Two Students Arrested in EPHS Vandalism Case

The two face felony charges in connection with the early Monday spray-painting of East Paulding High.

Paulding County Sheriff’s Office school resource officers about 2 p.m. Tuesday arrested two 16-year-old boys in connection with the Monday morning vandalism of East Paulding High School. As the two are juveniles, authorities did not release their mugshots nor their names, but according to a sheriff’s office press release, both were East Paulding students who had been suspended from the school earlier in the year and were not allowed on school property. Both were students in the Ombudsman program, the alternative school program used by the school district. The two each face a charge of criminal interference with government property, a felony under Georgia Code 16-7-24. The two also face two misdemeanors—curfew violation, as both are under …

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Update: Sheriff’s Office Releases Details, Photos of EPHS Vandalism

Nearly six months after the school was hit by teen vandals, the school early Monday was the target of graffiti. Those involved in the incident could face felony charges.

For at least the second time this year, East Paulding High School was the target of widespread vandalism, as individuals spray-painted several areas of the campus in the early morning hours Monday. According to a release from the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office, about 1:46 a.m. Monday, individuals got onto school property and spray-painted exterior parts of the school, including the auxiliary gym, two hallways, walls of the school and some sidewalks. Messages spray-painted on about 20 areas of the school included “Class of 2015,” “Illuminati,” and “Don’t do drugs, smoke weed.” No damage to the interior of the school was reported. District officials report a clean-up estimate of $1,000 to $1,200. Those involved in the incident could face …

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For Zimmerman, Top Honor but No Speech

Based on the school’s graduation ceremony program, the East Paulding High senior likely will not get to give a valedictorian speech during the school’s graduation ceremony Saturday.

Jake Zimmerman on Saturday is set to receive the honor of being his school’s top student, but it appears he will not receive the privilege that traditionally goes with it—a chance to address his peers and others in attendance at the graduation ceremony. Dallas-Hiram Patch received Thursday a copy of East Paulding High’s graduation program booklet. The senior is listed as his school’s valedictorian, while Ann Marie Morehouse is the salutatorian. The program booklet lists as part of the ceremony an address from Principal Scott Viness followed by the presentation of the valedictorian and salutatorian honors. Immediately following that presentation is the salutatorian’s address; no valedictorian’s address is listed anywhere in the booklet. …

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Student's Ban from Graduation Not Unprecedented

Court documents shed light on the Paulding County School Board's move last month to bar Jake Zimmerman from graduation. A judge Thursday tossed that punishment.

Officials: Graduation Ban Was Precedent

Court documents show that the Paulding School Board had barred students from taking part in commencement exercises as part of their punishments in years past. A judge Thursday threw out such a punishment for Jake Zimmerman on constitutional grounds.

Officials with the Paulding County School System say Jake Zimmerman was not the first student to be barred from taking part in his graduation ceremony as part of a suspension from school that spanned until the end of the school year. But a judge Thursday said that precedent did not trump Zimmerman’s legal right to protest the punishment he received for taking part in a “senior prank” with other students. Zimmerman was one of the 24 teens arrested following the March 11 vandalism of East Paulding High School and surrounding areas; the majority of those arrested were East Paulding students. Zimmerman, like the other students deemed to have been involved in the incident, received from a school tribunal a punishment of 10 days of out-of-school…

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School Official: We Will Honor Judge’s Decision

East Paulding High senior Jake Zimmerman will get to take part in the school’s graduation ceremony next week.

With just days before his fellow seniors walk across the stage to receive their diplomas, East Paulding High senior Jake Zimmerman found out Thursday that he’ll get to join them. Despite the Paulding County School Board’s decision last month to bar Zimmerman from extracurricular activities, including graduation, a preliminary injunction issued Thursday from U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy in Rome will allow the senior to take part in commencement exercises, set for May 26 at 10 a.m. at the high school. Zimmerman had been one of the 24 teens arrested following the March 11 vandalism of East Paulding High School and surrounding areas. His original punishment, which he says was also levied against others involved in vandalism of the school …

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3:27 pm on Friday, May 18, 2012

Ditto!!   more ›

Donovan: All Teens Accepted Deal

All 24 teens who faced charges in the March 11 vandalism of East Paulding High School accepted an offer for a pre-trial diversion program ahead of the April 30 deadline.

With his signature Monday, Paulding County District Attorney Dick Donovan put the legal futures of 24 teens in the hands of Supervision Services Inc. Those teens, arrested last month in connection with the March 11 vandalism of East Paulding High School and surrounding areas, all chose to accept the deal Donovan offered them on April 13—enter a pre-trial diversion program in lieu of facing prosecution on charges of criminal interference with government property, a felony under Georgia Code 16-7-24. The teens had until April 30 to accept Donovan’s offer; 21 had done so the day it was offered. On Friday, Jake Zimmerman became the final teen to accept the deal, Donovan said. The 24 teens’ acceptance of the deal means that unless any one of …

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