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100 Yale Students Counseled On First Day Back

Students of Yale Public Schools are back in school, and trying to cope with the shocking stabbing of a Yale Junior High School teacher, and murder of her husband.

The brutal acts have stunned the small community, and about 100 kids have already received counseling.

Michael McCarten of the St. Clair County Mental Health Department says students are left feeling less secure as many are faced with mortality for the first time.

"When something like this happens, there's a whole series of losses that people go through, and certainly loss of control, and loss of safety, and security, and fairness, and faith in many cases," he explained

McCarten said he's been telling the kids there's is no one way to feel after such a tragedy, but added that online harassment of those related to the accused would not be an appropriate reaction.

"There are not only the victims who have been assaulted, but there are also victims who are family members and friends of the people who have been accused. And we ought not to hold them responsible for the behavior of those who were accused," said McCarten.

Paul Skinner died after fighting with two attackers early Friday morning. Mara Skinner, a teacher at Yale Junior High School, was in stable condition. She was stabbed 20 times.

The Skinner's daughter is one of three people charged in the case.

Yale police say the intruders were wearing Halloween masks and climbed through a bedroom window of the home on South Main Street and stabbed the couple as they lay in bed.

(Copyright, 2010. WWJ Newsradio 950, All Rights Reserved.)

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