A locker room used by the East Jackson Comprehensive High School football team Friday night at rival Jefferson High School Memorial Stadium was found trashed after the game.
Thirty-five name plates of JHS football players were damaged in the locker room after having been ripped off locker doors. Several of the tags were used to form the letters “EJ.” Several lockers had an unknown gel or lotion on the inside, several toilets had been intentionally stopped up and the water fountain had what appeared to be urine in it, according to police reports.
JHS principal Kevin Smith said Tuesday that the damage is being repaired and an investigation is under way to identify those responsible for the vandalism.
“There has been a police report submitted and they are in the process of investigating,” he said. “I have been in contact with Pat Stueck, East Jackson principal, and her administration is also in the process of investigating as well. There is no place for this type of damage in high school athletics. Our message is that this will not be tolerated and I want this message to be received by our students as well in case there are thoughts of retaliation in the future. If this type of thing is not stopped and continues to escalate, it can result in serious property damage and even violence.”
EJCHS football team probed over vandalism
Stueck said Tuesday that she is conducting an internal investigation and cooperating with the Jefferson Police Department in identifying any possible students involved.
“Based on the outcome of the investigation, appropriate measures will be taken,” she said. “Vandalism of any kind is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. I hope that we can move forward and have this evolve into a healthy rivalry with good sportsmanship prevalent on both sides.”
Also during the game, damage was reported to the visitor’s bathrooms where a sink was pulled from the wall and pipes were broken. The police report also said that it appeared as if someone had urinated in the broken sink.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office deputy who filled out the report noted that an EJCHS player had received a foul call during the game and “words were exchanged” between the players and referees. That incident apparently escalate the tensions in the game.
Last year, the JHS and EJCHS matchup determined who would win the region title. This year, the game wasn’t as critical in region play, but did determine which team would have bragging rights as the “county champion.”
JHS won the game 49-15.
“Based on the outcome of the investigation, appropriate measures will be taken,” she said. “Vandalism of any kind is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. I hope that we can move forward and have this evolve into a healthy rivalry with good sportsmanship prevalent on both sides.”
Also during the game, damage was reported to the visitor’s bathrooms where a sink was pulled from the wall and pipes were broken. The police report also said that it appeared as if someone had urinated in the broken sink.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office deputy who filled out the report noted that an EJCHS player had received a foul call during the game and “words were exchanged” between the players and referees. That incident apparently escalate the tensions in the game.
Last year, the JHS and EJCHS matchup determined who would win the region title. This year, the game wasn’t as critical in region play, but did determine which team would have bragging rights as the “county champion.”
JHS won the game 49-15.
I guess Kevin Smith will be sitting in a chair near the bridge during the week of the Jefferson-Commerce game. There's always a lot of red and blue paint on it. This honestly makes JHS look like a bunch of whiners. You won the game...and now it's over.
I also wonder where the EJCHS coaches were during this incident. Did they leave players unsupervised, or were they complicit? Do they not have enough class to check the locker room after the last kid has left? ("We're going to leave it cleaner than we found it, boys.") If they had been supervising their players as they should have this A) would not have happened, or B) it could have been dealt with and corrected before it became a news story. This situation says less about the players than it does about the lack of professionalism of coaches and administration.
Kids are going to be kids, and when they act irresponsibly, they need to learn that decisions have consequences. But there are a lot of adults involved in this situation that need to grow up. It sounds to me as if the adults involved were still emotional after the game was over.
that mentality is unacceptable, these players are at the age where they should know better in how they act and are not far from being adults.
if your statement reflected to 5 year olds that are still getting a grasp on right and wrong, then it'd be one thing, But, these guys are trained sportsmen who are young adults.
What they did was unsportsman like and there should be reprecussions for there actions, community service (in county of defiance), restitution and a verbal apology is probably the most acceptable route of punishment, I agree with you in one respect that a police record would be a harsh reprimand for a young adult entering into the world of business,sports or other interests.
If you can correct them, while still giving them an oppurtunity to change there act and do better then you have achieved something, but, if you reprimand them to the point that it takes away from there ability to excel and produce, you have done nothing but limit them.
if it was a repeated offence, a police record would be suffice.
All involved deserve punishment.
No wonder nobody wants to move here. Its probably time I leave. The good thing is once you leave the county, nobody knows where or who Jefferson is.
Everyone is correct, EJCHS should be tied to a cross and hung for all of their transgressions.
As for EJCHS and AYP-you can't qualify for AYP evaluation until you have been open for 4 years. This will be the first AYP year. Please get your facts straight.
As far as the coaches being held responsible, that makes about as much since as parents being punished every time their kid gets in trouble at school. What would be good? A fine maybe. I guess that wouldn't apply to Jefferson because they probably don't have any one that ever gets in trouble at their schools.
I'll go back to the statement about last year-when the JHS students painted the bridge on Hoods Mill, was anyone punished and prosecuted? Did the wrestling coach get in trouble because it was his kid?
If you don't care for Jefferson you should leave!
Anyone who would stoop this low needs to be punished! Where is Dr. Stueck??
"Kids are going to be kids"
"all the football teams do pranks after the games"
Wrong and Wrong ! First off don't make excuses for these kids.
Second there representing there school and are supposed to be setting an example. If Thats how Frank C coachs and how his team handles defeat he should be terminated ASAP.
There is no excuse for this at all and as a tax payer I don't want to hear about that from ANY sports team or anyone representing East.
Maybe it's time that East holds there kids and staff accountable so we don't read about this type of thing anymore.....as for those above blowing it off SHAME ON YOU !
By the way, who's keeping Jefferson from playing EJ on Eagle turf?
Athletics have overshadowed the true purpose of public education in Jackson County - to educate all to their best abilities in a fair and appropriate manner that does not put athletics first and education last.
You and every one else on here defending East is making this worse.
EJ4 go to the police and make a report for the record or cut the hearsay.
The whole anti -Jefferson issue in the county school system needs to be taken care of and that includes the teachers as well.
Oh and bulldawg I played on a state championship team and in college IF this happens or happened all the time around here then there is why our football teams don't get to the dome.
Get your head out of the sand and see that it's not accepptable by anyone anytime !
For those that keep talking about Jefferson painting the bridge, who cares. We need to focus on what WE do not everyone else. That is not OUR problem. This game is a good thing for our county. It would be a shame to see it tarnished with incidents like this.
wns against Jefferson. As for the games being played at Jefferson for the past two years what is your point exactly? Will EJHS have home grown officals calling the game? Highly doubtful! EJHS IS A GROUP OF OVER SIZED "BABIES"! My hope is that Caputo and his entire staff be fired, and EJHS be fined heavily for this action.