Book on kids, killing angers victims' kin

— Because of his new book, Kids Who Kill, Gov. Mike Huckabee should publicly apologize to the families of two people killed in this spring's schoolyard shooting near Jonesboro, said lawyer Bobby McDaniel of Jonesboro.

Huckabee's leading gubernatorial race opponent, Democrat Bill Bristow of Jonesboro, also chided Huckabee.

"I may comment more about this later, but right now I am sorry that something that shows insult to the families involved has occurred," Bristow said.

"As a citizen, I am outraged that an elected official is personally profiting from this tragedy," Bristow said. "As a political candidate, I am more determined than ever."

McDaniel is a close friend of Bristow's and a contributor to his campaign.

"But this isn't about Bill Bristow. This is about Governor Huckabee," McDaniel said. "If Bill Bristow had done the same thing, I would have called him on the carpet for it."

McDaniel said news that Kids Who Kill is being published has upset his clients -- relatives of teacher Shannon Wright, 32, and student Natalie Brooks, 11.

Not only should Huckabee apologize, but he should also donate any money he makes from the book to a scholarship fund set up in honor of the victims, McDaniel said.

"In our opinion, his book is somewhat exploitative of the situation," McDaniel said. "He's the governor and a public servant and shouldn't be profiting from this tragedy."

Huckabee wouldn't comment. He stayed in his private office at the state Capitol, not responding to requests for interviews. When he left the Capitol about 4 p.m., reporters followed him to seek his comment.

He said he didn't want to comment, and he slammed his car door shut in reporters' faces. His driver, an Arkansas State Police trooper, drove him away.

According to news reports in March, Wright stepped in front of students at Westside Middle School, shielding them from shots fired from nearby woods. Five people were killed, 10 others wounded.

McDaniel said the victims' relatives have reacted to news of the book with "various emotions including shock and disbelief."

Huckabee's campaign manager, Rex Nelson, said McDaniel owes Huckabee an apology for "politicizing this tragedy like he has done."

Nelson reminded reporters that Bristow and McDaniel are good friends and that McDaniel has contributed $1,000 to Bristow's campaign, the maximum amount allowed by law.

Huckabee received $25,000 for the book. If royalties top $25,000, he will get a percentage of the sales.

The $11.99 paperback is due in bookstores this weekend.

Nelson said he didn't know if Huckabee has been paid. He also didn't know when Huckabee and the publishing company, Broadman and Holman of Nashville, Tenn., agreed on the amount. Officials with the publishing company did not return telephone calls Wednesday.

Bristow said McDaniel is "quite forceful in his opinion" and speaks for himself.

Bristow added that "there is no way" Huckabee would have been able to obtain the book deal if he wasn't governor.

"He is the governor of the state in which this tragedy occurred," Bristow said. "That allows him to sell the deal, and that is just absolutely wrong."

Nelson said Huckabee expected that some people might criticize the book.

"We were well aware that there would be people who would try to cast it in that light for political gain," Nelson said.

Tuesday, Huckabee said the book "was not about Jonesboro" and had only "fleeting references" to the Westside shootings.

Kids Who Kill begins with a passage recapping the schoolyard shooting deaths. Huckabee wrote:

"Just after lunch on March 24, 1998, a sudden burst of gunfire cut through the crowded schoolyard of Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Four minutes and twenty-seven bullets later, fifteen bodies lay bleeding on the ground."

Nelson said critics have not read the book. He said that while it opens with a passage about the Westside shootings, the rest of the book contains only a "handful of references to Jonesboro."

Nelson said the book has been in the works since last summer, months before the Westside shootings.

He said it would have been published even if the Westside shootings had never taken place.

Absent the Westside shootings, Nelson said, Huckabee and his co-author, George Grant of Nashville, Tenn., probably would have started the book with a synopsis of the school shootings in Pearl, Miss., or in West Paducah, Ky.

McDaniel said he is representing the shooting victims' families in possible civil lawsuits. If successful, he will keep a percentage of the damages. He wouldn't divulge the amount, but said it is a "normal fee contract." When asked whether he was, in effect, capitalizing on the Westside shootings, McDaniel said his work is "totally different" from the book written by Huckabee.

"Governor Huckabee is a public servant. I am an attorney who is charged with trying to obtain civil damages from a wrongful occurrence," McDaniel said. "That is our system of justice."

Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, have been arrested in the Westside shootings.

Killed were Wright; Natalie; Britthney Varner, 11; Stephanie Johnson, 12; and Paige Herring, 12.

Upcoming Events