Le Mars police have been busy making trips to the middle and high schools for the past three springs. The reason?

Bomb threats.

Thankfully, the threats were not true. The majority of the trips the police made were to investigate who left the notes. This spring has been troublesome, with two notes this month, the latest this week.

We realize that students become rambunctious and restless this time of year, but making bomb threats -- even false ones -- is never a good idea.

Earlier this month, a bomb threat note was left in the middle school but authorities quickly determined it was a false threat. A 14-year-old eighth grader has been charged with making a threat to place an explosive devise where it would endanger people or property.

Police and emergency personnel responded quickly and appropriately in 2006 when the first threat was made. The school was evacuated and painstakingly searched. When no bombs were found, students were allowed back inside.

This year, it was determined that the notes were hoaxes and no evacuations were made. But police become involved because making these threats is a crime.

The reason all of this is taken so seriously traces back to nine years ago-- April 20, 1999 -- when two Columbine High School students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a shooting rampage, killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 23 others, before committing suicide. The Colorado shooting forever changed the way school officials and police handle what may have been pranks in the past.

Aesop's fable about the shepherd boy who cried wolf comes to mind when these incidents occur. The bored boy cried wolf and the townspeople ran to his aid several times, but when a wolf truly did appear, the shepherd's cries for help fell on deaf ears and the wolf ate him.

Unfortunately, school officials and law enforcement will never be able to turn a deaf ear to these types of threats. Those days vanished on April 20, 1999.