Dylan’s Dismissed Dauntless Damsels

Jamie “Lydia” Shofner, [004412 Cafeteria] Freshman at CHS, stated that she was not a member of the Trench Coat Mafia (TCM) and did not consider herself to be an associate of the group. She admitted that she wears black T-shirts often but they are mostly of rock bands on tour with their concert dates and locations on the back. The only TCM members she knew were HARRIS and KLEBOLD.

She knew KLEBOLD as an acquaintance. They would occasionally walk around the school together but she did not see him away from school settings. She recalled one day when she was with him and a few of his friends outside of the school at a designated smoking area. KLEBOLD was given a test from an unknown magazine regarding normalcy. The test indicated that KLEBOLD was normal and SHOFNER said she was surprised at the result. She stated she thought KLEBOLD was strange because he always wore his sunglasses. KLEBOLD had told her that he paid between two to three hundred dollars for his sunglasses. One day he was at school an appeared very depressed and he told her it was because he broke his sunglasses. 😦 She described KLEBOLD’s normal attire as black concert T-shirts and his black trench coat. KLEBOLD once told her he wanted to buy a bright red leather jacket. KLEBOLD never gave her any indication that he was planning or capable of committing the attack on the school.

SHOFNER stated she was in the commons on the day of the attack at the school. She said she was lying on the floor of the commons to the left of the stairs with Melissa Sowder [004500 Cafeteria]

Anti-threat policy a harsh lesson – Denver Post Staff Writer Oct. 22, 1999

The 17-year-old Columbine High student arrested this week isn’t the only one at the wrong end of the Jefferson County school district’s new zero-tolerance policy.

In another case of students reporting on students, Columbine sophomore Jamie “Lydia” Shofner, 15, was issued a ticket in September by the sheriff’s deputy stationed at the school.

Her crime? Some freshman girls told administrators that Shofner said Eric Harris was still alive, that she wanted to marry him and that he left her here “to finish the job.”

Lydia, a proud “Goth” – who takes her nickname from the Winona Ryder character in the movie “Beetlejuice.”- but not a member of the Trench Coat Mafia, denies it.

“All I told them was how I met (Harris and Dylan Klebold),” Lydia said. "I told them they were nice guys, that I never thought they would do something like this.”

Lydia and the Columbine senior arrested Tuesday for allegedly threatening “to finish the job” started by Harris and Klebold are two kids with first-hand experiences of the school district’s tough stance against threats – even perceived threats – of violence. In these nervous post-Columbine days, Jefferson County school officials are swooping down on any threat. Kids can accuse others by telling teachers, using an anonymous tip box at the school or by calling a hotline overseen by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

But critics argue that perhaps some students have become victims of this policy, that teens already considered outcasts are being further cast out based on another student’s allegations.

It amounts to "high-school McCarthyism,” said Denver lawyer Grant Marylander.

"It’s the willingness on the part of school administrators, school boards and teachers to rely upon what might otherwise be unverified claims made against students who are unpopular for whatever reason,” Marylander said.

The school district defends the policy, saying the horror of 15 deaths at Columbine High on April 20 is enough proof that it is needed.

"Whether a person makes a threat or says something to friends, we have to take these things seriously. That’s standard practice articulated by the events of April 20,” district spokesman Rick Kaufman said.

A third and similar case is pending. The parents of Melissa Sowder, a Columbine sophomore, filed a notice in August that they may sue the school district for barring the then-freshman from classes last year at Chatfield.

The district said Melissa was overheard by other students saying she was glad people were killed during the shootings and that maybe she would have helped Harris and Klebold carry out their plan. She denies she said it.

One day last fall, Sowder was called to the dean’s office after she was late to one class. “He asked me what I think about all day at school,” Sowder says, “so I told him I thought about blowing up the school. The school made me that angry. He told me I was suspended for a day and called my mom.”

This year, the Sowders are working with Columbine administrators to work out an educational plan for Melissa.

Both Melissa and Lydia were among 18 students asked by the district last year to seek homeschooling and not return to school after the shootings. Some of them were friends of Harris and Klebold. continued.