ST. AMANT — School rivalries get passionate, but for some residents in Ascension Parish, they say that things are going too far. With one of the biggest rivalry games in Ascension Parish, the St. Amant High School versus East Ascension High School varsity football game set for this weekend, students are out in force pulling night-time pranks.
Residents reached out to UWK regarding concerns of teenagers taking pranking measures past old-school rolling homes with toilet paper.
St. Amant resident Jenny Waguespack said the rivalry between the schools is leading to unsafe behavior. She reported that vulgar language was spraypainted on the side of her home, her mailbox is now toppled and her vehicle has ketchup and mustard on the paint.
“Spray paint on my house? You can’t just wash that off; that’s destruction,” Waguespack said.
“It’s supposed to be kept in fun, not destructive to somebody’s house,” she added.
Stephen Callender lives in a subdivision near Hwy. 30 and Burnside in Gonzales. He says he also had students on his property.
“It was after 10:00. My dogs were just going nuts. They had a huge bunch of kids in the neighborhood, and they were in the backyard. They actually went up to my back door. They were on my back porch, and running around the neighborhood. They were dressed all in black, had their faces covered, backpacks and paintball guns, and they started shooting each other and having this huge paintball war, and cars were flying through the neighborhood,” he told UWK. Callender said he ended up calling law enforcement due to the dangerous antics, like kids hanging out of vehicles shooting the paintball guns, and city police showed up.
Callender said that even though the pranking is “tradition” in this school rivalry, things are getting out of hand.
“The leadership in Ascension is going to have to step in to to kind of say, okay, cut this back a little because it’s getting way out of hand, because it’s, you know, property damage and the excessive violence and craziness.”
UWK reached out to Gonzales Police for more information in the incidents. They told UWK that there were some juveniles arrested and summoned last night. One of the vehicles allegedly belonging to one of the juveniles had a gun in it. GPD said that weapon was not used by the juveniles last night. It was found in the vehicle.
Another family said they woke up Tuesday morning to discover that one of their vehicles had items stolen from inside.
“So when I watched the camera, I noticed that they went in my daughter’s car, and I’m like, why would they even go in her car?” Demetrious Moses told UWK. She added that she watched the people pull on the handles of her own car, as well, but her vehicle was locked.
The individuals also rolled the yard and trees with toilet paper. However, Moses said that they also did more to her daughter’s car.
“And they also put toilet paper in her car, like, one piece at a time, they tore the toilet paper off the roll, and like her front two seats, the back seats, all that is like covered in toilet paper. But I was like, you know what? I said this is crazy.”
The ones who went through her daughter’s car allegedly also took items that were inside, Moses said. This included a cup of change and her daughter’s iPad.
“I love the rivalry; I love it, but at some point in time, you have to say when is enough enough?”
GPD’s Police Chief Sherman Jackson issued a statement regarding the pranking antics:
It’s Spartan-Gator week, and we know what that means in this community.
The East Ascension–St. Amant rivalry is a long-standing tradition. The school spirit, the friendly competition, the bragging rights and even a little toilet paper have been part of this week for generations. We support our students having fun and our community celebrating one of the biggest games of the year.
But let me be very clear: school spirit is not an excuse to destroy someone else’s property.
Some of what we are seeing this week has crossed the line from harmless rivalry into vandalism and criminal activity, including incidents involving paintball guns and damage to property.
The Gonzales Police Department has deployed additional patrol and plainclothes officers throughout our community. Officers have already conducted several stops resulting in summonses and arrests, including juveniles, and we continue to receive reports of property damage.
If you are shooting paintballs at homes, vehicles or people, or damaging landscaping, mailboxes or other property, you are no longer participating in a tradition. You are breaking the law.
Parents, please have this conversation with your teenagers before they head out. Students, make good decisions. Have fun. Support your school. Enjoy the rivalry. But understand that when your actions become destructive or unlawful, you may find yourself meeting members of the Gonzales Police Department for reasons that have nothing to do with Friday night football.
Let’s keep Spartan-Gator week what it is supposed to be: spirited, competitive, fun and something our entire community can enjoy.
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