I think all the evidence needs to be in place and if the tradition of the spray painting of the road for the past decade and no punishment has ever been in place and proof of only the kids who did the spray painting on the road way, then no those kids should not be punished. FOR the kids who were involved in the school vandalism then yes all guilty parties need to be punished to full extent of the law. HOWEVER, to add punishment to one student just because he exercised his freedom to defend himself and get extra punishment does seem like the school board is retaliated and adding extra punishment and it is very unfair to one student if that is the case. also it seems to me there is plenty of video tapes that could very well show who was involved in what aspects of the vandalism and show IF Zimmerman was actually on school property or just involved in the roadway spray painting. Paulding detectives should be able to verify and detect the truth!

I see noting wrong with using this case as a precedent. The act was prankish and a bad decision at best, but the school has every right to punish these students. It will, or has, cost taxpayer money to correct this vandalism - in times when money is short. Sorry Zimmerman you do the crime you do the time (so to speak) assuming the act, if caught, "would not be that bad" is no excuse.

Maybe if he didn't vandalize the school, he wouldn't have any problems. He needs to quit whining and realize that he caused his own problems. The decisions we make dictate the quality of our lives...

How about not vandalizing something? He would not have been in this mess to begin with had he not violated the law. I was involved in my senior prank but it did not involve destroying school property. Was there any part in his very intelligent brain that said this might not be a good idea? I think teens today do not get the consequences of their actions because parents bail them out. I am not sure this young man understands the gravity of the situation because he stated the school board was doing it out of spite.

No where do I see where Zimmerman has apologized or accepted responsibility for his part in defacing someone elses property. Why was this supposedly "smart" young person not taught or why did he not learn at the age of 2 that you do not harm something that does not belong to you. I blame both him and he should know better and his parents as they should have taught him that it is wrong to hurt property that does not belong to you.

I have been following this from the beginning as I live very close to the high school. I absolutely understand that what the kids did was wrong, but not to the degree of their punishment. Teenagers do DUMB things all the time, I know before graduation they have been painting the intersection for years.

Some of the brightest people in the world have no common sense, but I feel the actions of these kids does not warrant what is happening to them. This is ruining their lives because of some paint. Punishment should have been a public apology, a fine to pay for cleaniing and cleaning up the paint themselves. They did not commit murder they spray painted, come on don't people ever remember being young and doing something stupid, Well, I am now 65 and I remember doing dumb things as I am sure we are all not perfect in our youth. These punishments really need to be reevaluated in my opinion. Keep fighting for your future.

"Senior Legacy".. does not make it legal! and certainly does not make it right.

Let him graduate! This young man has earned it and worked towards it for the last 12 years. We are talking he is even the class president obviously he is highly respected. Yes he did wrong but this punishment will follow him for life and that seems a bit much?? He is carrying a murder rap for a misdemeanor crime. Make the punishment fit and it should by TIME SERVED !!

the school bored shoul let the first punishment stand not add more its not its job to do that its punishing him twice that not fair this is a new voteing year peeps.

I think it's an easy fix, let the kids that damaged $7,500 of property to Paulding County do Community Service like any other criminal (which is what they are) and if they want to graduate with the class make a public apology to the entire school class. He's obviously not sorry, only sorry he got caught! As far as him being class President, he obviously does not lead by example. All these people whining about how hard this is on him and how it's not right... you need to remember these are your tax dollars being wasted, not by students but CRIMINALS. Being easy on them teaches them nothing! I for one think the school board set a fine example for next years graduating class! It's good to be sorry, but not for yourself!

I do believe that the students should have had to pay for the damage out of their own pockets not tax dollars. I still do not believe that these kids are criminals, or in the same catagory as a sexual predator, come on not even close. Should their liives be ruined over painting some walls. I still say NO. I think the next senior class knows that it would not be the smart thing to do again, because the people of Paulding County seem to want revenge for this. Again, stupid stupid conduct but the punishment does not equal the crime.

I am also raising a child and hope she does not make poor choices but we all at one time or another make poor choices- Do we not? So Jeff are you saying the guy that was a sexual predator got off easy once and then ruined childrens lives? So if Zimmerman was not caught you mean he might have gone and spray painted the whole town and ruined personal belongings? How does that compare to being a sexual predator?? What I meant about a murder rap is being he cannot graduate at his regular school he has to graduate from the alternative school which is fine except good and great jobs will see that and he will have to explain this until he retirees. Do you not think? It cannot be erased- it is not like a job you were fired from and dont have to put it on a resume if you so choose but you do have to put down where you graduate and show a diploma. Why is he being singled out? Ok now the big quesetion Jeff what would you do if this was your son?

I was sickened when I drove pass the school and neighborhood sign a few days after the vandalism. How dare they spray paint our beautiful campus.

I never really liked the street painting. To me it demonstrated immaturity.

I have all the confidence in our school and court leadership to access proper punishment.

I certainly hope this groups under class men are paying attention and these younger ones will demonstrate a higher degree of maturity in years to come.

The punishment DOES not fit the crime...Spraying "seniors" on the road should not get the same punishment of those that spray painted trucks, buildings, and signs that were NOT on school property..There is not comparison, and each one should be held accountable on the damage they did, it makes me sick, same thing growing up, one brat act up in class, ALL kids could not go outside to recess..why does everything including punishment be the same?? Frankly, I'm over 50 and I don't see the big deal in writing SENIORS on the road.,..Whopee--let's make a big deal out of nothing!! It would fade in a while, NO--This is the deal, one of the students went to far and called the principal a bad name somewhere on campus, so she is mad at ALL of them. This has been going on for years, and from where I sit, the school staff has always known the night the Seniors were going up there to leave their mark, and they just shrugged it off, but this time is different??? how's that??? They do before when it was going to happen, and Who was going to do it..I DO NOT believe they should have damaged any property, and I also believe they SHOULD HAVE TO PAY BACK EVERY DOLLAR FOR CLEAN UP, AND DO COMMUNITY SERVICE...BUT WRITING ONE WORD ON A ROAD, SHOULD NOT TAKE AWAY THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS THIS YOUNG MAN HAS DONE IN THE OTHER 11 1/2 YEARS!!! Paulding County has TOO MUCH crime, to dwell on a prank GONE BAD, The board and other's have spent MORE than 7,500.00 in tax money in WASTE, should we ban them???

I'ts tax payer dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's why it was $7500. I know enough people trying to find work using a pressure washer that would have gladly cleaned it up for $500.

I do not understand why they just did not make the 24 kids clean up all the spray paint damage and if there was any other damage owed they could have held some sort of car wash to make up the difference and if they made more they could have donated it back to the community for something positive. I guess lets see what happens today as they are handing down another sentence for them. Also on a side note to Jeff- No I am not related to him or anyone involved with this nor do I know anyone that knows him or them personally. I just feel like this-I remember being a teenager and sometimes you do stupid things. Life is too short to hold grudges. God forgives so why can't you??

So the board spoke, and 1,000.00 per 24 students..hhhmmmmm, 7,500.00 worth of damage and the county gets BACK $24, 000.00, the county is getting a good return. I have NO problem with the students paying it back, but three X's the damage?? Okay, now maybe the county can get back to catching real thieves, instead of harmless for the most part teenagers...I'm sure I can sleep better tonight, knowing these HARDENED CRIMINALS were put in their place today!! Good grief, alot of nonsense about nothing!!

So Once more, the BOE of Paulding County has spoken with NO COMMON SENSE..1. The punishment's should fit the crimes. 2. The fee's shouldn't be three times the cost of repairs, isn't their laws against that?? 3. The meetings, time, and etc. should NOT cost more than the repairs of this prank? 4. Someone that has gone above more than once to get the titles of superior, SHOULD NOT miss graduation, over writing SENIOR on the roadway, EVER! (Don't know him or his family). But having kids myself that excelled in studies, attendance, GPA'S,--Well ONE bad choice shouldn't SHADOW the hard work He HAS HAD TO GIVE to have those titles, I believe alot of adults are jealous of his hard works and maybe wanted to move someone else in that apraised spot at graduation, how unfortunate that ONE "not thought out" decision, (NOT CRIMINAL) AND FOLLOWING Prior year tradition to spray paint the road in front of the school has put this young man on a thug list by "holier than thou" folks...Come on, give this GOOD KID a break--If it has been proven, He did not damage school property or the truck or the one that wrote something derogatory about the principal, then have a forgiving heart, THERE IS A LESSON to be given by school authorities, give out the proper punishment and fines for each person in what they did...to be SO HARSH with one that did very little is foolish. Its ironic that the admin/BOE are also making a bad choice-two bad choices= nothing gained/nothing learned, very sad.

I guess now it's not enough that they don't have the felony conviction on their record. I think the punishment is fair, the DA did a good job. Lets say they all got away with it and never got caught at all (which is what normally happens), we the tax payers pay for the clean up like all the years before this one! By the way the DA let everyone know that it isn't 3 times the money for the crime, the other money is for supervision and such while they are doing community service. NO felony conviction, NO jail... it just does not get any better than this when you are tearing up property and getting arrested! It's real simple for the DA because HE ISN"T ALLOWED TO PICK AND CHOOSE which laws he is going to enforce... he has an obligation to enforce them all. He did that and still managed to be merciful on the kids so they don't have a felony arrest. I know the whole it's only (ONE TIME) thing... and I get it, but a police officer, DA or judge has to look at it as the (FIRST TIME) and try to make sure young people understand responsibility so there is not a second time. It's amusing how in some of these responses the DA is the bad guy... and the kids are the victims. To just say bad choices and not realize that one or more of these kids could have got killed during this... yes bad choices.

The school board and DA have become the bad guys because of their ACTIONS. They turned the kids into victims, they didn't have too they chose too. Jeff did you take drama classes because all of your posts are doom and gloom. Sex predators compared to spray painting they could have gotten killed wow your imagination is huge.

I think they have to be penalized, I don't think anyone should get away with crime, however more time has been spent on this than the big crime by big time thugs in the area. How much time you think Hiram police spent on my aunts car being stolen in the parking lot???30 minutes on a report, car never found, OF COURSE. My biggest aggravation comes from not the punishment, even though I believe it should be different for each individual by what the crime actually was?? I believe painting the road in front of the school should carry less punishment than someone vandalizing a county truck--the road will heal without a touch of anyone, the truck not so much....my biggest complaint is LET HIM GRADUATE with his class, let all of them graduate, they made a huge mistake, but will have to pay it back, right? or there will be more consequences, but even so BOE still won't let them walk?? I was taught TWO WRONGS don't make a RIGHT, so if these kids make it right, WHY CAN'T THE BOARD LET THESE KIDS HAVE THEIR DAY? What does the Paulding BOE gain by NOT letting them graduate, after all they have spent 3 3/4 years at the school, made a mistake, make amends, it sounds like a stand-off bull that won't back down? The BOE needs to change the decision on the graduation, that's my point. I don't think all 24 students deserve the same exact punishment, and yes its great they don't have a felony record following them for the rest of their life!

I agree with you Lynn--and/or some people just don't get it...yea comparing ONE person spraying "senior" on the road to a sex perv, that is not a comparison, that's a ridiculous remark.
I ALSO DON'T BELIEVE it will cost 14,000 plus to watch them to community work, if any tax payer believes that, I will sell you some flood plain land, that will never flood!
Again, if someone would use good ole' common sense sometimes. I know someone would that put a REAL out house in the principal's front yard years ago by Senior's as a senior prank. No one got suspended, no one got the police called to Dallas, the principal was ticked, and the boys had to get it, clean up his yard, and that was it, and they were still nice young men, just being stupid..I SHOULD KNOW, I MARRIED ONE OF THEM..HE WAS IN THE BETA CLUB, WENT TO COLLEGE AND EARNED A ENGINEERING DEGREE, ONLY HAS HAD ONE TICKET FOR SPEEDING IN OVER 30 YEARS...Should He have done that? OF COURSE NOT, did the sky fall over Dallas Georgia when it happen, or/did it hit the Dallas New Era? Nah...none of the above. LET THEM pay the outrageous fines, let them do community service work, let them get scolded over and over, and I praise the judge that will not make it a felony on their record, but for gosh sakes, LET THEM GRADUATE, the BOE is being stubborn as an old mule!!

Well this will probably shock you but yes, if they agree to the terms of the DA, I too think they should be allowed to graduate with their class for the sake of their records. As far as the comparison I made between the perv and the spray painter... it was about a punishment being too light... you have to know I can see a difference between the perv and the kids and even stated it in my comment. Either way... good luck finding the car.