Evidence Ignored- What You May Not Know About Columbine
Claims about the Thought of the Day
A prevailing myth is that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold arranged to have a message foreshadowing their planned attack broadcast on the morning Rebel News Network announcements. In reality, the quote was unrelated to what happened on April 20 and instead made reference to the unseasonably warm weather that day. Erik Veik, who wrote the message, was a friend of Klebold and Harris and had worked on video productions with both boys in the past. The phrase that Veik aired on April 20th was a last-minute substitution for one he felt was unsuitable and read “How could you expect us to stay in school on a day like this?” The originally scheduled phrase, “Quit your bitching” was written by a senior who told Veik that he didn’t care if the phrase was inappropriate because he’d be graduating in a few weeks. Despite the many individuals who remembered a more ominous quote of the day, some remembered and understood the intention of the actual quote.
Individuals who thought the quote of the day was ominous:
pg. 49, “Today is not a good day to be here”
pg. 124, she did not see the announcements but was told by another student in class is stated something to the effect of “today’s a bad day to be here.”
pg. 155, He didn’t notice what the quote was but asked another student who told him it was something along the lines of "You don’t want to be here’”
pg. 230, Heard that Harris or Klebold arranged for someone at the Rebel News Network to announce on April 20, 1999, that "Don’t you wish that you weren’t here today.”
pg. 281, “Not going to be a good day”
pg. 632, she didn’t pay attention but a friend later told her it said, “You wish you weren’t here.”
pg. 657, recalled the phrase of the day appeared written in German. Friends later told him it was transmitted by TCM members in the AV class and translated to “Today is the day you wish you weren’t here.”
pg. 668, “Today is the day you wish you weren’t here”
pg. 848, “I’ll bet you wish you weren’t here today”
pg. 1013, “You would rather not be here.”
pg. 1295, “Today will not be a good day”
pg. 1325, “what a horrible day to come to school”
pg. 1342, “you wish you weren’t here today”
pg. 1404, discussed with a friend that there was a big 420 on the screen and the screen would shake. They thought this was unusual.
pg. 1419, “you wished you weren’t here today.”
pg. 1503, “Today is going to be a bad day”
pg. 1531, she mentioned hearing something “eerie and unusual,” something to the effect of “today’s the day”
pg. 1558 she saw the thought of the day to be “4/20, you’d rather not be here today”
pg. 1640 said it was something like, “Today is a bad day”
pg. 1664 did not personally hear or see it but later heard it was something to the effect of “You wish you weren’t here.”
pg. 1794 something to the effect today is not a good day to be here in school.
pg. 1865 did not see it but had heard that there was something on there about something bad going to happen in the school.
pg. 1932 it was something about the date, 4-20, and then something to the effect of “you wished you weren’t here.”
pg. 2019 something like, “420 wish you weren’t here.”
pg. 2021 “I’ll best you wish you weren’t here today.”
pg. 2121- 2122 something to the effect of “YOU DON’T WANT TO BE HERE TODAY. 4/20/99”
pg. 2270 something to the effect “I’ll bet you wish you were not here today.”
pg. 2275 heard something about “this will not be a good day” or words to that effect
pg. 2306 had something to do with “I know you guys don’t want to be here.”
pg. 2529 “today is not going to be a very good day”
pg. 2596 did not see it but “heard since that it has something to do with it not being a good day to be at the school”
pg. 2608 “Someone said 4/20 I wish I wasn’t here”
pg. 2653 something like "wish you weren’t here, four twenty… four twenty”
pg. 2658 believed the thought of the day was “Go To Lunch.”
pg. 2732 he thought it was “You’d wish you weren’t here today.”
pg. 2796 thought it said “wish you weren’t here, 4-20”
pg. 2980 thought it said something about 4-20 Smoking day and Hitler’s birthday
pg. 3001 he did remember that the school announcement said something to the effect of “You shouldn’t be here.”
pg. 3031 the announcement for the day was “Today is going to be a really bad day.”
pg. 3151 he didn’t see or hear RNN that day but heard that the thought of the day was something to the effect of “you’ll wish you hadn’t come today.”
pg. 3185- 3186 said another student told her the thought for the day was “Don’t you wish you weren’t here today.”
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(that student) pg. 6372- 6374 did not mention thought of the day in her statement.
pg. 3217 something to the effect of “Today is not a good day to be here.”
pg. 3289 she did not hear it but later heard it was something to the effect of “You do not want to be here today.”
pg. 3405 said the thought was Du-Hast, a German song, "You don't want to be here.”
pg. 3411 “This is not a good day to be here.”
pg. 3456 “Today is not a good day to be here- 4-20”
pg. 3515 something like “”THIS IS GOING TO BE A BAD DAY”
pg. 3460 “You’ll wish that you weren’t here today”
pg. 3528 something like, “Don’t you wish you weren’t here today”
pg. 3538 “Good day to not be here. Don't you wish you weren't here”
pg. 3556 “You don’t want to be here today”
pg. 3635 something to the effect of “I bet you wish you weren’t here,” which was in real small text
pg. 3723 he had been told that one of the morning announcements was something like “you don’t want to be here today” but did not personally see the announcement.
pg. 3735 thought it was words to the effect of, “You shouldn’t be here today.”
pg. 3771 said something to the effect of “Don’t you wish you weren’t here?”
pg. 3801 she thought she remembered the thought for the day as being something like, “I bet you wish you weren’t here.”
pg. 3808 “Yes, I bet you wish you were not here today.”
pg. 3954 she thinks she saw the thought of the day being “you don’t want to be here today.”
pg. 4141 Someone in one of my classes said it was not a good day to be here.
pg. 4190 told police the thought of the day was “you’ll wish you hadn’t came today.”
pg. 4277 she did not see it personally, however, her soccer team mates told her that it said, “Wished you weren’t here today.”
pg. 4467 “Today is not a good day to be here”
pg. 8928 “I bet you wish you weren’t here today 4:20, 4:20”
And very few individuals who either remembered it or understood what it was supposed to refer to:
pg. 1232 “You shouldn’t be inside here today. It is nice outside.”
pg. 2072 “how can you expect us to be in school today.”
pg. 3668 she couldn’t remember what the thought for the day was but she remembered that it didn’t have anything to do with the shooting.
pg. 3937 something to the effect of “Why should anyone be in school today?”