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A Spotsylvania County woman was so disturbed by the Santee, Calif., school shooting, she created a Web site where kids can expose classmates who threaten violence. Date published: 4/7/2001
When Spotsylvania County resident Nancy Brown heard about last month's Santee, Calif., school shooting, she just couldn't take it anymore. Brown, 41, a mother of four and grandmother of three, decided she had to do something. "I was fed up," she said. "That was it." So she created reportsomeone.com, a Web site where people can report threats of violence, weapons at school and other concerns anonymously. "I just didn't work for two days, let my phone ring, and worked on the Web site," she said. She passes the anonymous tips along to law enforcement and school officials. So far, she has gotten seven tips, all in Virginia. Just one turned out to be a false report. She will not divulge the precise locations. "How many people's lives have been saved?" she asked. "We don't know. But at least the schools are made aware." Brown talks like a speeding bullet. Her life is just as fast-paced. Brown already runs Alexis Mia Publishing Co., named after her granddaughter. She also operates the yourmilitary.com Web site and has a nonprofit program to prevent teens from driving recklessly. She juggles the work of her corporations out of a cramped office in her Ballantraye townhouse. A copy machine is crammed into one corner. A fax machine sits on the edge of a bookcase. An electronic Rolodex teeters on top of office supplies on her desk. She has two file cabinets packed with colored, labeled folders. Shelves are filled with dozens of phone books. She has six computers. Her black-and-white cat wanders in periodically. "I have to make myself go to bed," she sighed. She burst into laughter, then a sly smile appeared on her lips. "Do you know I slept in my clothes last night?" While the high-profile Santee, Calif., school shooting with two killed and 15 wounded was the catalyst for creating the site, Brown said the idea was born after a local incident about a year ago. When her 15-year-old son, Ronnie, was in the eighth grade, there were news reports about another boy at his school trying to buy a gun. When she asked him about it, she said, he told her he knew all about it. As a matter of fact, the boy had tried to buy a weapon from two of Ronnie's friends.
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