By Lynn Bartels
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

Randy and Judy Brown can't count the times they called the Jefferson County sheriff about Eric Harris. But they know how many times detectives called back:

Zero.

The Browns, who live several blocks from the Harris residence, told detectives that he and his friend, Dylan Klebold, were exploding homemade pipe bombs. They also reported that Harris had threatened mayhem on Internet postings, after which he was seen buying a gun publication.

Nobody followed up, they said.

That was a year ago.

"They knew about it ahead of time and they're on TV blaming the parents and everybody else when they're the ones who dropped the ball," Randy Brown said.

The Browns talked publicly Sunday for the first time about their two-year ordeal with Harris, a young man they alternately described as an "evil genius" and "the Eddie Haskell of Columbine."

Randy Brown, 46, is a real-estate agent. Judy Brown, 49, is a homemaker. Their sons, Brooks, 17, and Aaron, 15, attend Columbine.

The Browns told the Denver Rocky Mountain News and Channel 4 that people need to know of their frantic efforts to get Jefferson County to do something about Harris.

The sheriff's office has acknowledged that it received a complaint, but District Attorney Dave Thomas said last week it was never forwarded to his office.

Sheriff John Stone on Saturday said investigators found the sawed-off barrel of a shotgun on a dresser in one gunman's bedroom. They also discovered pipe bombs and bomb-making materials in the room.

"A lot of this stuff was lying out, very visible, in the house," Stone said. "The parents should have been aware of it."

Stone wouldn't identify the parents, but the Klebolds have told the Browns it wasn't their house.

Brooks Brown said Harris had always tried to hide his criminal activity from his parents. He speculated Harris left the evidence on his dresser Tuesday because he knew he was never coming back.

"His parents, they were good with him," he said. "They would have noticed that. Eric is an evil genius, I guess, really conniving but brilliant."

The Browns had earlier complained to Harris' parents, Wayne and Kathy Harris, about their son.

"His dad did talk to him. It's not like his dad just glossed it over. His mother was listening, crying," Judy Brown said. "I think that's important to know. They wanted to make it right."

The Browns said their problems with Harris began in 1997. One night, someone toilet-papered a house in their neighborhood, set a bush on fire and Superglued door handles.

Harris blamed Brooks Brown. Judy Brown knew her son was home that night because he had been grounded.

The Browns told the homeowner and a sheriff's deputy that they suspected Harris. Judy Brown said deputies told her they had warned the Harrises that their son needed to be watched.

"This made Eric very upset," Judy Brown said.

One day at school -- Judy Brown is not certain of the date -- Harris began talking about vandalizing Brooks Brown's car. The same day, Harris threw a chunk of ice at the car, chipping the windshield.

Judy Brown said a student who witnessed the incident saw Harris set his backpack down. The witness brought it to her. She said she drove down the block and confronted Eric, telling him she had his backpack and was going to see his mother.

"He was furious. He grabbed onto the window. He turned bright red. He was crazy," Judy Brown said.

She now wonders what was in the bag.

Judy Brown said Kathy Harris cried when she told her what had happened. Later that day, Brooks Brown told Kathy Harris that her son had been slipping out of the house at night and setting off firecrackers in the neighborhood.

That night, Wayne Harris called.

"He said his son was afraid of me and that's why he was hanging on the door handle," Judy Brown said. "I said, 'Your son's not afraid. Your son is terrifying. Your son is violent."'

Eric Harris came over to apologize, but Judy Brown thought it was an act.

"I told my husband later that this is the Eddie Haskell of Columbine," she said, referring to the smarmy character on Leave It to Beaver.

"He went through this whole spiel, how it was all in fun. I said, 'Eric Harris, you can pull the wool over your dad's eyes, but you're not going to pull the wool over my eyes."'

She said she told Harris if she ever saw him near her house again she would call police.

"I said, 'Stay away from my kids,"' Brown said. "I just had a feeling about him at this point. The way he was yelling."

Shortly afterward, Brown said, they got a copy of an e-mail from Harris that detailed how he had managed to pull a fast one on his father.

The Browns tried to move on. But then a student at Columbine told Brooks Brown about Harris' Web page. Brown wouldn't tell his mother who had tipped him off.

"He said, 'I can't tell you who it is, Mom, because he's afraid that Eric Harris will harm him," Judy Brown said.

The Browns didn't learn until after the shooting the name of the tipster: Dylan Klebold.

"In retrospect, this might have been a cry for help," Randy Brown said.

What the Browns read on the Web page terrified them.

I am the law, if you don't like it, you die. If I don't like you or I don't like what you want me to do, you die. God I can't wait till I can kill you people.

Twelve pages from a lunatic, including a threat against their son.

Harris had created a level of Doom, a computer game, based in the Browns' neighborhood. The target was the Browns' house.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department sent a deputy after the Browns called, but he told them he didn't know enough about the Internet. He referred them to a detective.

The Browns said they downloaded the information, including the original copy of the e-mail message in which Harris boasts of tricking his father. They took it to sheriff's headquarters in Golden and met with a detective and an officer in the bomb squad.

Then they went home and started sleeping with a baseball bat by their side.

The Browns said when they called to ask about the investigation they were told there was no record of the complaint. It apparently had been lost.

They went to the sheriff's office again, on March 31, 1998. This time they had six additional pages showing that Harris was making and exploding pipe bombs with "Vodka," which they knew was Klebold's nickname. They met with a detective.

"He was telling us this was the worst case he has seen on a computer," Judy Brown said.

But the detective cautioned that he wasn't certain if the postings were protected by the First Amendment or if the teen-ager had broken laws. And because Harris was only 16 years old at the time, the detective said he couldn't discuss much about the boy.

"He said, 'Let me go see if there's a file on this kid,"' Judy Brown recalled. The detective returned with a printout and said someone named Eric Harris had been arrested for breaking into a car; Harris and Klebold had been arrested two months earliers in the break-in and had just gone to court.

The Browns assumed that the personnel handling the break-in would receive copies of their complaint.

That never happened.

Harris and Klebold were prosecuted for the break-in, but the officials handling that case say they knew nothing of the Internet postings.

The next day, Judy Brown said she was in a supermarket when she saw Harris in line. He was buying Rifle magazine. She rushed home and left a frantic phone message for the detective.

"I said, 'This guy is active. Will you call and let me know if you're looking into this?"'

She said she repeatedly called the detective. Her husband also called. They said they never heard back, although they said the dispatcher always sent deputies when they asked for additional patrols in the neighborhood because they were afraid of Harris.

The Browns said they felt powerless. They didn't know where else to turn. Their one comfort, Judy Brown said, was that Harris was best friends with Klebold. She said she didn't think Klebold was capable of violence.

One night this year at the dinner table, Brooks Brown made a startling announcement. He said he and Harris had two classes together and had "buried the hatchet."

"He said, 'He's changed,"' Judy Brown said. "I said, 'Stay away from him. It's a trick."'