Same song, next verse

Another day, another lockdown at the high school.

This time it was called "non-emergency" and "precautionary," although the sight of armed law-enforcement officers greeting students arriving for classes this morning isn't exactly routine around here. Reportedly, the move was in response to text messages last night, threatening a shooting, an explosion and a fire.

Police officers and firefighters scoured the buildings and grounds but found nothing to substantiate the threats. Still, all students were searched today before being allowed into the school.

KintlaLake and family, by the way, live close enough to the high school to hear the marching band practice on autumn evenings. While we didn't quite feel the heat from those burning vans on Monday night, if something did explode up there our windows surely would rattle. This week we've watched the parade of TV satellite trucks pass by on the road in front of our house.

That's entertainment, I guess. Other developments of note:

• Some additional "hardware" has been brought in to deal with the incidents. That hardware actually passed through my wife's hands yesterday afternoon, at her office 17 miles away, before being deployed at the school.

• Police say they're close to naming names in at least one of the incidents. One of the department's commanders is a friend of ours, and we're acquainted with the other commander and the chief -- good-to-go pros, every one. We're four-square behind these guys while they play high-stakes Whac-A-Mole.

• The whole affair has residents and especially parents (natch) on-edge, so the school will host a town meeting on Tuesday evening. Its tone will depend on where the investigation stands and whether or not there have been more incidents. Regardless, the meeting should be interesting. We'll be there.

I must confess that my initial reaction to what's been happening is, "Idiot kids." For my high-school classmates and me, it was toilet paper in trees and soap on windows, maybe the occasional potato jammed in the tailpipe of a teacher's car.

For these kids it's...well, it's just a bunch of melodramatic, look-at-me bullshit.

And then I realize that I'm living in a post-Columbine, post-September 11th world. Idiots seek attention, sure, but idiots have been known to carry out their threats.

The best thing for us to do, I think, is to dial back the drama, keep our eyes and ears open, stand by our kids and support the investigation. That's what we'll be doing.