Posted on 05/26/2005 9:53:17 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Student apologizes for streaking prank
By TRICIA CORTEZ LAREDO MORNING TIMES
Sporting "We Support the Coop" T-shirts in green and yellow Nixon High School colors, nearly 40 people packed the small 94.9 studio early Wednesday morning for James Cooper Jr.'s mock graduation ceremony.
Principal Sylvia Rios did not allow Cooper, 17, to cross the stage with his graduation class Wednesday evening because he streaked in front of students during lunch last week.
Just before the 7 p.m. commencement ceremony, school officials also barred Cooper and roughly 25 family members and friends from entering the Laredo Entertainment Center wearing "We Support the Coop" T-shirts.
"I thought we lived in a democratic society," father James "Butch" Cooper said heatedly from the arena. "This is not over."
Marco Alvarado, Laredo Independent School District communications director, did not return calls. Earlier that morning, Cooper, a four-year varsity golfer and percussion student at the district's magnet school for the fine and performing arts, went on air with 94.9 FM and 106.1 FM sister stations and apologized to the student body and staff for committing the prank.
He also thanked those who supported his failed effort to walk the stage with his class.
Despite opposition from the station's general manager, disc jockeys Sunni Storm and Al Guevara presented Cooper with a graduate doll, played "Pomp and Circumstance" and congratulated all graduating seniors from Laredo's eight high schools.
At the station, Cooper was joined by his mother, Dora, grandparents Tomas and Elfidia Palacios, sisters Desiree and Angela, both of whom are Nixon graduates, and a slew of friends and Nixon parents.
"Everybody makes mistakes, but this was not a major one," Leticia Barbarena, parent of a Nixon senior, said. "He has apologized, and I think he deserves to walk with his class because he has worked very hard for what he has earned."
However, not everyone supports Cooper in this instance.
One social studies teacher at Nixon, who asked that her name not be used, called Cooper "an embarrassment to the school," and said she and other staff members will "do everything we can to get him prosecuted with the maximum punishment and have his name placed on the sex offenders list."
Cooper has a court date set for the end of the month with Justice of the Peace Danny Valdez.
"He exposed himself to young girls and ran behind the library in front of the classrooms," the teacher said angrily. "He also ran in front of teachers who saw everything in front and in back."
She said Cooper should also be stripped of the scholarships he received, one for golf and another from a local church.
Another parent who did not identify herself threatened to press charges against Cooper for indecency since he was exposed before her 15-year-old daughter.
"I don't let my daughter see rated 'R' movies, and I am talking to my attorney about this," she said.
Others in the community disagreed.
"I sincerely hope he gets to cross the stage," said Sylvia Espinoza, adding she does not personally know the principal or Cooper and his family. "The punishment does not fit the crime. I think he should be punished, but graduation is one thing and punishment for what he did is another."
Espinoza said she believes the principal was "overzealous and went a tad overboard" with her decision to not allow Cooper to graduate with his class.
Rios, the principal, did allow more than a dozen students, who participated in a cafeteria food fight last week that involved the release of a rooster and field mice, to cross the stage.
Unlike Cooper, who was sent to In School Suspension for three days, none of these students were sent to ISS.
According to the History Channel, the fad of streaking was born on college campuses in 1973 and peaked mid-decade. It usually involved a student stripping naked and sprinting past crowds of people, often with police or security guards in pursuit.
(Tricia Cortez may be reached at 728-2568 or by e-mail at tricia@lmtonline.com.)
05/26/05
I hope this doesn't discourage other young Americans from studying golf or percussion.
Throwing food vs. exposing yourself to children?
Principal made the right judgment call.
That's gotta be a heck of a cafeteria, man!!!
Yes, but what if it had been the dozen who had streaked, instead of the one? There was already immense pressure on the principal to reverse herself.
Stupidity has consequences. Repeat: stupidity has consequences.
I thought so too, but the difference is that was on college campuses with adults.
Dirty old men can't flash themselves to women, let alone 15 year old girls and get away with calling it "streaking" how is this different?
Great argument. All our social mores should be determined by what long-haired, leisure-suit-wearing, dope-smoking morons in the 70s did.
Time for people to lighten up and the principle to get a grip on something besides his tiny. . .well. . .you know. . .
I'm sure Principal Sylvia Rios will be flummoxed by your brilliant, highly original insult.
If anyone exposes himself to my 13 year old daughter, he'll wish all that happened to him was missing his HS graduation. He'd be missing his jaw if I found him.
The two situations are light years apart. DOM expose themselves for some kind of sick sexual thrill, and they're old, wrinkly, nasty creeps.
Streaking on the other hand, is funny as all get out - there's nothing funny like a naked man running around. Any view of naughty bits is fleeting, and they are obviously doing it for humor, not for sexual gratification.
I agree. Bunch of stuffed shirts.
So, not only do we have to put up with teachers who can't teach, we have to put up with nutzos who think its a good idea to ruin a kid's life before he even gets started as an adult.
School choice is the only way to go to relax the grip of the lefties on our kids.
I have daughters...fine girls, too. They are now 23 and 20. However, if at the age of say...12 and 15 or so, this had happened to them, I don't know who would have laughed louder, they or I at the stupidity of it. They have seen all the "body parts" either in science class or health class by that time. My girls certainly would not have been traumatized, nor would I have made an big issue of the whole thing. Having said that, however, I think the principal did the right thing. Actions have consequences.
This from a social studies teacher.
Actions have consequences, but you don't register this clown as a sex offender. You give him community service or some other similar punishment.
Maybe these s***heads better stop wasting their time with numb nuts like this and go find some real frickin' sex offenders....
boogedad, boogedad
Has this country become so sexually retarded that it feels a naked human body is a "sex crime"!
Both sides need to get some perspective.
To Cooper's father: Yes, we do live in a democratic society. Your son did something incredibly stupid and paid the price for it. He learned that stupid actions have consequences, something that YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN TEACHING HIM.
To that social studies teacher: Get a grip. The kid had a brain lock and streaked across the campus, and you want to put him on the sex offender registry?? Puh-LEEZE. He did something stupid and paid the price for it, it's not worth ruining his life over.
To both: Get over it, move on, thank you, have a nice day.
}:-)4
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.