SPRINGFIELD, Ore., June 13 -- President Clinton concluded more than an hour of personal sessions with 30 families of victims of last month's deadly shooting at Thurston High School in Springfield, Ore. After talking with the families, Clinton told the student body in the school auditorium, 'It meant more to me than I can possibly convey.'
Clinton appeared very moved by personal sessions, to which some victims came still on crutches. He said, 'This is a good community...it could happen anywhere.' Clinton pledged, 'We'll do our very best to continue to help...to listen to what you said to me today and work to do something' to solve the problem nationwide. He said many family members gave suggestions on how to deal with school violence. The crowd gathered in the auditorium applauded when he repeated one suggestion to impose a 72-hour observation period for any juvenile detained for a gun infraction. Spokesman Joe Lockhart said Clinton worked his way around 20 tables of family members in the library, sitting and speaking briefly with each group. He said there was some emotion shown as some people had 'pretty tough stories to tell.' Lockhart said discussion was mostly focused on preventing similar incidents from happening in the future. He said though it was obviously a difficult situation, the meetings were 'strikingly normal.' Clinton said he was initially unsure about coming, 'because I didn't want to do anything to add to your burden.' But after speaking with the families, he said, 'I'm very, very glad I came.' ---
Copyright 1998 by United Press International. All rights reserved. ---
