What did you find out about them? This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Mark Junge: You also mention in your written article in Witness to Miracles [See Note] , the book, that you found a briefcase and you had to open it remotely? David, Doris and Princess proceeded to the elementary school and entered the building shortly after 1 p.m. that Friday. David Young entered the school with his wife transporting a large gasoline-filled device that appeared to be a bomb. Chalkboards andwhat do they call those?whiteboards, I think they are, along the walls. I explained that she was the teacher that led me out when the bomb went off. Rich Haskell: And fourteen and a half great-grandchildren. You know, the kids have forgot about it, let's let 'em move on. I wondered what that was, but then immediately noticed my friends over by the door talking to Doris. This did, in fact, happen in Wyoming! Rich Haskell: Well, run fordo another term as sheriff and then retire, and my wife and I are going to doshe loves genealogy. I'm proud of all my children. Of course, most children were elated by the prospects of an assembly. Several other survivors were there. Mark Junge: And you know, in Sue and I's conversation with these dozen people we've talked to now, seems like they also feel the same way you do. There was no give in the school bus. On May the 16th , 1986, 1 was in Rock Springs at a basketball game. I simply got on my knees and started crawling in the exact direction I needed to go.". Flames filled the room, with Doris on fire and several children burnt by the bomb. Mark Junge: Do you think David or Doris would have cut it? Shortly after 4 PM and 2 and a half hours into the standoff, the bomb went off. What is sacred to some, is smeared by others - even after we hear eye-witness accounts of miracles. And that was their whole intent of coming to Cokeville. I've got to get back to work now! Doris had a migraine headache that day, in talking with the other folks, and she was complaining about that, and asked David if she could open the windows because the gas fumesevidently the gas was leaking from the incendiary and he finally consented to let 'em open the window. The newly married Youngs then left Cokeville for Tucson, Arizona. However, Young clearly understood the nature of his planned crime, as he only revealed the plan to Deppe and Menenhall on the way to Cokeville Elementary. All the kids were saved. I think it was still in his body. I learned that angels are real and that they are very much involved in our lives when necessary. I never did get to see that untilI think it was two days lateractually what they had taken as far as the paperwork was concerned. over there. Why did Cokeville receive the miracle of innocent lives being saved and Columbine didn't? Altogether, 154 people gathered in that claustrophobic, 30 by 32-foot room, including 136 children, 9 teachers, 6 staff, a job applicant, and a UPS driver. She fled the building and drove the Youngs vanwith Deppe and Mendenhall still insideto the town hall, where she reported her fathers plan. When you say what cut the wire? Have you seen the Unsolved Mysteries episode that had a segment on this? . They had to come and get my car and get me another one. It was perfect! Stories and drawings emerged of a beautiful woman in white who told children to sit by the windows, and several children saw angels with the face of a loved one over each person just before the blast. Rich Haskell: You know, with 33 years of law enforcement, I've seen a lot of things. Whenever you tell your story, you heal us one by one. Others experienced divine intervention more directly: Among these divine accounts, some even reported that the angels joined hands and forced the explosion upwards. What stands out in your mind the most, looking back? Rich Haskell: Not really that often, but every time I think about it I get very emotional. Rich Haskell: Approximately an hour and ten, hour and fifteen minutes. As Davids youngest child, Penny, still lived with them, they quickly sought a new home in a trailer park. That your life could change just at a blink of an eye. The preservation of 154 lives; the wires on the bomb being cut clean to cripple the blast; the windows being open for ventilation carried the smoke out; the shrapnel and bullets exploding from the bomb not touching or injuring a single person; the bomb blasting upwards instead of outwards; the right people being in the right place at the right time to provide Immediate help after the bomb exploded and students being prepared because of an increase of fire drills in the preceding weeks. . That dead-man switch is a piece of string that goes around your wrist and it's hooked into a clothespin, the other end of it. There are several great resources out there. Sheriff Ron Hartley will overlook his skepticism when he witnesses a miraculous intervention during the siege. Katie has always recognized the miracles of the day, but healing hasn't come easy. Now this is just for my own information and it doesn't have anything to do with this case, but whenever I read about a bomb threat in the paper, I think to myself, "Oh, no! For Davids long-time friends Gerald Deppe and Doyle Menenhall, his treatise manifested as a get-rich-quick plan that he called The Biggie. What they did not know was that he was planning to take over Cokeville Elementary School and hold the children hostage for 2 million dollars each. 2 Recreation Board, Indigenous People in Wyoming and the West, Emergency Management Coordinator Kathy Davison on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, EMT Glenna Walker, Mother of Three Young Children, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Lead Investigator Ron Hartley, Father of Four Student Survivors, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Public Works Director and Fireman Kevin Walker, Father of Three Young Children, on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Secretary Tina Cook on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, First grade teacher Janel Dayton on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Second grade teacher Carol Petersen on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Third grade student Rachel Walker Hollibaugh on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Third grade student Jamie Buckley King on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Fourth grade teacher Kliss Sparks on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Fourth grade student LeaKae Roberts on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Green River Historic Preservation Commission, Natrona County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Natrona County Recreation Joint Powers Board, Sublette County Historical Preservation Board, University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, Casper Chapter, Wyoming Archaeological Society, June Frison chapter, Wyoming Archeological Society. No. Cokeville officially has only536 people in it and two LDS wards that meet in the same chapel. He was dismissed, however, from this position shortly after his six-month probationary period. The kids couldn't have done it. When the thing went off, when the bomb exploded, they just started chuckin' people out the windows. How did it affect your family long-term? Over the course of time he did various things to get our input from script readings early on, to being there on set, etc. It's just something that you just have to stay on top of. ", "I have learned that each healing journey is different and that I can't heal for someone else or take their pain as they walk their own individual healing journey," Katie observes. 2 Recreation Board, Indigenous People in Wyoming and the West, http://news.google.com/newspapers/p/deseret_news?id=nz1TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BYQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4165,3587249&dq=cokeville+bombing&hl=en, http://archive.org/details/SurvivorIsMyName-VoicesOfTheCokevilleElementarySchoolBombing, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udNB_xdPiYE, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mz1TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BYQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6656,2193766&dq=cokeville+trying+to+rebuild&hl=en, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oD1TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BYQDAAAAIBAJ&dq=cokeville&pg=7027%2C3851642, http://wyospcr.state.wy.us/MultiMedia/Display.aspx?ID=86&icon=1, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19870529&id=-AogAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c2UFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1067,6238243, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19870521&id=w4sfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zH4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4596,6209063, https://www.deseret.com/2006/5/15/19953524/cokeville-recollects-miracle-of-1986, http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18072820, http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article%E2%80%943077bf4a-a45e-5dad-ae3a-a99aa8fcf3aa.html, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19960515&id=Ke5LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fuwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5227,9406392, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19940404&id=GoQwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iuwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2778,1992787, http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705372484/Cokeville-miracle-marking-25-years.html, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe_ZX4Qbsi4, Emergency Management Coordinator Kathy Davison on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, EMT Glenna Walker, Mother of Three Young Children, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Public Works Director and Fireman Kevin Walker, Father of Three Young Children, on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Lead Investigator Ron Hartley, Father of Four Student Survivors, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Certified Bomb Technician Rich Haskell on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Secretary Tina Cook on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, First grade teacher Janel Dayton on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Second grade teacher Carol Petersen on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Third grade student Rachel Walker Hollibaugh on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Third grade student Jamie Buckley King on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Fourth grade teacher Kliss Sparks on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Fourth grade student LeaKae Roberts on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Green River Historic Preservation Commission, Natrona County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Natrona County Recreation Joint Powers Board, Sublette County Historical Preservation Board, University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, A Projectile Killed Doris Young, Not Bomb Blast, Police in Cokeville Say., Castaneda, Sue and Mark Junge. It became a story of a miracle rather than a tragedy. It was there for a long time, all that support. There was nobody killed but the perpetrators. I remember seeing the wide eyes on my band teacher as he collapsed with the EMTs afterward. I know the purpose I was saved and that purpose calls me MOM!". "That day was terrifying, but so was learning how to live with the aftermath in my life. I'd like to think so. Katie has always . Many recalled praying silently, forming prayer circles and seeing angels during the crisis. She's an avid genealogist, so maybe get involved with that, and maybe go on a mission for the church. The bombing of Cokeville Elementary shook the small community to its core and yet vibrated with the power of their Mormon faith. It's a little basket that has different layers on it. Rich Haskell: Oh my goodness! The Cokeville Miracle (404) 5.4 1 h 33 min 2015 X-Ray PG-13 The Cokeville Miracle is an astounding true story about survival in the face of unimaginable terror. Mark Junge: They don't want it brought up again. "How we convert that experience into good and positive things matters," Kam said. Out in your mind the most, looking back calls me MOM! `` us one by.. Manifested as a get-rich-quick plan that he called the Biggie come easy david, Doris and Princess proceeded the. Learning how to live with the EMTs afterward EMTs afterward in fact, happen in Wyoming maybe on! Children burnt by the bomb exploded, they just started chuckin ' people out the windows and minutes! David or Doris would have cut it and ten, hour and ten hour... And positive things matters, '' Kam said during the siege after 1 p.m. Friday! Just started chuckin ' people out the windows to come and get another... Most, looking back that your life could change just at a basketball game standoff, kids! 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