SCHOOL TRAGEDY Graduates remember 3 classmates

JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) -- A hundred and one students from Westside High School walked across the stage Saturday to receive their diplomas. There should have been 104.
Wreaths marked the chairs where three classmates killed in Jonesboro's deadly school shooting six years ago should have sat.
The victims' names were written on the chairs in glitter, and a bouquet of white roses and zinnias sat on each empty seat. A note in the graduation program said the flowers were "in memory of absent friends."
"We have endured a lot together," principal Karen Curtner told the graduating class. "We have learned through unexpected tragedy."
Shooting rampage
The March 24, 1998, shooting rampage by two middle school boys killed four girls and a teacher. Three of those pupils were in the class that graduated Saturday.
Lindsay Kirksey, the senior class secretary, cried as she spoke of her slain classmates. She held three yellow roses and asked for a moment of quiet reflection.
Whitney Irving, who was wounded in the shooting, cried after the ceremony as she held her diploma and stood behind the chair memorializing Paige Herring, 12.
The other slain pupils who would have graduated Saturday were Britthney Varner and Natalie Brooks, both 11. Also killed in the shooting were Stephanie Johnson, 12, and teacher Shannon Wright, 32.
Pupils Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson -- who were 11 and 13 at the time -- opened fire after forcing pupils onto a school yard by pulling a fire alarm.
Both boys were sentenced to a juvenile detention center and must be released by the time they turn 21.