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Subject: Speaking of kids and guns... Author: Anthony [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 06:46:59 05/31/01 Thu Idaho Kids Holed Up at Home, Resist Police SANDPOINT, Idaho - Police played a waiting game on Thursday morning, hoping that six children holed up in their rural home for two days would break their silence and talk to authorities offering help, a Sandpoint officer said. Police overnight kept a vigil outside the house on a dirt road in a hamlet near Sandpoint in northern Idaho, and would try again to end the standoff with the six McGuckin children, aged 8 to 16, that began on Tuesday, an officer said early on Thursday. With their father recently dead from an illness and their mother in police custody, the children ignored officers' attempts to negotiate with them on Wednesday, instead unleashing several ``vicious'' dogs on the police, the officer said. ``Everything is status quo this morning,'' said a Sandpoint officer. ``We're hoping things change this morning.'' The standoff began on Tuesday when police arrested the mother, JoAnn McGuckin, 46, on a warrant charging felony injury to a child. An officer had lured her outside with the offer of taking her to a store. Their father, Michael McGuckin, died several weeks ago of an illness, the officer said. After the arrest, police went to the home and tried to contact the children with a loudspeaker to take them into protective custody, but the children would not cooperate and locked themselves in the rundown home, the officer said. The dogs, described as vicious by police, were going in and out of the house since being released by the children on Wednesday, the officer said. The officer, who declined to be identified, said police feared that the children might have guns and were patiently waiting for them to shed their fears so the stalemate doesn't evolve into something more explosive. I'm not sure how this will figure in to the gun arguments we've been having here. How do the gun banning people see this situation? I know I could just assume that this is more fodder for your thoughts, but then again, maybe not. I don't want to assume. I sorta feel for the kids, and I kinda see their point of view. The kids are supposedly afraid of being split up and sent to different foster homes. That's what I heard was one of the cops' theories. I am not sure if that has been confirmed yet. I wonder if that is the intention of the authorities. BUT, if that IS the case, I think me and my siblings would have fought to stay together. Not sure that we would pick up guns to wage that fight, but I am sure we would resist somehow. I thought that "releasing the hounds" on the cops was a good way to defend the old homestead, though. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

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[> Subject: Idaho Kids Update Author: Anthony [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 09:28:11 06/08/01 Fri More fuel for the discussion? Some news updates for the above post can be found below: Idaho Kids Heading to Foster Family By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press Writer SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) - A suitable foster family has been found for six children who remain hospitalized after holing up in their home in a five-day standoff with police, officials said Wednesday. The family has met with the children and agreed to take all six, said Michelle Britton of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. It wasn't immediately known when the children would be released from the hospital. Earlier reports that the state had found friends of the family who could immediately house the children proved premature, Britton said. About a dozen families had initially volunteered to take the children, but most were found not to have enough space and experience for such an undertaking. The arrest of their mother last week prompted the children to hole up in their ramshackle rural home, keeping officials at bay with the help of their 27 dogs. The children surrendered to sheriff's deputies Saturday and were hospitalized in good condition. JoAnn McGuckin, 46, was arrested on a felony child neglect charge. On Monday Judge Barbara Buchanan said she would release her if McGuckin agreed to not violate custodial orders involving the six children and not contact them without authorization. McGuckin's lawyer, Bryce Powell, told the judge Monday that his client would not accept the conditions. The mother remains in the Bonner County Jail. At a hearing on Monday, a judge will decide where the children will live for the next 30 days. The judge could return the children to their mother, retain state or foster custody, or send them to live with their mother under state scrutiny. A decision on where the children will live for the next year will follow the 30-day period. The children are Kathryn, 16; Benjamin, 15; Mary, 13; James, 11; Frederick, 9; and Jane, 8. Their father, Michael McGuckin, died May 12 at age 61. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Another update Author: Anthony [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 09:29:54 06/08/01 Fri Another update: Idaho Standoff Kids Get New Home By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press Writer SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) - Six siblings who holed up in their rural home for five days after their mother's arrest moved in with a foster family who agreed to take all of them. The McGuckin children left a hospital Wednesday night after they agreed to the temporary arrangement with a family they already knew. The foster family's identity was withheld. The siblings' widowed mother, JoAnn McGuckin, remains in jail. She is free to leave but refuses to unless she is granted custody of the six: Kathryn, 16; Benjamin, 15; Mary, 13; James, 11; Frederick, 9; and Jane, 8. A judge will decide Monday where the children will live for the next 30 days. They could remain in state custody or be returned to their mother, who then would be placed under state scrutiny or not. Another hearing will determine their home for the next year. Their father, Michael McGuckin, died May 12. Seventeen days later, deputies arrested his wife on charges of child neglect and tried to take the children into custody, believing they were malnourished and cold. Using their pack of semi-wild dogs, the children kept officials at bay for five days. They agreed to surrender Saturday after they were assured their mother was OK, they would be allowed to stay together and their dogs would not be harmed. Sheriff Phil Jarvis said ``all but a couple'' of the family's dogs - which had attacked deputies, neighbors and livestock - have been captured and taken to a county shelter. About a dozen families volunteered to take in the children, but most did not have enough space and experience, state welfare worker Michelle Britton said. The complication delayed the children's release from a hospital. ``We've placed them with a family in north Idaho that has children of their own,'' Britton said. ``We see their effort as very generous and very loving and we greatly appreciate their help.'' Britton said the department will help the foster family meet the children's' basic needs, such as purchases of food and clothing and transportation assistance. The children are physically fine, and not malnourished as previously believed, prosecutor Phil Robinson said. Officials had previously retracted statements that the family home did not have electricity. Sheriff's deputies who searched the house near Garfield Bay found five guns and ammunition. Officials said the home was filthy with dog feces, human waste and rotting food. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]