pacifist high school student katie sierra missing

Anarchy student missing
Sierra gone since Monday;
mother ‘worried sick'

Carrie Smith <csmith [at] dailymail.com>
Daily Mail staff

Tuesday April 09, 2002; 01:00 PM

The 15-year-old Sissonville student who was suspended for trying to start an anarchy club is missing, her attorney said today.

Katie Sierra left her home in Sissonville sometime Monday afternoon, said Roger Forman, who is representing Sierra in a lawsuit against Kanawha County schools.

"We're all scared to death," he said. "We have no idea where she is."

A spokesperson for Metro 911 said the Charleston Police Department is investigating Sierra as a missing person. Officials dispatched police to the Charleston's Greyhound Bus Station after someone spotted her purchasing a ticket to Atlanta, scanner traffic indicated today.

But employees at the Greyhound Station said Sierra's appearance at the station was only rumor.

The Charleston Police Department would not comment because Sierra is a juvenile.

Forman said he did not know why Sierra left home.

Her mother Amy Sierra could not be reached for comment this morning, but Forman said "she's worried sick."

"We would go anywhere to find her," he said.

Sierra made headlines last year after trying to start an anarchy club at Sissonville High School. Principal Forest Mann suspended her for bringing pamphlets to school after she was told she could not start the club.

When she returned from her suspension, Sierra wore homemade T-shirts with anti- war sentiments and anarchy symbols causing some students to get upset because the incident was so close to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

She and her mother filed a lawsuit against the school system after Mann reprimanded her for wearing the shirts.

Forman said Sierra's first amendment rights were being violated and tried to get a temporary injunction to have the suspension removed from her record and allow Sierra to start her club.

A Kanawha Circuit judge ruled that wearing the shirts and attempting to start a club that advocates overthrowing the government was too disruptive in a school setting.

The case goes to trial later this summer.

Sierra left Sissonville High after students began throwing things at her and trying to start fights. She is now homeschooled.

Sierra was later featured on national news programs and in Seventeen magazine for her role in the censorship controversy.

Writer Carrie Smith can be reached at 348-7918.

http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2002040943/