Family charges Stone made 'misrepresentations' about killings at Columbine High and should be dismissed

By Charley Able
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

GOLDEN -- The parents of a teen once called a potential suspect in the Columbine High killings plan to recall Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone.

Randy and Judy Brown, whose son Brooks was formally cleared of suspicion by the Sheriff's Office in December, said Wednesday they are in the early stages of organizing a recall drive.

Judy Brown picked up recall forms from the County Clerk and Recorder's Office Tuesday.

"We need to get probably 60,000 signatures out of the 300,000 voting public. That's a daunting task," Randy Brown said. "I believe the people of Jefferson County voted Sheriff Stone in not knowing who he was. Now they know who he is and I think they should vote him out."

Stone did not return calls Wednesday seeking comment.

To bring the issue to a vote, the Browns would have to get 41,991 signatures from registered Jefferson County voters, 25 percent of voters who cast ballots in the last election for sheriff, said Faye Griffin, Jefferson County Clerk.

Randy Brown said he has set up no organization to guide the recall effort and has no target date for returning the forms for approval of the petition wording.

"We have not talked to anybody about this. We are still in the planning stages," he said.

"I hope that people who have been complaining come forward. Certainly the signatures are there, but now people have to act on it," Judy Brown said. "We are just going to see what happens and how much help we get."

Once the Browns have the county clerk and recorder's approval on the wording of the recall petition, they would have 60 days to gather the signatures.

The Browns are setting up a Recall Sheriff Stone Hotline phone number -- (303) 550-1141 -- to facilitate the recall effort.

Randy Brown said he and his wife are initiating the recall drive because of "a pattern of misrepresentations the sheriff has made regarding Columbine. I believe it is time to do something.

"I believe he lied to the victims' families about not releasing the videotapes before they (the families) would view them. ... I believe he lied about Jefferson County's involvement with Time magazine, and he lied about my son being a potential suspect."

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who killed 12 of their fellow Columbine students and a teacher before taking their own lives, made a series of videotapes in the weeks before the slayings.

Stone allowed a Time magazine reporter to view the tapes. The sheriff said the reporter promised not to disclose what was on them. But a Time article published in December included excerpts from the videotapes, prompting angry reactions from some parents of Columbine victims and other citizens.

The Browns in 1998 provided deputies with pages of violent rantings they had downloaded from Harris' Web site. Harris also threatened to kill the Browns' son, Brooks.

In the days following the shooting, Stone publicly questioned Brooks Brown's relationship with the killers. He stopped short of calling Brown a suspect but said he was "suspicious" of the teen.

If the county clerk finds enough of the Browns' signatures are valid, an election would be scheduled 45-75 days later.

Griffin estimates the cost of a recall election at $250,000, not including staff time required to validate the signatures.

Contact Charley Able at (303) 892-5020 or ablec@RockyMountainNews.com..