rumors.
continiMd from Pas* one Although athletic practice was
ine a concealed weaDon Dolice canceled at Conrad yesterday, the
mg a concealed weapon, ponce school is open today. A hasty
The weapons included knives,
chains, brass knuckles and base- dismissal to map a plan for easing
ball bats tensions.
Five iuveniles and an adult Two community meetings were
Robert Pruitt, 18, of Alban Park, held last night to deal with the
were charged with consumption of Pr?blems at Conrad. Hagan, the ,
alcohol nefr the school. i ' principal, fielded questions from
All of the juveniles are students about 75 parents at the school,
at Conrad nolice said Karkosak, assistant principal,
Yesterday^ confrontations fol- of 7inn T^fhArf n°Chnrch
lowed several fights among stu- JoSe^loaifn?orLUfi«eha=nHhlVan
dents on Wednesday, most with R^„^ar^_fff"terwnm!1n<rtnn 'thA
racial overtones. Only one
Wednesday incident was released ^l-Where the bused students
to the public, although a 16-year- uaean”ians a meeting for all
old youth was arrested near the .-„fltf ♦ oa m*
Qphoni in fhp aftprnnnn for rarrv- interested parents today at 9 a.m.
^ in the Conrad auditorium. In addi-
mg a chain, a concealed weapon. tion> he said his staf{ will try to
“We didn’t contact the media break up students into discussion
center as quickly as I guess every- groups during the day.
body would have liked,” Karkosak. Eight youth officers, including'
said. “The rumors got out of cbri- two who speak Spanish, and six
trol, the rumors were unbelieve- uniformed police will be at the
able.” {. school. Several other agencies will
“There were no guns in the join in the effort to guarantee the
building, there were no shots, safety of all students,
there were no windows broken
with bricks,” he said. “I’m afraid Community activists William
the rumors that have started “Hicks” Anderson and Beatrice
today . . . might touch off some- “Bebe” Coker also addressed the
thing to happen tomorrow.” group at the day care center.
By mid-morning yesterday par- Anderson urged parents to send
ents began arriving in a steady their children to school today. '
stream to pick up their children, “There will be people there to take
saying they had heard reports of care of them.”
/
*
stabbings and gun wavings. Ms. Coker gave a fiery speech,
Many of the parents were in interrupted at some points by ap¬
pears but others, reassured that plause from the largely black
school officials had the situation audience. “We’re not at the point
under control, agreed to let their where our children can stand to be
children stay in school for the day. called ‘nigger’ ” she said. But,
Hagan allowed any student who she said parents must tell their
wished to go home to do so with children not to be too sensitive to
parental consent. that kind of name calling. '4u
’ A New Castle County police officer marks the evidence that was confiscated
>1гот
a group of youths arrested near Henry C. Conrad Junior High School
I yesterday. (Staff Photo by Ron Dubick) i