Helen Hegener

From the Washington Home Education Network list:

--- In WHEN@y..., "Dale R. Reed" <dale-reed@w...> wrote:
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/25275_standoff30ww.shtml

Pack of 6 kids and dogs hold off cops
Wednesday, May 30, 2001

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SANDPOINT, Idaho -- Six children, believed to be hungry and armed,
refused to leave their rural home and instead released their pack of
vicious dogs on sheriff's deputies who had earlier arrested their
mother, the Bonner County sheriff said.

Deputies retreated from the rural house Tuesday evening and were
pondering their next move Wednesday morning.

"I told them, `We're just going to defuse it, we're leaving,'"
Sheriff Phil Jarvis said Tuesday night. "I'm not going to get into a
Randy Weaver thing."

In 1992 at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, the wife and son of white separatist
Randy Weaver were killed during a standoff with federal agents.

The children, ranging in ages from 8 to 16, would not respond to
calls from social workers or law enforcement officers during a
two-hour standoff Tuesday.

The incident was triggered by the arrest Tuesday of the children's
mother, Joann McGuckin, on a warrant charging felony injury to a
child. Authorities believe McGuckin, 46, is mentally ill. Her husband
died more than a week ago, Jarvis said.

Further information on the warrant was not immediately available.

"We know there are six children in there and guns in the house. The
kids are trained to use the guns," Jarvis said. "We've been working
for four or five days trying to figure out how to get the mom off the
property and get her in a mental hold."

McGuckin owns 27 dogs, which have been running free and hunting as a
pack in the area, Jarvis said.

"They hunt. They pack like wild animals," Jarvis said. "They took
down a moose a little while ago."

On May 21, the dogs attacked a woman who was walking near the house,
Jarvis said. Stephanie Almy suffered bites requiring 17 stitches, and
a deputy who rescued her was also bitten.

McGuckin retreated into the house and agreed to put all the dogs in
the basement, except two. She refused to come out of the house
anymore.

The home lacks power, water and heat. The children are in the care of
their 16-year-old sister, Jarvis said.

They've been home-schooled, he said.

A 19-year-old sister who left home some time ago has been assisting
the sheriff's department.

The family is "absolutely stone broke," Jarvis said. Deputies
developed a plan to bring McGuckin some money, thinking she might
leave the house to get groceries.

A deputy delivered the money Tuesday and McGuckin agreed to go with
him to Garfield Bay to make the call. At about 4 p.m. Tuesday,
McGuckin was taken into custody at Garfield Bay.

Deputies returned to the home to get the children and put them in the
custody of state Department of Health and Welfare.

As a deputy was explaining the situation to the 15-year-old boy, he
"runs back to the house and yells, `Get the guns,'" Jarvis said.
"They let all the dogs out of the basement. The dogs were attacking
again."

After warding off the dogs with gunshots, officers used a loudspeaker
to try to talk the kids out of the house.

"We were trying to convince them that we weren't there to hurt them,
and that we were there to assist them, to get them housing and food,"
Jarvis said.

At about 7 p.m., the officers left.

"The children are no worse than they were night before last," Jarvis
said. "They're in the care of their 16-year-old sister."

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