Lockdown shows Douglas ready

Within minutes of receiving information that there might be a shooting at Douglas High School, a lockdown was in progress.

No shooting occurred, perhaps because it turned out to be a rumor or maybe even because of the swift response to the information by school and law enforcement officials.

We're glad there wasn't a shooting at the high school, but we're even happier that the incident was taken seriously with what we feel was the appropriate response.

If it was a hoax, then students were just inconvenienced for a bit and the school got to try out the plan they have in place for just such an emergency.

A sidenote to the incident is that several parents received text messages from students that there was someone with a gun at the school. At least one parent, in turn, called 911 to report his son's text message, which sent deputies off in search of the boy in case he'd seen a gun. When they found him, he said he was just reporting what he'd heard. This is how an incident like this creates its own weather.

We're pleased with the response by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and the high school staff and confident that had this been a real emergency they would have been ready.

This editorial first appeared in The Record-Courier