Dalhart, TX - The city of Dalhart is breathing a little easier tonight (Feb. 20th) after an early-morning scare at the elementary school.
Throughout the newsroom fielded several calls from concerned viewers asking about a security situation at Dalhart Elementary. So we went to find the facts and dispel any rumors surrounding the incident.
According to the Hartley County Sheriff's Office, a Dalhart woman received menacing phone messages from an ex-boyfriend, threatening the woman and her children, who attend Dalhart Elementary School.
As a precautionary measure, school officials and law enforcement decided to implement what's called "controlled entry," whereby people are still allowed to come and go, but they must go through a liaison - in this case, an armed police officer.
Sheriff Franky Scott said parents could still pick up their children from the school if they felt it necessary to do so.
"They were able to go and get their children from the school if they wanted to," explains Scott, "It was just a matter of they couldn't openly walk in like they usually do."
During subsequent investigation, police discovered the man was actually in Illinois, so there was never any danger to Dalhart students, but the school says they don't take any chances when it comes to keeping their kids safe.
"We did this for the safety of our children," said Dalhart ISD Superintendent David G. Foote, "We thought they were safe all the time, but if this person really was in town, we wanted to make sure he couldn't get to the children."
Sheriff Scott said an employee in the hospital district was also mentioned in the threats, so the hospital implemented a similar controlled entry mechanism until the threat had passed.
