Critter control. (Exercising the Right).

On January 8th, a skunk wandered into the gymnasium of Anderson Elementary School in Grimes County, Texas. School officials called sheriff's deputies and animal control officers, hoping that they could get rid of the noxious critter, but when they arrived the skunk scampered under the gymnasium and could not be captured. After they left, however, it reemerged, trapping a group of about 30 students and their physical education teacher in the gym.

At this point, the school's assistant principal, Kimmie DeVillier, remembered a rifle that she had inadvertently left in her car. Fearing that the skunk might be rabid, she retrieved the gun, returned to the gym, and shot and killed the creature at close range. The Bryan/College Station Eagle for January 23rd quoted her as saying, "You can't throw rocks or sticks at it because it's already stirred up. The kids were inside on the floor with the P.E. teacher." She was, she claimed, "looking out for the safety of the kids and trying to make sure one of them was not bitten." Nobody was harmed.

DeVillier appeared to have acted responsibly to protect the trapped children from possible serious harm after law enforcement and animal control personnel failed to collar the skunk. State law, however, precludes persons from "unlawfully" carrying firearms on school grounds. Violators may be charged with a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell received a handful of complaints from area residents who heard about the incident and were upset that DeVillier had brought a firearm to school and used it to dispatch the skunk. He told Eagle reporter Colleen Kavanagh, however, that "we've had circumstances where kids had daddy's hunting rifle in their car and forgot about it, and nobody went to jail for it."

Following standard procedure, Sheriff Sowell filed a report with the district attorney's office. District Attorney Tuck McLain described the attempt by a few disgruntled persons to make an issue of the matter as "silly," asserting, "I don't see this as the circumstance the law was designed to cover." Nevertheless, he opted, without recommendation, to let a county grand jury decide whether DeVillier should face criminal charges.

On February 22nd, the Eagle reported that jurors had declined to indict the school official. District Attorney McLain explained that they had to decide if DeVillier "intentionally, knowingly or recklessly took the gun to school." They concluded that she had not.