Security Tightened At Nathan Hale

SEATTLE - Football practice was canceled yesterday at Nathan Hale High School, where security has been tightened after an incident Tuesday afternoon in which a group of youths flashed guns while football-team members were leaving an after-school study hall to attend practice.

The armed group fled after an assistant coach yelled at them, according to school officials.

Police were called. About eight youths were taken into custody near the school but were later released, according to Principal Eric Benson.

Three of the youths were new Nathan Hale students and have been expelled, Benson said. The others were not students at the school. One of the Hale students had been expelled Tuesday morning after he reportedly flashed a knife at a football player at the school Monday.

Trouble at Hale began last Thursday, when a coach defused a confrontation in the locker room between some football players and nonplayers.

Seattle Police and district security personnel met yesterday with members of the football team and their parents, along with school officials and coaches.