Local News: Sunday, June 06, 2000

Mariner High mourns

Speakers urge friends of slain youths not to seek vengeance

By KARL SCHWEIZER Herald Writer

EVERETT -- Guilt, sentiment, a desire to warn young people against violence -- all were shown Saturday as about 500 mourners crowded into Mariner High School's heavily guarded gym to remember Jason Thompson and Jesse Stoner, two youths who were gunned down Tuesday night.

At the front of the gym, friends and family filed past Thompson's school jacket and photo montages of the two young men, both 18.

In back of the gym, a sheriff's deputy passed out fliers about grief and agencies that help families and friends of victims of violent crime.

A roll of paper stretched across the gym floor for mourners to sign.

Then, speakers struggled to strain some good out of a senseless tragedy.

Jennifer Wieland of Marysville asked the assembly not to stifle grief, but warned them not to seek revenge for the slayings.

"I know how hard it is to have someone you know and love to be snatched away in a moment of violence," said Wieland, whose 17-year-old daughter, Amy, was shot dead in 1992.

"Many of you feel in a daze, unable to concentrate, feeling immense anger, sorrow, rage at the injustice," Wieland said. "I ask you not to act on those impulses. Violent reaction to violence will solve nothing. Violence has already snuffed out Jason and Jesse. Please don't allow violence to take your lives, too."

Mariner counselor Maureen Fortney asked students to report pending fights before they can grow into fatal confrontations.

"I'm tired of coming to kids' funerals," Fortney said.

Counselor Elizabeth Stokes remembered Jesse for his infectious smile and good heart. Jason, she said, was a sensitive person beneath his rough exterior. The best way to honor them, she said, would be to prevent a repeat of the violence that took their lives.

Other speakers chose simply to recount their good memories of the two teens.

Jesse "always had a beaming smile" that "lit up the room," football coach Tim Myhre said. Jason, with whom Myrhe lifted weights, "will be missed."

Thompson's art teacher at ACES, an alternative high school in the Mukilteo School District, said Jason would have graduated Wednesday. He had turned in the last of his assignments the day before he was killed, Karen Lewis-Gosselin said.

She said Jason wasn't an artist, but he made up for it with his personality. Once, some reading volunteers didn't show up for a class of kindergartners, so 6-foot-4 Jason offered to help.

"Do you know how small those kindergarten chairs are? Please picture Jason in one of those chairs, his knees up to his chin, reading to those children. Those little kids, they were in awe," Lewis-Gosselin said.

Some people in attendance felt guilty. Michelle Garrison, who runs the Time Out disciplinary program at Mariner, nearly wept. She apparently had met Dennis Cramm, the 17-year-old youth suspected of shooting Stoner and Thompson.

"I'm sorry, Dennis Cramm, that I didn't help you. Jason and Jesse, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. Mom and Dad, I'm sorry I couldn't protect your babies," she said.

Family members responded: "It's not your fault. It's not your fault."

An aunt of one of the victims read a poem. She was the only family member to address the crowd.

About 25 deputies provided security at the service, and a bomb-sniffing dog checked the gym before anyone was allowed in. The reason for the security, sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said, was to provide a safe place for people to mourn, and because emotions were still running high since the shootings.

Jorgensen said Cramm likely would be officially charged in the shootings late Monday or early Tuesday. Further arrests are possible, she added.

Jason Thompson and Jesse Stoner were killed Tuesday night when the car they were riding in was riddled with bullets. They had been watching a fight in the south Everett area. They died of gunshot wounds to their upper bodies.

One of those involved in the fight, Dennis Cramm, 17, a junior at Mariner High School, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of two counts of second-degree murder. He is in jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

His father, Dale Cramm, 44, who was one of those who witnessed the fight in front of his home, was arrested later that day on an unrelated drug charge. He is out on bail.