MISSISSIPPI COMPUTER STOLEN FROM SCHOOLMeridian Mississippi News - The Meridian StarComputer stolen, rooms vandalized at Northwest Jr. High
By Stewart Smith / staff writer
Monday, November 14, 2005 11:43 PM CST

Meridian police are investigating a burglary and vandalism Thursday night at Northwest Junior High School.

Pat Ross, head principal at Northwest Junior High, said the perpetrators broke several windows, gained access to both classroom buildings and the office building, stole a computer from a classroom and discharged fire extinguishers throughout the buildings.
Police Lt. Dean Harper would not say if the department has any suspects.

While the stolen computer had not been recovered as of Monday, Ross said the only real setback from the incident was the mess caused when the fire extinguishers were discharged. Even that, Ross said, was fairly minor.

“Thanks to all the help we got from our maintenance department in cleaning everything up and repairing the damage and also the cooperation of teachers and students, we had classes resumed by 8:15 (a.m. Friday) except for two,” Ross said. “It was mostly just a big mess.”

Like all other schools in the district, Northwest Junior High is equipped with an alarm system, and the campus is routinely patrolled by the Meridian security firm Covert Investigations & Security Services Inc. Ross said the alarm worked properly but that a communication breakdown between the alarm company and Covert Security prevented a quicker response to the situation.

Larry Covert, owner of Covert Security, could not be reached for comment Monday.