ORLAND Two high school students from Orland have been booked into Glenn County Juvenile Hall on felony charges, and a third student is recovering from serious injuries, following assaults last week.
Police said students from both Orland High School and North Valley Continuation High School were involved, but ohadn't sorted the incidents out completely today.
On Thursday a police officer was flagged down by an Orland High administrator, who reported a fight between two girls, both 16.
Interim Orland Police Chief J.C. Tolle said one of the girls was talking trash. The other girl became upset, knocked the victim to the ground, and kneed her in the head at least three times. "She also pulled her hair out in clumps," Tolle said.
Using her knee to attack the girl amounted to assault with a deadly weapon," Tolle explained. "In a fight, knees and elbows can deliver a lot of force," he said.
The victim was transported to Enloe Medical Center in Chico with non-life-threatening injuries. Her condition wasn't available today.
In a second incident, Friday, police were called to Orland High to investigate a cold burglary and discovered it was connected to an earlier assault on the campus.
Tolle said an Orland High student was sitting in front of the school, eating his lunch, when a car containing up to four males pulled up. One occupant jumped out and assaulted the student, and some of the others may have joined the attack.
The victim was knocked to the ground and kicked in the head, making the attack potentially deadly.
Tolle said the victim declined medical treatment, but suffered swelling and bruising to his face.
One of the suspects was arrested and booked into juvenile hall.
Tolle said two of the males in the vehicle were confirmed to be North Valley students.
Police later learned the attack was videotaped, and may have been posted to YouTube.
Orland and North Valley are directly across the street from one another, and Tolle said the location makes for friction between the schools. "There's been a big rise in assaults lately; it's getting out of hand," Tolle said.
"My sergeant tells me 75 to 80 percent of the calls lately are juvenile-related," Tolle said, adding that there doesn't seem to be any major reason for the increase.
On Monday police received another report that two 17-year-old girls, reportedly from North Valley, were fighting in the area of East and Shasta streets. Tolle said neither was arrested and there were no reported injuries.
Tolle is a former school resource officer in Orland that once had a lot of contact with juveniles from both schools. He said it cuts down on problems when police build a rapport with the students.
"It takes a while, but eventually you can see it having a positive effect when these students know there's someone they can trust."
Lack of staffing and budget cuts ended the program in 2000.
Glenn County Office of Education Superintendent Tracy Quarne said he has applied for grants in the last 16 months to restore funding for school resource officers, but so far hasn't been successful.
"All the money is going to the bigger areas," Tolle said.
Quarne said violence in Glenn County schools is a mounting problem he partially blames on reduced money for law enforcement, coupled with an increased number of people on the street with criminal histories, due to a recent program which releases former prison inmates to community custody.
"There's been a general shift in the tenor of the community," Quarne said, noting that he believes it's happening all over California.
Quarne said be believes students who break the law should face criminal prosecution, and not just school discipline.
"Orland does a very fine job in keeping its students safe," Quarne said. "I'm confident they will get this under control soon."
As students learn the juveniles involved have been incarcerated, Quarne believes that may change attitudes about violent behavior.
"We'd like to step up patrols around the schools, but manpower is short," Tolle said.
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