Cover the Night shines light on war criminal

If you haven't heard of Joseph Kony by now, you probably will today.

Dozens of students from Carson and Douglas high schools joined the international Cover the Night initiative to inundate their cities with information about the Central African war criminal.

"We just want to bring awareness," said Carson High School student Ross Miller, 17. "If people don't know about it, nothing will ever get done about it."

Cover the Night was organized through Invisible Children, an organization dedicated to the children of Uganda and other Central African countries who are taken from their homes under the cover of darkness to serve in the Lord's Resistance Army.

Boys are forced to join the rebel forces. Girls are turned into sex slaves.

Before leaving their homes, they are often compelled to kill or mutilate their families

The campaign Kony 2012 has one mission: Make the leader of the LRA so famous that he is captured and brought to justice this year.

Students here joined activists around the world in hanging "Kony 2012" posters and stenciling messages in chalk. Some students used electrical tape to write "Kony" under stop signs near downtown Carson City.

"The world is paying attention," government teacher Will Houk told students as they gathered. "We're going to make this whole thing happen."

Miranda Callahan, 16, said she became interested in the movement during a presentation at Carson High School in March.

"Kids are getting kidnapped," she said. "If we were in that position, we would want people to help us."

Dena Dugan, a history teacher at Douglas High School and adviser for the Amnesty International Club, said she is proud of the students who got involved.

"They're learning compassion," she said. "They're learning to value human rights everyone's entitled to. It's very good for them to have this experience. This is from the heart. These are kids that care."

Candace Whitmire, 16, said she believes in the mission and believes it will be accomplished.

"2012 is the year, for sure," she said. "I can feel it."