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Vandals strike at EA
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| Pam Smith, Shawn Lassister, Ronnie Husky and Christy Husky work to clean graffiti off of the buildings and sidewalks of Escambia Academy Monday morning. |
By MaryClaire Foster
Tears were falling Monday as parents, alumni, teachers and students spoke of the vandalism that plagued the beginning of their homecoming week at Escambia Academy.
Blue and red spray paint littered the sides of every building on campus, including the inside of the newly remodeled field house, spelling out profanities and racial slurs as well as the initials of rival high schools Escambia County and Northview.
Principal Betty Warren was the first to arrive at the school and see the damage.
“I just thought, ‘No’ because you just hate to see graffiti like that,” she said. “The rolling, now, I don’t like it, but it doesn’t upset me. Rolling you can deal with, but this will be very costly. Somebody’s just made a bad mistake and used poor judgment. It doesn’t mean they’re bad people. They just didn’t use good judgment.”
Warren said after calling the sheriff’s office she called ECHS principal, Harvey Means.
“I called Mr. Means because ECHS was all over the place, just to give him a heads up about what had been done, not to make any accusations,” Warren said. “He was really upset that something like that had been done. We both work for the children and it’s very upsetting.”
Sheliah Sawyer, a computer science teacher at EA, said she arrived about the same time as the students and was immediately distraught.
“My first vision was the side of the building,” she said. “As you came farther on campus, the worse it got. For somebody to have done this I just can’t imagine,” she said.
Regaining composure, she said, “It breaks my heart to know that someone has so little respect for themselves.”
Melanie Hendrix, an alumni whose children attended EA, choked back tears as she scrubbed the word “crackers” off of the sidewalk.
“It just makes me mad,” she said. “It hurts me. People don’t realize it’s the parents too that are affected.”
Christy Husky and her husband Ronnie have four children attending EA and were out at the school first thing Monday morning helping to clean up.
“When my five-year-old saw it she just started bawling,” she said. “Everyone here is so close knit. You’re not a number (at EA), you’re really a person here.”
Students Jesse Sanks, a junior, and Nick Mills, a senior, said they were surprised and mad to see the vandalism.
“We’re just trying to figure out who did it,” Sanks said.
Many people spoke of the traditional homecoming activity of rolling homes and rival schools as being harmless fun, but said the vandalism went too far.
“It’s one thing to roll, but to vandalize, that’s a little beyond,” EA chairman of the board Chris Kirk said.
Sawyer agreed with Kirk saying, “We’ve always rolled. We’ve rolled them, and they’ve rolled us. It’s done in good-natured fun. I’m not about to point fingers. You could go to Northview and Escambia County High School and they would be just as horrified as we are. I hurt for them too. Their student body is as good as ours. It’s just that one bad group. This is a rarity.”
ECHS student government association sponsor Andrea Chance was shocked when she found out about the vandalism.
“ECHS Student Government Association strongly condemns all acts of vandalism and sympathizes with any institution whose property is destructed as the result of malicious activities.”
Escambia County Sheriff Grover Smith said he could not comment on the investigation at this time, but that there are leads they are following up on.
“There will be no stones left unturned,” he said. “We’re doing all we can.”
Smith also said for anyone with information to contact the Sheriff’s office directly and advise the culprits to turn themselves in.
“It will probably save themselves a lot of trouble,” Smith said.
Kirk said all the school board is going to ask for is restitution for the damages.
“The worst part is that I had to go home last night staying up wondering if I should drive out there and make sure it’s OK,” he said. “That’s the kind of stuff it does to you. You can clean it up and paint it, but to have to worry about it at night- that’s the unfair part,” Kirk said.
Teacher Sheliah Sawyer looked for the positive in the situation.
“To watch our parents and kids come together today, you know what, they’re not going to do this again,” she said. “We’re bigger than that. That’s the good part of it. There’s a blessing to be found in it all.”
Blue and red spray paint littered the sides of every building on campus, including the inside of the newly remodeled field house, spelling out profanities and racial slurs as well as the initials of rival high schools Escambia County and Northview.
Principal Betty Warren was the first to arrive at the school and see the damage.
“I just thought, ‘No’ because you just hate to see graffiti like that,” she said. “The rolling, now, I don’t like it, but it doesn’t upset me. Rolling you can deal with, but this will be very costly. Somebody’s just made a bad mistake and used poor judgment. It doesn’t mean they’re bad people. They just didn’t use good judgment.”
Warren said after calling the sheriff’s office she called ECHS principal, Harvey Means.
“I called Mr. Means because ECHS was all over the place, just to give him a heads up about what had been done, not to make any accusations,” Warren said. “He was really upset that something like that had been done. We both work for the children and it’s very upsetting.”
Sheliah Sawyer, a computer science teacher at EA, said she arrived about the same time as the students and was immediately distraught.
“My first vision was the side of the building,” she said. “As you came farther on campus, the worse it got. For somebody to have done this I just can’t imagine,” she said.
Regaining composure, she said, “It breaks my heart to know that someone has so little respect for themselves.”
Melanie Hendrix, an alumni whose children attended EA, choked back tears as she scrubbed the word “crackers” off of the sidewalk.
“It just makes me mad,” she said. “It hurts me. People don’t realize it’s the parents too that are affected.”
Christy Husky and her husband Ronnie have four children attending EA and were out at the school first thing Monday morning helping to clean up.
“When my five-year-old saw it she just started bawling,” she said. “Everyone here is so close knit. You’re not a number (at EA), you’re really a person here.”
Students Jesse Sanks, a junior, and Nick Mills, a senior, said they were surprised and mad to see the vandalism.
“We’re just trying to figure out who did it,” Sanks said.
Many people spoke of the traditional homecoming activity of rolling homes and rival schools as being harmless fun, but said the vandalism went too far.
“It’s one thing to roll, but to vandalize, that’s a little beyond,” EA chairman of the board Chris Kirk said.
Sawyer agreed with Kirk saying, “We’ve always rolled. We’ve rolled them, and they’ve rolled us. It’s done in good-natured fun. I’m not about to point fingers. You could go to Northview and Escambia County High School and they would be just as horrified as we are. I hurt for them too. Their student body is as good as ours. It’s just that one bad group. This is a rarity.”
ECHS student government association sponsor Andrea Chance was shocked when she found out about the vandalism.
“ECHS Student Government Association strongly condemns all acts of vandalism and sympathizes with any institution whose property is destructed as the result of malicious activities.”
Escambia County Sheriff Grover Smith said he could not comment on the investigation at this time, but that there are leads they are following up on.
“There will be no stones left unturned,” he said. “We’re doing all we can.”
Smith also said for anyone with information to contact the Sheriff’s office directly and advise the culprits to turn themselves in.
“It will probably save themselves a lot of trouble,” Smith said.
Kirk said all the school board is going to ask for is restitution for the damages.
“The worst part is that I had to go home last night staying up wondering if I should drive out there and make sure it’s OK,” he said. “That’s the kind of stuff it does to you. You can clean it up and paint it, but to have to worry about it at night- that’s the unfair part,” Kirk said.
Teacher Sheliah Sawyer looked for the positive in the situation.
“To watch our parents and kids come together today, you know what, they’re not going to do this again,” she said. “We’re bigger than that. That’s the good part of it. There’s a blessing to be found in it all.”
 |
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| Escaped inmates captured Monday |
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Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of atmoreadvance.com.
Wondering wrote on Sep 24, 2008 11:05 AM:
" Hmmm....let's see, that great Alabama State Trooper is just another person when he's not on duty. Could have been that he was either at the grocery store, having dinner with his family or possibly sleeping — depending on the time of day the vandals hit. Gee, he could have even been at work! Shame on him thought for not having ESP so that he would have known this was going to happen and wait on his front porch to see the vandals in action! "
Wanda Brown wrote on Sep 24, 2008 11:27 AM:
" From what I've heard, they suspect it took place early in the morning. Most respectable people are asleep at that time, even Great Alabama State Troopers. Don't go there! "
Wanda Brown wrote on Sep 24, 2008 11:35 AM:
" I would like to thank the Atmore Advance for such a well written account of this incident. I have two children at EA and I was hoping that one of our local papers would report the good that has come from this evil. It has brought our student, faculty, and school family closer. There is a pride at EA that many of our new teachers had never seen before. The devil meant this for evil, but the Lord used it for good. "
Curious wrote on Sep 24, 2008 5:15 PM:
" How can Northview and Escambia County High School be considered rivals of Escambia Academy as the article not only suggests, but states? EA does not compete against NHS or ECHS in any situation. Clearly they may compete for who offers the best education, but we aren't supposed to discuss opinions in professional journalism outside of the editorial box. "
EA Student wrote on Sep 24, 2008 6:02 PM:
" I am a student at Escambia Academy(no name will be mentioned), and when I saw the vandalism, I was speechless. Everyone has worked so hard on re-designing the field house, and keeping the school clean, and to see it damaged was very heart-breaking. One thing that I did not see written in the article above was that there was a model of a Cougar in the field house, and the people who vandalized took it. Every day you went to the field house, it was there. It was not there Monday morning. If you find it, please contact EA at (251) 368-2080. I do pray that the devil will not tempt anyone to hurt anyone like this again. God bless everyone. "
someone who cares wrote on Sep 24, 2008 8:32 PM:
" I just want to say that I know how hard they have been working on EA this year. I am upset for all the students and staff and hope that they catch EVERYONE that was involved in this vandalism. Just remember to listen to everyone around you, I'm sure that the people that did this is VERY excited to tell all their friends. It will come out sooner then most think. And shame on our local students for taking something away from the community, the ability to befriend and help each other no matter where or what you come from. "
a friend of the Trooper living next door wrote on Sep 26, 2008 9:30 AM:
" I think the last comment was a bit RIDICULOUS !! Who ever done this is to blame! The Great Alabama State Trooper living next door AND his GREAT family have NOTIHING to do with this and this statment was very much so UNCALLED FOR!! Being judgemental to a community member is absurd!! "
unknown wrote on Sep 26, 2008 2:44 PM:
" okay i attend NHS and i apologize to all the E.A students parents and staff. from everyone who didnt take part in this; this was taken was out of hand i just want to know that them who arent involved are just as serious about finding out who it is at everyone else is. "
EA PARENT wrote on Sep 27, 2008 1:39 PM:
" I WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED THAT THE YOUNG MEN INVOLVED IN THE VANDALISM AT OUR SCHOOL THAT ARE MEMBERS OF THE ECHS FOOTBALL TEAM WERE ALLOWED TO PLAY IN FRIDAY NIGHTS GAME AGAINST BALDWIN CO. IT SENDS A VERY CLEAR MESSAGE BY COACH DAVIS AND MR MEANS THAT THIS IS NOT TAKEN VERY SERIOUSLY. I HOPE EVERYONE THAT CAN WILL GIVE THE PAPER, MR MEANS, AND COACH DAVIS A CALL AND VOICE YOUR OUTRAGE THAT THIS IS BUSINESS AS USUAL AT ESC CO HIGH "
name wrote on Sep 27, 2008 3:59 PM:
" yeah it is bad to vandalize a school ,but this is this whats on the front of our news papers? um did anyone hear about the shooting at dirt cheap. atmore has more important things to worry about. i cant believe people cried over this school vandalism. what about the children of the parents that were killed yesterday. "
EA PARENT wrote on Sep 29, 2008 8:36 AM:
" Whoever is "name" I would like you to know that this story broke before the murder suicide, it is tragic and no one associated with our school would have wanted to take away from that story. But don't play down what happened last week. This is the sort of attitude that is the problem with these young people. If you would do a little research you will find that this type of behavior is a gateway to future escalation of problems with young offenders including violence. I hope you never have to face either of these situations. "
anonymos EA wrote on Sep 29, 2008 2:09 PM:
" "Name"...Atmore has more important things to worry about?? Well yes the murder and suicide is very tragic but so were the racial terms such as "crackers" and "honkies" wrote on the walls of our school. This crime has happened and not that dwelling on it will make it go away, but i just want everyone to understand how hurt we were that day. And until you have been in our situation you may never understand.... "
i agree with name wrote on Sep 29, 2008 9:19 PM:
" Yeah Atmore does have more things to worry about. You dont hear about half the things that go on in Atmore. I live here and I know for a fact we have prostitutes and drug dealers all over the streets. I just think some people are over reacting a little about words and toliet paper. I like how they keep all the really bad things out of the news papers and can put school vandalism as a horrible tragedy, when there are worse things. But that makes Atmore look good. right? "
EA PARENT wrote on Oct 1, 2008 11:20 AM:
" "i agree with name" how about me and a few of my friends come and spray paint your house, maybe your church, or your school. In the big picture it is not that big of a deal, but don't deflect attention because you don't support our school. If you have kids and it was our children painting an Atmore school, I would suspect that it would be an even bigger story. Sorry the news isn't more salacious for you, but when kindergarteners have to read vulgar profanity and racial slurs when they come to school we all should be upset. If you have names of drug dealers and prostitutes call the police dept and help them get them off the streets, be a helper not a hater. "
Concerned Parent wrote on Oct 1, 2008 12:32 PM:
" I agree that, in the grand scheme of things, painted buildings may not constitute a "tragedy." The profane words and vulgar drawings have been removed from the buildings of EA, and in time, the resulting property damage will be repaired. The real tragedy of this situation is that the vandalism was committed by young people - our young people. The students of ECHS, Northview, EA, Atmore Christian School, and homeschool programs do not attend school together on a daily basis, but they are intertwined into many facets of each other's lives. They play ball, attend church, and participate in community activities together. They consider each other friends. Friends should not do things to intentionally hurt friends, and when they do, the victims are left with raw emotions such as hurt, confusion, and disappointment. Therein lies the true tragedy - young people hurting each other. Sticks and stones may break bones, but words break hearts and friendships. The truth is that, as human beings, we all disappoint each other at times. It is also a fact that even the best kids sometimes make bad choices. It is the reponsibility of parents, educators, and community leaders to help our young people learn from these type of situations. We should strive to equip them with strong moral compasses that will help to guide them toward happy, productive lives. "
NONE wrote on Sep 24, 2008 9:26 AM: