New school offers hope for survivors of Amish massacre
Saturday, 31 March 2007
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Amish students who survived a shooting that killed five of their classmates are moving into a new building on Monday, six months to the day after the massacre at the Pennsylvania school. The one-room school house will come with a new name - the New Hope Amish School.
"It's just another part of the closure process, I guess, and a new beginning," said Mike Hart, who works for the Bart Township Fire Department.
The new school is located within sight of the former grounds of West Nickel Mines Amish School, which was torn down on 12 October last year. Ten days earlier, milk truck driver Charles Carl Roberts shot 10 girls inside the school and then committed suicide as police closed in.
Four of the five wounded girls have returned to school, but the fifth remains in what Mr Hart called "a comatose-type condition." The 6-year-old girl is fed by a feeding tube and is not able to communicate.
Mr Hart also said Roberts' widow, Marie, and their three children have moved from their home in a village one mile from the school to another community within Lancaster County.
Charles Roberts was apparently tormented by an unconfirmed memory of having molested relatives 20 years earlier, and by the 1997 death of his own infant daughter. Amish families attended his burial service.
Mr Hart said the new school, partially made of brick, was funded by donations to the accountability committee, donations made to the school board, and by in-kind contributions.
