Barred boy returns to Fairchild
Three months and three days after being barred from Fairchild Air Force Base, 14-year-old Christopher Bishop is home with his family in base housing, his mother and an Air Force spokesman said.
“We’re going to have a good Christmas,” said Heather Johnson, who brought her son back Friday from the home of friends in Medical Lake, where he had been staying. Though she said the holiday may not be as bountiful as some others because of the expenses her family has incurred as a result of Christopher’s “barment” order, “we have each other, and that’s all that matters.”
The decision by base commander Col. Scott Hanson to modify the order barring Christopher from base came after Johnson and her husband, Master Sgt. Tom Johnson, provided a juvenile review board with information about the boy’s attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The information included letters from the psychiatrist who diagnosed him and a psychologist who treats him.
“The additional medical information, previously not provided, was deemed relevant,” said Capt. Nicholas Sabula, chief of public affairs for the 92nd Air Refueling Wing. “This does not mean that Christopher did not commit the misconduct that led to his barment.”
In a letter to 5th District U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris, whose office inquired into the matter on the Johnsons’ behalf, Hanson wrote that Christopher “engaged in a pattern of misconduct in the base family housing area over an eighteen-month period, which began with the vandalism of neighbors’ Christmas decorations, continued with repeated instances of theft, and culminated most recently with the destruction of government property.”
Johnson said her son “owned up” to minor vandalism, but she denies his involvement in the theft of skateboards on base, a crime for which Christopher was never charged. The Spokesman-Review has requested from the Air Force, but not yet received, police records concerning the eighth-grader.
Federal law and U.S. Department of Defense regulations give base commanders the authority to bar individuals from base “to maintain good order and discipline.” According to base public affairs, 148 people are currently barred from Fairchild, few of them dependents of military personnel.
“Living on base is a privilege,” Sabula said. “Military members have to abide by applicable laws and regulations.”
The juvenile review board, consisting of representatives from key base agencies, met Dec. 2 to review Christopher’s case. Its recommendation was presented to Hanson on Thursday, and the commander made his decision Friday, Sabula said. As a result of Christopher’s case, Hanson ordered the creation of a permanent juvenile review board to consider the cases of dependents of military personnel.
Families also will be warned before being barred, according to Col. Douglas Jackson, commander of mission support group, who spoke to Master Sgt. Johnson on Friday.
“We told them how much we want them to succeed,” Jackson said. “We want the whole family to succeed.”
Christopher may return to base family housing provided the Johnsons attend counseling for parents of children with ADHD, and their son continues to receive medical treatment and evaluation. While in the family housing area of base, he must be supervised by an adult. While on base and off family housing, he must be escorted by a parent.
“He’s pretty much under house arrest for the next nine months,” Johnson said of her son, whose “barment” ends Aug. 26.
That’s OK with his mother, who said that Christopher “has had threats against him” since his case was made public in The Spokesman-Review. On Friday night, the family had a special dinner for their son. His little brother, John, started crying when Christopher entered the home, Johnson said.