Students respond to armed bank robbery with prayers

By Tom Adams KVAL News and KVAL.com Staff Published: Apr 7, 2009 at 6:31 PM PST
Students respond to armed bank robbery with prayers »Play Video
Over 100 students gathered together in song and prayer at a bank robbed twice in the last month.

PLEASANT HILL, Ore. -- Hands clasped and heads bowed, they prayed together in the parking lot.

They prayed together near the ATM.

They prayed together at the drive-up window -- until a customer arrived and needed to do some banking.

Over 100 students from Emerald Christian Academy deposited their prayers at Siuslaw Valley Bank in the small town of Pleasant Valley, the site of two armed robberies in the last month.

"It's kind of destroyed their little 'Mayberry' feeling, I think," said DelJean Benton, treasurer for Emerald Academy. "It's just kind of unnerved everybody in the community."

Perhaps the Mayberry feeling isn't lost after all amid the presence of students with big cards that said "Thank You!" and the songs and the prayers touched bank employees.

"They're all like, oh thank you so much," said Rebekah Johnson, an Emerald Christian Academy student. "They all felt like, you could just hear in their voices, they all felt something."

Police arrested three men last week in Eugene in connection with the latest robbery. Holden Smith, Eric Ellis and Travis Weller are still locked up. All three were arraigned Tuesday on 15 bank robbery charges and two charges of theft.