By Sue Loughlin
TERRE HAUTE — Union Junior-Senior High School and Dugger Elementary were under lockdown today and many students went home after officials began investigating a letter that made reference to Virginia Tech and listed names of about 30 high school students.
The Sulllivan County Sheriff's Department is investigating, but Sheriff Bryan Kinnett emphasized, "We have no reason to believe there is an immediate threat whatsoever."
The sheriff's department will provide extra security at the schools next week, Kinnett said. The elementary and junior-senior high buildings are connected.
The letter was "really not a threat," the sheriff said. It's very short and refers to Virginia Tech. He paraphrased the letter as saying, "That Virginia Tech thing was kind of cool," and then it had a list of names.
"There was no threat of any kind of a gun being used, of any weapons being used, of anybody being killed. It's very vague," Kinnett said during an impromptu news conference at the junior-senior high, which has 172 students.
The elementary school has 220 students.
