By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The voice mail message was alarming.
To the White Pass Elementary School secretary: “Sorry Chris, but I’m going to f****** shoot everybody that goes to your f****** school, works there.”
So say prosecutors about the mother whose 7-year-old son was dropped off by a school bus driver in a neighborhood not his own earlier this week.
Cheryl A. Strong, 48, of Packwood, was arrested yesterday morning after school officials heard the message and placed the school into lockdown. She was charged today in Lewis County Superior Court with harassment, threats to kill, a felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Strong’s significant other said the household is in the process of moving from a home on U.S. Highway 12 to another about seven miles away up in the High Valley neighborhood. But they hadn’t moved yet, James Taylor said.
After school on Wednesday, he and Strong were home and saw the school bus pass by, but it didn’t stop, he said.
They thought maybe the bus driver was taking the child to the open gym program in town so they drove there and found he wasn’t there. They ultimately found the little boy wandering in the High Valley, he said.
The child said he told the driver that wasn’t where he was supposed to get off, but the bus driver told him to get off the bus, he said.
“I was just walking down the street, cause the driver said, it’s down the street,” the boy said.
Taylor said Strong is very protective of her only child, but her bark is worse than her bite.
“Cheryl sometimes she spouts off, but she wouldn’t hurt a fly,” he said.
The former grocery store clerk has lived in Packwood about nine years.
Yesterday morning, when she learned the school was on lockdown, she phoned to see about coming to pick up her son, according to charging documents.
She was told to come on in, but unaware a deputy was waiting for her vehicle to approach, a deputy who took her into custody just before 11 a.m.. She didn’t have a gun, according to court documents.
Strong denied calling the school or leaving a threat on its voice mail; but eventually told the deputy she didn’t mean anything she said and guessed she need to be more careful in the future, according to charging documents.
Her bail was set at $15,000 this afternoon, but she won’t be released as a no-bail hold was placed on her in connection with an unrelated case in Lewis County District Court.
The reason for the hold was her arrest yesterday was a violation of her conditions of release pending sentencing for reckless endangerment, an offense to which she pleaded guilty related to a single-vehicle wreck in August.
Her arraignment is scheduled for next Thursday.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
mental issues. and should not be around children, or responsible for the care of any living thing until she is better.
So who had the great idea to tell the little children that some crazy person was coming to shoot everyone at school? No wonder the kids were upset – they should not have been told that something like that was happening. I thought that schools were “safe zones” – not freak out the kids and make them worry about their own safety zone because some adults can’t handle their own fears. Some things kids just don’t need to know, especially since the situation was handled without incident.
To make it worse, what about the child that started it all in the first place? If he wasn’t made fun of before, now that everyone knows what his mom did, he will get picked on now. School is hard enough without making little kids fear for their safety and broadcasting your parents’ mistakes.
There is no excuse for threats against faculty or students of White Pass. I dont care how remote Packwood is, I grew up there, with todays imagine of schools shootings there is absolutely no excuse for her behavior. You cannot excuse her behavior because of what happened with her child. You can be mad but my grams always said you get more results from sugar than salt…..they may have treated her complaint and acted on it if she had not made threats to kill people. Now who looks like the idiot, and she would be first on my list to take off the list of being somebody that should own a gun – ever!
ANY threat to SHOOT CHILDREN deserves JAIL TIME!
Oh yes, she does deserve jail time! You can not threaten to kill people, especially public school officials. She put the entire district @ risk, at a time when we must be hypersensitive, and vigilant in protecting our children. As much as people like to think we still live in the “Little House on the Prairie” era, that is not at all the case. At the same time, I am no fan of WP school district, and am in no way defending them. If it is found that ANY school official dropped the ball in this regard, they need to be severely disciplined, if not fired. Again, for the same reason. We are not living on Little House on the Prairie, and school officials are delegated extreme responsibility for our children. That is not at all to be taken lightly, and needs to be addressed accordingly~
As a mother who does not know this lady or her family I can honestly say she does deserve jail time! Gun in her possession or not! She still said it and for all anyone knows she could have found one! It’s not that hard!
After Newtown, you just can’t call a grade school threatening to shoot it up, no matter how pissed off you are. Yes, this lady had good reason to be steamed at the District (or at least the bus driver), but this was about the worst way she could’ve reacted to it.
A little bit (not a lot) of jail time won’t hurt, especially if it drives home the point that this is something you just don’t do. Period. I wouldn’t let the bus driver off too lightly, either.
She does not deserve jail time. She does deserve a citation, probably probation and public service, perhaps anger management training.
This is a case of bureaucratic malfeasance that put a child at grave risk. The rumor about the gun looks like an attempt to demonize the victim’s family.
She does not deserve jail time. This is a case of bureaucratic malfeasance that put a child at grave risk. So the entire county is going
The rumor about the gun is most likely an attempt to demonize the victim’s family.
All of you people are glossing over the real issue. The school personnel are going about their normal day when suddenly they get a call from a crazy woman screaming about shooting them; they have no idea what she’s angry about. It’s okay for her to get angry, but she deserves jail time for threatening the lives of people. That bus driver mistake is a whole other matter, it does not justify her terroristic phone call.
I agree with the last 2 commentators, she should not threaten to shoot anybody, BUT…….. I too am a WP parent and grandparent and there is no special training for bus drivers and over the years the have had some real goodies in there. They have some real Good ones also but there have been a few that were bad. I had a small child that was assulted by an older kid from the high school and when I asked that he be put off the bus when it reached Packwood (where the little kids got on) I was told “But then we would be setting him loose on the town.” So a lot of the Moms had to drive into Packwood to pick their children up to avoid this 6 foot tall Bully. Today there are cameras on the bus so it would be interesting to see what that shows. All in all this is a big mess for sure and all the rumer mill is making it worse. I was present when children arrived home that day and the rumer is she brought a gun to the school and worse. This woman may have some mental issues also.
And the school secretary, school principal, schoolteacher, bus super, and bus driver get off scot free, after dropping off a 7-year-old child pretty much in the wild, 7 miles from home?
This is the stupidest damn situation I ever heard of. You can get away with anything in this county (including murder and definitely including child endangerment, apparently) except forget your seatbelt or lose your temper. She had a right to get ticked! Maybe went overboard, but consider the blooming circumstances, for pete’s sake.
I had a child that was involved in an issue of not being dropped at the right place. I only found out when I arrived to pick him up at day care and they said “hmmm he’s not here”. I drove to the school and the principal gave me another “hmm” answer. He was finally found still riding on the bus because he had a speech impediment and could not tell the driver where he needed to go. The driver had sense not to just let him go.
I can tell you the fear and anger I felt not knowing where he was for about 40 minutes was the longest time of my life. AT no point did I consider threatening anyone with a violent death. Once he was located my fear turned to anger but as a reasonable adult I worked with the school and day care to prevent this from happening again. There were threats of contacting a lawyer but not to kill anyone.
This woman’s anger is understandable but to call a school and say you are going to kill or shoot people is just showing a complete lack of responsibility.
Can you imagine…..you call the school and leave a message about committing gun violence and then you hear the school is on lockdown so you drive there………DUH!!!
That may show that she really had no intention to commit violence but there have to be consequences for actions. I a m not sure that felony charges are the answer but there needs to be some criminal sanctions to send the strong message. She was already facing charges of endangerment so there is a question of judgment for this women who is almost on her fifties.
Norma Bates
The bus driver should be fired and the mother should be charged with making the threats but under the circumstances be let off with some anger management class’. The mother’s actions were based on emotion from her child basically missing but there is no excuse for what the bus driver did and he should be fired. The buses have radio’s, all he had to do was pick it up and get verification. Dispatch could have easily called the parents and got back to the driver as where to drop off. The driver failed to protect the child and is negligent.
I think that when she found her kid roaming high valley, she flipped out! As would I. That’s scary. There’s alot of weirdos up there, tweekers and sex offenders. The bus driver should be in just add much trouble. How hard is it to radio the school and ask the office to check the address? Or call the mom, because the kid keeps saying that’s not where I’m supposed to go. ? So stupid. This is nothing new tho. A lot of mistakes happen on the bus, I’ve had friends kids have this happen to them. I’m not saying she had the right to ever threaten the school, staff or our kids, but I can see why she would be upset and irrational. And now what’s gonna happen? What kind of time it’s she looking at? Who’s gonna care for her child now? Crazy!!
Being a parent of a child that goes to this school, I take this as a personal threat my child. She should get the maximum time. Yes I would be upset if my child was dropped of were they werent supposed to be. But I also find that statement hard to believe, I have a nine yr old and her bus driver will not drop her of without confirming I’m home if my car is gone. And if the bus driver did drop the child of I’m sure they were given written instruction to do so. But if her story is as she claims, there are obvios ways to handle the situation other than death threats. Is she so stupid as to not relise after leaving that message that ahe might not be the cause of a lockdown. Im gratefull the school took these precationary messures. I feel very sorry for her poor child.
Good! that mother should be in jail, she shouldn’t of threaten anyone over the phone, she should of been civil telling the bus driver where her child needs to be dropped off, and how do we even know she told anyone that her kid has a new bus stop. That is her own fault in the first place! Be glad she is locked up bc there is alot of parents that are scared and upset with her stupidity!!!
She deserves what she gets, she scared a lot of parents and children. She should of handled it in a different way. Yes I would be very upset as well if my child was dropped off at the wrong address but the way she handles this was way out of control. Because of her childish acted I saw a lot of upset children crying and afraid. How would she feel if it was the other way around!!!!!!!
Take the bus driver to jail for child endangerment.
Her charges should’ve been downgraded significantly when they found no gun in her possession,, to like misdemeanor verbal abuse, or something!! It sounds like she is getting a bad deal on this one!! I know I would be a little pissed off if I found my kid wandering around lost,, especially if the bus driver told him to get off the buss after ignoring my child’s pleas that wasn’t where he is supossed to get off at!! Sounds like the bus driver needs to go to back to training classes, or at least get a stern warning!!!!