NEVER IGNORE SIGNS OF POTENTIAL VIOLENCE

The latest in our nation's plague of school shootings leaves a predominant question that should be echoing through the minds of every student, parent and school employee: When will we take threats of student violence seriously?

Our hearts go out to the friends and families of the two dead students and 13 injured individuals in the Santee, Calif., high school. News that one of the injured was a young man from Blytheville, Ark., who recently transferred to Santana High School brought the tragedy closer to home.

But the sadness turns to anger when one realizes it didn't have to happen.

To recap: Charles Andrew Williams, a scrawny, 15-year-old freshman picked on by fellow students, opened fire with a handgun at his school on Monday. Witnesses say he wore an eerie smile throughout the bloodshed.

Apparently, Williams talked about what he wanted to do to get back at his persecutors. He told his friends about it. An adult found out.

So what did they do? The teen's friends frisked him Monday morning. The adult at some point attempted to call the boy's father but didn't get through and stopped trying.

They obviously didn't go far enough.

Williams' threats of violence should have been reported to a school administrator and the police.

Time after time with these school shootings, the signs are there: Obsession with firearms. Anti-social behavior. Verbal threats.

And time after time people are left shaking their heads after these incidents and saying:

"I should have taken him seriously."

And the names of quiet, relatively unknown towns and high schools become forever linked with unthinkable violence. Columbine. Jonesboro. Pearl. West Paducah. Springfield.

So now there's another question: Do we want to add the names of local towns to the list?

Don't tell yourself it would never happen here. Don't fuss about the availability of weapons or the violence in video games or the lack of parental involvement. Don't complain about kids today.

Do something.

If you were in line at an airport security station and heard the man behind you discussing plans to hijack your flight, would you do nothing? No. We've learned as a nation to have zero tolerance for conversations of that kind.

So now let's have zero tolerance for threats of violence in our schools.