tha article
well buddy ole pals.. if you havent read the news paper... heres the godammed article...
Hell week' out of control
Central High student hit by car, numerous death threats recorded
By PAUL A. ANTHONY, panthony@sastandardtimes.com or 659-8237
September 21, 2005
A Central High School student ritual known as ''hell week'' has run dangerously out of control, students and parents said Tuesday, with two families saying they will press charges against upperclassmen who they say assaulted their children.
At least two Central students have been treated at local hospitals since the unofficial week began Sunday night - one, a junior, was hit by a car after the driver was blinded by water balloons thrown at his windshield; the other, a sophomore, said his arm was broken after a senior threw him to the ground.
Several parents said they kept their sophomore children home from school Tuesday after the students received death threats after the incidents.
''He's scared to death to go to school,'' said Antoinette Gonzales of her son, Casey, 15.
''Hell week'' is not organized or condoned by the Central administration, said Joe Coleman, the school's principal, who said he never heard the term before Monday.
A group of seniors came to school Monday wearing ''Hell Week'' T-shirts, he said, and were told never to wear them again.
''We do associate that with hazing,'' he said. ''We are not supporting that kind of foolishness.''
Police investigations into three incidents concerning Central students are ongoing, Coleman said, and police spokesman Lt. Curtis Milbourn said the department would issue a comment on the incidents today.
In one incident, Casey Gonzales said he was jumped by a group of seniors after accidentally hitting Hunter Yancey, 17, with his Chevrolet Cavalier in the San Angelo Stadium parking lot during a water-balloon fight Monday night.
The incident occurred during one of several planned balloon fights in which juniors and seniors fight sophomores. Students have reported the balloons were filled with bleach, hot sauce, mouthwash, ketchup, mustard, chocolate sauce, ice and even urine.
Hell week ''is when juniors and seniors get together and torture the sophomores for a week'' before Central's homecoming, said Matt Gohn, 15, a sophomore who said he saw senior Garrett Frank, 18, pick up Mark Myers Jr., 15, on Sunday night and throw him to the ground, breaking Myers' right arm in two places.
The incident occurred during a balloon fight at Meadowcreek Park, in southwest San Angelo. Myers said Frank told him he ''had three seconds to run,'' chased him down, grabbed him around the waist and threw him.
''I heard it pop and he did, too, and I started screaming,'' Myers said.
The Frank family attorney, Guy Choate, said the incident was an accident, adding that Myers and Gohn's account ''simply did not happen.''
The next night, about 320 Central students met at San Angelo Stadium - only about 20 of them sophomores, Gonzales said. After upperclassmen began pushing him, he and friend David Dennis, 15, began driving away.
As they were heading toward the parking-lot exit, Gonzales said, a flurry of water balloons splashed against his windshield just as someone ran in front of the car. Swerving to avoid the student, he hit junior Hunter Yancey, 17, who was treated at a local hospital and released.
Yancey said both passenger-side tires ran over his left leg, and that he suffered gashes in his left knee and still has tire marks on his leg. He said he believes Gonzales accidentally ran over him.
''It's definitely gotten worse,'' Yancey said of the pre-homecoming rituals. ''It got way out of hand this year.''
After the car hit Yancey, Gonzales said, he got out to check on him - instead, he was pummeled by a group of seniors who also began attacking his car. Along with inflicting scrapes and bruises on his head, chest, back and arms, Gonzales said, the teens ripped off the car's rear bumper, broke a taillight, broke off a side-view mirror and covered the car in dents.
Since then, Gonzales said, he has received death threats from upperclassmen over his cell phone, home phone and the Internet. One even threatened his sister, he said, adding that he did not go to school Tuesday but will attend today.
''If I'm found innocent (of any charges), I am going to press charges against the people who did this to me and my car,'' said Gonzales, who said he was also hit by balloons filled with ketchup, mustard and chocolate syrup.
Students were warned last week to follow the school district's code of conduct the week before homecoming, Coleman said, and extra security was posted this week at the Central campus after an incident last year in which students covered the campus with toilet paper.
San Angelo Stadium and the surrounding area are owned by the district.
Administrators were surprised and frustrated by the outbreaks of violence, said district spokeswoman Jamie Highsmith.
''People felt like (students) would be coming to the campus to do something,'' she said, ''and here it is somewhere else.''
At least six sophomores did not attend classes at the 3,250-student campus Tuesday because they feared for their safety, said Gohn, the student who said he witnessed the alleged assault on Myers.
Coleman said he had received no complaints of students feeling unsafe or being threatened on the Central campus, insisting that students there are safe and adding that he cannot monitor what students do off school property.
''This is not happening at Central High School,'' he said. ''I'm definitely going to go wild if it's something that's happening on my campus.''
Students accused of assault, terroristic threats or other crimes likely will be given in-school suspension pending the results of police investigations, Coleman said.
The district also will investigate to determine whether students violated hazing law or committed any other crimes, Highsmith said.
Coleman said he has told parents to file police reports about students who have hurt or threatened their children.
Parents, on the other hand, said they are willing to do whatever it takes to protect their children, who they say now, feel threatened even at home.
One father, who asked that he not be named, said a death threat against his daughter was scrawled on his garage Monday morning. The night before, he and a neighbor had chased off a group of at least 30 teens who were waiting for the girl to come home.
The Myerses said they plan to seek charges against Frank.
''I have children over here. I feel sorry for the person who tries to hurt my family,'' said Mark Myers Sr. ''I could sit here and say someone's going to get hurt, but my son has a broken arm.''
Hell week' out of control
Central High student hit by car, numerous death threats recorded
By PAUL A. ANTHONY, panthony@sastandardtimes.com or 659-8237
September 21, 2005
A Central High School student ritual known as ''hell week'' has run dangerously out of control, students and parents said Tuesday, with two families saying they will press charges against upperclassmen who they say assaulted their children.
At least two Central students have been treated at local hospitals since the unofficial week began Sunday night - one, a junior, was hit by a car after the driver was blinded by water balloons thrown at his windshield; the other, a sophomore, said his arm was broken after a senior threw him to the ground.
Several parents said they kept their sophomore children home from school Tuesday after the students received death threats after the incidents.
''He's scared to death to go to school,'' said Antoinette Gonzales of her son, Casey, 15.
''Hell week'' is not organized or condoned by the Central administration, said Joe Coleman, the school's principal, who said he never heard the term before Monday.
A group of seniors came to school Monday wearing ''Hell Week'' T-shirts, he said, and were told never to wear them again.
''We do associate that with hazing,'' he said. ''We are not supporting that kind of foolishness.''
Police investigations into three incidents concerning Central students are ongoing, Coleman said, and police spokesman Lt. Curtis Milbourn said the department would issue a comment on the incidents today.
In one incident, Casey Gonzales said he was jumped by a group of seniors after accidentally hitting Hunter Yancey, 17, with his Chevrolet Cavalier in the San Angelo Stadium parking lot during a water-balloon fight Monday night.
The incident occurred during one of several planned balloon fights in which juniors and seniors fight sophomores. Students have reported the balloons were filled with bleach, hot sauce, mouthwash, ketchup, mustard, chocolate sauce, ice and even urine.
Hell week ''is when juniors and seniors get together and torture the sophomores for a week'' before Central's homecoming, said Matt Gohn, 15, a sophomore who said he saw senior Garrett Frank, 18, pick up Mark Myers Jr., 15, on Sunday night and throw him to the ground, breaking Myers' right arm in two places.
The incident occurred during a balloon fight at Meadowcreek Park, in southwest San Angelo. Myers said Frank told him he ''had three seconds to run,'' chased him down, grabbed him around the waist and threw him.
''I heard it pop and he did, too, and I started screaming,'' Myers said.
The Frank family attorney, Guy Choate, said the incident was an accident, adding that Myers and Gohn's account ''simply did not happen.''
The next night, about 320 Central students met at San Angelo Stadium - only about 20 of them sophomores, Gonzales said. After upperclassmen began pushing him, he and friend David Dennis, 15, began driving away.
As they were heading toward the parking-lot exit, Gonzales said, a flurry of water balloons splashed against his windshield just as someone ran in front of the car. Swerving to avoid the student, he hit junior Hunter Yancey, 17, who was treated at a local hospital and released.
Yancey said both passenger-side tires ran over his left leg, and that he suffered gashes in his left knee and still has tire marks on his leg. He said he believes Gonzales accidentally ran over him.
''It's definitely gotten worse,'' Yancey said of the pre-homecoming rituals. ''It got way out of hand this year.''
After the car hit Yancey, Gonzales said, he got out to check on him - instead, he was pummeled by a group of seniors who also began attacking his car. Along with inflicting scrapes and bruises on his head, chest, back and arms, Gonzales said, the teens ripped off the car's rear bumper, broke a taillight, broke off a side-view mirror and covered the car in dents.
Since then, Gonzales said, he has received death threats from upperclassmen over his cell phone, home phone and the Internet. One even threatened his sister, he said, adding that he did not go to school Tuesday but will attend today.
''If I'm found innocent (of any charges), I am going to press charges against the people who did this to me and my car,'' said Gonzales, who said he was also hit by balloons filled with ketchup, mustard and chocolate syrup.
Students were warned last week to follow the school district's code of conduct the week before homecoming, Coleman said, and extra security was posted this week at the Central campus after an incident last year in which students covered the campus with toilet paper.
San Angelo Stadium and the surrounding area are owned by the district.
Administrators were surprised and frustrated by the outbreaks of violence, said district spokeswoman Jamie Highsmith.
''People felt like (students) would be coming to the campus to do something,'' she said, ''and here it is somewhere else.''
At least six sophomores did not attend classes at the 3,250-student campus Tuesday because they feared for their safety, said Gohn, the student who said he witnessed the alleged assault on Myers.
Coleman said he had received no complaints of students feeling unsafe or being threatened on the Central campus, insisting that students there are safe and adding that he cannot monitor what students do off school property.
''This is not happening at Central High School,'' he said. ''I'm definitely going to go wild if it's something that's happening on my campus.''
Students accused of assault, terroristic threats or other crimes likely will be given in-school suspension pending the results of police investigations, Coleman said.
The district also will investigate to determine whether students violated hazing law or committed any other crimes, Highsmith said.
Coleman said he has told parents to file police reports about students who have hurt or threatened their children.
Parents, on the other hand, said they are willing to do whatever it takes to protect their children, who they say now, feel threatened even at home.
One father, who asked that he not be named, said a death threat against his daughter was scrawled on his garage Monday morning. The night before, he and a neighbor had chased off a group of at least 30 teens who were waiting for the girl to come home.
The Myerses said they plan to seek charges against Frank.
''I have children over here. I feel sorry for the person who tries to hurt my family,'' said Mark Myers Sr. ''I could sit here and say someone's going to get hurt, but my son has a broken arm.''