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P. Solomon Banda - Associated Press Saturday, December 2, 2000 Golden, Colo. --- Bullying was a problem at Columbine High School shortly before the worst school shootings in the nation's history, despite administrators' denials of harassment there, according to a report released Friday. Regina Huerter, an investigator with the Denver district attorney's office, said students and teachers had reported numerous cases of harassment. In August, Columbine Principal Frank DeAngelis said the school had been a safe and welcoming place before the shootings. ''What is not in doubt is that bullying occurred at Columbine, that in some instances the school administration reacted appropriately, and in other instances the school administration's reaction is unclear or altogether unknown,'' Huerter said. The report was presented to a commission formed by Gov. Bill Owens to gather facts about the April 20, 1999, rampage in which Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives. DeAngelis did not immediately return a phone message Friday. Huerter said students told her that Harris and Klebold were often ridiculed and physically harassed by student athletes who appeared to have gotten preferential treatment from Columbine administrators. She said a Jewish student was harassed by two boys who threatened to ''build an oven and set him on fire'' and that a female student was harassed for six months. Huerter conducted her interviews between Oct. 14 and Nov. 29 and did not include names in her report. Commission Chairman William Erickson said many students, teachers and parents who disagreed with DeAngelis' assessment had wanted to testify but were afraid to do so for fear of retaliation. Erickson said the commission was not trying to blame the school but was looking into Harris and Klebold's charges that bullying had been rampant. ''This isn't something you can pin on Columbine,'' Erickson said.
''This was the thought process of two deranged boys.''
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