevator explosion? Below the jug in the bottom basket were two tuna fish cans filled with a mixture of aluminum powder and flour meant to aerosolize and deflagrate following detonation, each with its own blasting cap. It was there for a long time, all that support. Encircled it. I actually created a website knowing that people would wonder what was real and what wasn't. Rich Haskell: It's a combustible. Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, Repanshek, Kurt J. Rich Haskell: No, it's not. At that time, about 500 people lived in Cokeville, and there were slightly more than 100 students attending the elementary school. I'm currently the Sheriff of Sweetwater County. On May 16, 1986, an elementary school in Cokeville, Wyoming, was held hostage by a couple with a bomb. Certified Bomb Technician. David Young. David went to the school office, handing out a manifesto titled "ZERO EQUALS INFINITY" and announcing "This is a revolution!" You know something about bombs. And screaming, I can't imagine the screams that she was making. She fled the building and drove the Youngs vanwith Deppe and Mendenhall still insideto the town hall, where she reported her fathers plan. It's made me, I think, more open-minded to things and don't take so much for granted anymore. Following the explosion, 79 children were taken to area hospitals, most of which were located more than an hours drive from Cokeville, for treatment for burns and smoke inhalation. David saw John Miller, the music teacher, trying to escape and shot him in the back. Rich Haskell: Yes, absolutely. And I didn't know about the angel thing comin' to the kids until many days later. Associated Press. I've got to get back to work now! Whenever they would come to Wyoming I would be part of their security team. Rich Haskell: Sure. As I got closer to it I could tell it was a body, and of course, you just start thinking about what took place. WyoHistory.org welcomes the support of the following sponsors. 10 Years Later, Cokeville Just Says: Let Us Be (before I see Hollywood's version). While David and Doris Young were not involved in an organized religion, both were deeply spiritual. Rich Haskell: Well, by none of the kids bein' hurt that was supposed to be hurt. That's my lucky miracle. I was a little bit nervous, of course. I did open that briefcase remotely like I was taught in school to do. Contact us at editor@wyohistory.org for information on levels and types of available sponsorships. Rich Haskell: You walk into the door, and I don't know if you got to go into the classroom, but you walk into that door and it opens up into the whole thing. I never did get to see that untilI think it was two days lateractually what they had taken as far as the paperwork was concerned. Cokeville Bombing - Wyoming Both hostage takers died, while 79 hostages were wounded. Rich Haskell: I sometimes do, but you can't let yourself think about it. I mean, what it was supposed to do? How has that experience shaped your life? This sub is dedicated to faithful discourse on church topics. They feel that it was a positive experience for them. And then he shot himself. Mark Junge: Did you find the bullet that killed him, too? I'm proud of all my children. Kind of a synopsis of what they were going to do and what their plans were and the whole thing. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. One teacher was shot when he tried to flee,. In what many have since labeled a miracle, all of the 154 children and educators held hostage for three hours at their Cokeville, Wyoming, school lived, though many were injured. I don't know how many people under the age of 35 know about the Chicago Tylenol murders, but for a few weeks in 1982, it was a national news sensation. Ten Killed in Kopper'S Blast and Fire in Kearney The incident was detailed in the book The Cokeville Miracle: When Angels Intervene[12] by Hartt Wixom and his wife Judene, published by Cedar Fort, Inc., which formed the basis for a CBS made-for-TV movie titled To Save the Children. This narrative was perpetuated in many publications and productions. This can, the aluminum powder, never went off. It's a little basket that has different layers on it. We figured that he had dropped down on his knee, took his pistol and shot her to put her out of her misery, because when we went out and looked at her, there was a hole up through the bottom of her chin, and it came out the top of her head. Whether or not you believe in God or miracles, show some respect. Why? Maybe writing that up 2 years ago when this came along was more healing for me than for him, but I gave it all to him! Although many were burned, some severely, only the perpetrators of this horrible incident died. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. I got a chance to talk to Jennie Sorensen Johnson, who was seven when David Young rolled a bomb into her first grade classroom. Immediately following the detonation, the teachers started to shove children into the hallway, and through two open windows onto the grass outside the school, causing chaos as panicked parents tried to break through police lines. Rich Haskell: Yes. I did see the lighting had changed in the room, and it was right in the same timeline as everyone else's witness. Jessica Clark, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of history and political science at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, Wyo. He came out of the bathroom, is what we figured. But he knew the culture, he knew the type of people, and I'm not sayin' that Mormon people are better than anybody else, but their way of life is family is first. "We could tell that he was becoming very nervous. A compilation project by the Cokeville Miracle Foundation, a 501(c) (3) charity. Virginia Tech, it wasn't that way. . 1 of 7. . The wire was cut. She was a divorce who earned money working as a waitress and singer in a local bar. Cokeville Bombing: Two Powell residents reflect on 1986 tragic event You just do whatever you have to do and get up there." Rich Haskell: Well, I like to think I'm a better person because of it. Mark Junge: They weren't big enough, in a way. A Project of the Wyoming Historical Society. The circuit was powered by a 9-volt lantern battery. Because they refused to participate, Princess, Deppe, and Mendenhall were never charged in relation to this crime. Because they weren't in a gun, the pressure wasn't chambered enough to where you could direct it. All the kids were saved. He was dismissed, however, from this position shortly after his six-month probationary period. Well, he had put wooden shelves for layers. Also, how long was it before the kids started talking about seeing angels? Rich Haskell: Well, run fordo another term as sheriff and then retire, and my wife and I are going to doshe loves genealogy. Rich Haskell: Well, I did learn later that the kids saw the angels. We had people from ATFAlcohol, Tobacco and Firearmsand there was another bomb technician that came up from Evanstonhe was studying to be a bomb technicianand we all looked at that and said, "That wire's been cut." A look back at the bombing of Cokeville Elementary School Cokeville Trying to Rebuild A Normal and Secure Life.. When did Cokeville miracle happen? That's why I have a computer. This wasn't a simple bomb. Which is hard to believe, but a positive experience in that they learned something. In most cases I have deleted redundant ands, ers, uhs, buts, false starts, etc. Retro Report took a look back at this episode, with a focus on how Johnson & Johnson and . Mark Junge: Had you seen anything like what took place in this classroom before? Well, after interviewing some of the people, what had happened, the bombDavid Young had set the bomb to have what they call a dead-man switch. First grade teacher Janel Dayton on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School Published: November 8, 2014 Janel Dayton, Wyoming State Archives photo. I contacted my sheriff, and that was Jim Stark at the time, and he said, "Definitely! Mark Junge: Curious, Rich. The basket, the shelves. She tied the string around her wrist. Transcriber's notes: I have added some reference footnotes to this transcript where I thought appropriate. Everyone else survived, including the injured John Miller. Cokeville Miracle Marking 25 Years.. Rich Haskell: Okay, I'll buy that! In a May 16, 1986 photo, the body of Doris Young is removed by officials after the Cokeville Elementary hostage situation in Cokeville, Wyo. I've spent many, many hours and many days with the leaders of the Mormon church, with the Prophet of the Mormon church. He just said just go do it. over there. After a stand-off lasting two and a half hours, the gasoline bomb the couple had brought into the school went off prematurely, badly burning Doris Young while David Young was out of the room. Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis - Wikipedia Both David and Doris had ties to white supremacist groups, including the Posse Comitatus and the Aryan Nations. The Cokeville Miracle - The American Tragedy That Never Happened Only the man and his wife, who accidentally detonated the bomb, died that day in 1986. On May 16, 1986, when former town marshal David Gary Young and his wife Doris Young took 154 children and 13 teachers hostage at Cokeville Elementary school in Wyoming, and kept them at bay with a shopping-cart sized bomb attached to five hairpin-trigger blast caps, it should have ended in great tragedy - one of the worst in American history. Mark Junge: Do you think you were cut out to do this job? It was within the first few weeks that the Hartley boy was explaining his witness. It was a great movie, very well directed and acted. David was a diabetic. Twenty-five years ago on Monday, a man and his wife pushed a homemade gasoline bomb into Cokeville's sole elementary school and demanded $300 million in ransom. Journal entries also indicate that he saw opportunity in the close-knit community; he wrote, "Threaten one and all are at your mercy." The Hilton Garden Suites in Laramie, Wyo. Others miracles were reported and some of those are recorded in this compilation.." Mark Junge: And the explosion went straight up? Many of the children who stated they saw angels were of various faiths. For me, what has impressed me about the film is not necessarily the story of Angels (which are remarkable), but that the majority of the 154 hostages chose to see God's hand in their lives that day. Cokeville survivors relive school bombing for film You should also know that TC basically just wove a storyline into and between the facts and witness testimonies. On May 16, 1986, a man and his wife with a bomb took . The Hartley story didn't come out publicly until my parents (who wrote the book in the year after the bombing) began asking questions about this kind of thing. To my right is Sue Castaneda who is the Wyoming Oral History Project Director, and across the table from me is Rich Haskell, who is a certified bomb technician. Best Episode | Law & Order: SVU - Best Episode - Facebook COKEVILLE, Wyo. Rich Haskell: There was also ayou look through the ceiling and there was a bigger hole up there. The photo of Rich Haskell is by Wyoming State Archives. Two Powell residents, Lenita Moore (a science teacher at Powell High School) and John Miller (a longtime choir director at Powell High School who retired in 2020), remember being in Cokeville during the bombing. Well, with the window being open, with the ceiling tiles being able to lift up and down, I think that absorbed a lot of the explosion of the gasoline bottle. Hi MadreDeUnMono! She lifted her hand up to rub her forehead and when she did that pulled the pin out and detonated the bomb. When I arrived I could see out on the lawn, there was a black object laying out on the grass. A new movie is coming out on Friday called "The Cokeville Miracle" that depicts not just this terrible event, but the various miraculous stories that emerged afterward. But David refused to reveal his plans entirely until moments before they unfolded. Now you are a bomb technician. It just embedded into the walls from the ammunition from the heat. I really did not even want to walk inside that building because I was just afraid that I'd see kids all over the place. From Tragedy To Triumph- Talking To A Cokeville Bombing Survivor. After being fired for misconduct, he moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he married Doris Young. If you are interested in seeing the film, theaters are listed here. For more information about our sponsors and the people behind WyoHistory.org, visit our About Us page: Hostage crisis at the elementary school in Cokeville, Wyo. David Youngs journals and writings reveal that he was a troubled man who spent many years grappling with deep philosophical questionsabout mans existence, the afterlife and spirituality. He still needed to tell it to his parents though, and that's basically what you see in the movie. Princess, Deppe, and Mendenhall were never charged in relation to this crime because of their refusal to participate.[6]. Edit: Also, were you at that early screening? She has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals on the history and heritage of Germans from Russia on the Northern Plains. Family is the most important thing in a Mormon family. And if I had been a little less of a jokester I may have seen something in that strange light. Because in the bus, everything was solid in the school bus. Read more David and Doris Young took 167 hostages (150 children, 17 adults and one unlucky UPS driver) at the elementary school. David returned to the restroom and killed himself, ending the hostage crisis. They believed in reincarnation, which probably led, in part, to the creation of Davids Brave New World idea. They just didn't let it die out. I think I made it there in record timeI'm not sure. What is your assessment of these two people who did this? So we took the tiles off and went up into the ceiling and crawled up into the upper space up there and found a .45 slug up embedded into the iron girders up in the wall, and thought, okay, where did that come from? Current students at Cokeville Elementary School aren't taught about the '86 bombing, but most know the general story. Upon entering the classroom, children saw an arsenal of weapons, a grocery cart and an unfamiliar manDavid Young. Amy Bagaso Williams with her husband and four children. The kids couldn't have cut it. Mark Junge: Are you one of the most experienced people in the area? I remember watching that when I was a younger kid, and when they were interviewing the witnesses, I remember several of them referencing "Heavenly Father " instead of "God," and I knew immediately they were LDS. Is there a news article that I could read to get a better idea of what happened? 2 Recreation Board, Indigenous People in Wyoming and the West, http://news.google.com/newspapers/p/deseret_news?id=nz1TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BYQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4165,3587249&dq=cokeville+bombing&hl=en, http://archive.org/details/SurvivorIsMyName-VoicesOfTheCokevilleElementarySchoolBombing, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udNB_xdPiYE, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mz1TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BYQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6656,2193766&dq=cokeville+trying+to+rebuild&hl=en, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oD1TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BYQDAAAAIBAJ&dq=cokeville&pg=7027%2C3851642, http://wyospcr.state.wy.us/MultiMedia/Display.aspx?ID=86&icon=1, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19870529&id=-AogAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c2UFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1067,6238243, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19870521&id=w4sfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zH4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4596,6209063, https://www.deseret.com/2006/5/15/19953524/cokeville-recollects-miracle-of-1986, http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18072820, http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article%E2%80%943077bf4a-a45e-5dad-ae3a-a99aa8fcf3aa.html, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19960515&id=Ke5LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fuwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5227,9406392, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19940404&id=GoQwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iuwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2778,1992787, http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705372484/Cokeville-miracle-marking-25-years.html, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe_ZX4Qbsi4, Emergency Management Coordinator Kathy Davison on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, EMT Glenna Walker, Mother of Three Young Children, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Public Works Director and Fireman Kevin Walker, Father of Three Young Children, on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Lead Investigator Ron Hartley, Father of Four Student Survivors, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Certified Bomb Technician Rich Haskell on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Secretary Tina Cook on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, First grade teacher Janel Dayton on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Second grade teacher Carol Petersen on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Third grade student Rachel Walker Hollibaugh on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Third grade student Jamie Buckley King on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Fourth grade teacher Kliss Sparks on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Fourth grade student LeaKae Roberts on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Law and Order in Cokeville: A Woman Mayor and Prohibition, Green River Historic Preservation Commission, Natrona County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Natrona County Recreation Joint Powers Board, Sublette County Historical Preservation Board, University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, A Projectile Killed Doris Young, Not Bomb Blast, Police in Cokeville Say., Castaneda, Sue and Mark Junge. Cokeville Children Held Hostage by Bomber., Cokeville Elementary School Bombing: 25-Years Later. Accessed May 17, 2013, at, Fagg, Ellen. The Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis occurred on Friday, May 16, 1986 in Cokeville, Wyoming, United States, when former town marshal David Young, 43, and his wife Doris Young, 47, [1] took 136 children and 18 adults hostage at Cokeville Elementary School. WyoHistory.org welcomes the support of the following sponsors. Young met his second wife, Doris Waters, while in Cokeville. who wins student body president riverdale. I walked into the bathroom and there was the suspect that had started this whole mess, layin' there on the floor with ahe had a pistol in his hand and you could tell he had shot himself in the head. On one hand people didn't want money to be made off of suffering, but on the other hand it felt ungrateful to not share it in the way that TC would or could. As time progressed, however, a different story emerged in this highly religious and largely Mormon community. Rich? Do you ever think about them? As long as that piece of wood was in there to keep those separated, it would not detonate.