Word: jonesboro
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Childhood should be a game of waiting in the wings, of playing at hearts, broken then mended, of rehearsing life, falling but protected. But the news out of Jonesboro, Ark., last week was a monstrous anomaly: a boundary had been crossed that should not have been. It was a violation terrible enough to warrant waking the President of the U.S. at midnight on his visit to Africa, robbing him of sleep till daylight. It was news horrifying enough to cause parents all over America to wonder if they were doing enough to wall away their children from the bad angels...
Mitchell Johnson, 13, found God at a youth revival meeting last September. "He made a profession of faith and decided to accept Jesus Christ as his savior," says Christopher Perry, the youth minister at Central Baptist Church in Jonesboro. Mitchell was new to the area, barely two years in town, and looking to fit in. A classmate brought him to Central Baptist, and the church, for a while at least, seemed to provide a haven...
...Jonesboro was supposed to be a refuge of sorts. Mitch was originally from Spring Valley, Minn. (pop. 2,460), and he was floundering by the time he and his mother and brother left, first for Kentucky and then for Arkansas. The amiably goofy kid was upset by the 1994 divorce of his parents, Scott and Gretchen. Close friends and young relatives had watched his behavior deteriorate. "Since they split, he's gone downhill," says his cousin Mike Niemeyer, 17. "He'd get into fights, some physical, some verbal. He was easily p___ed off." The fine manners that he shared...
...Drive, where Golden's parents live in a one-story stone bungalow, neighbors had reluctantly grown used to the sight of Drew biking in military fatigues. "He was always wearing camo clothing and talking about hunting and shooting targets," says neighbor Debbie Wilson. Hunting gear isn't uncommon in Jonesboro, but some parents were nevertheless wary of Drew, who was known to horse around with a hunting knife strapped to his side. "I didn't allow my Jenna to play with him," says neighbor Lloyd Brooks. "He was too rowdy...
...though someone had died. I will never forget it as long as I live. By the time I ran back to see her, another employee said, 'She's already gone.' She just tore out of there." Prater was especially worried about her friend making the 25-mile drive to Jonesboro alone because she was still slowly readjusting to cars: she had suffered a seizure last year and had only recently returned to driving...