CLINTON, Ark. (AP) - Schools in the Clinton School District were shut down again Tuesday, for the fourth time this year, after a bomb threat was telephoned to a 911 emergency center twice - once Monday night and again Tuesday morning.
A 16-year-old boy was arrested following the second call, after police were able to trace the call to a Clinton address.
Christopher Oxley was charged as an adult with two felony counts of communicating a false alarm to an educational institution, according to records at the Van Buren County circuit clerk's office.
Oxley is not believed to be connected with any of the three previous threats that closed Clinton schools this year, according to Deputy Prosecutor Stephen James, because he moved to the district from California only last month.
James said the ninth-grader told police that he made the calls on a dare.
The deputy prosecutor said authorities believe the first two telephoned bomb threats against the Clinton School District - on Jan. 25 and Feb. 10 - were made from a cell phone by the same person, but not by Oxley. Clinton Police Chief Toney Parish said authorities believe a student made those threats, too, but they don't have enough evidence for charges.
Two 14-year-olds living in the Center Ridge area of Conway County were accused in the third threat, on March 14, which was made in a note left at the Nemo Vista School after a break-in there.
The 1,165 students in the Clinton School District have now missed six days because of bomb threats.
