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On Thursday, we learned of three new threats that had been made at Troup County School System campuses regarding bomb and shooting threats.

The threats were made on Snapchat in regard to Gardner Newman Middle School, LaGrange High School and Callaway High School. LHS has now had two different Snapchat threats this month.

We’ve talked to the LaGrange Police Department, Troup County Sheriff’s Office and the Troup County School System, and it’s clear that everyone is taking these threats extremely seriously. Law enforcement has spent time on all three campuses, ensuring that there was no validity to these threats, and there was a larger law enforcement presence at all of those schools on Friday.

This is one of the challenges of the social media era.

When most of us were in school, the only way for someone to make this kind of threat was to call on a telephone.

Now, unfortunately, social media has opened up another avenue.

One student was detained on Thursday for making the threat at GNMS and an investigation continues onto whether that student was involved in the other threats.

LPD and TCSO made it clear that whoever is responsible will be charged. This is not something you take lightly.

Not only is it threatening the lives of thousands of students, it’s also tying up law enforcement and school system resources.

Our students go to school — an environment we expect to be safe — to learn and grow, so that they can become contributing members of society one day.

These sorts of distractions make that difficult. This is not a prank. This is not funny.

We hope that the person or persons responsible are arrested soon and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

We know local law enforcement has that same goal in mind.