Carson High vandalism didn’t come out of the blue

Several Douglas High School students helped clean up graffiti at Carson High School before the Senators’ graduation Saturday.

Douglas Principal Marty Swisher said Leadership Adviser Karen Lamb and Football Coach Ernie Monfiletto asked for volunteers to help and two dozen students stepped up.

The vandalism at Carson High appears to be retaliation for incidents that occurred in the week before the Douglas graduation on May 27.

Swisher said two nights before Douglas High graduation someone painted the rock dedicated to former football coach Mike Rippee blue and put the initials CHS on it. Vandals also sprayed areas near the graduation with grass killer to spell out the school initials and some invective.

That was after a couple of earlier and more minor incidents during the week.

“We talked to the students and said we weren’t going to retaliate,” Monfiletto said. “Finding out about that was very disappointing and frustrating.”

Swisher said having Douglas students participate in the clean-up helped send an important message.

“We are trying to send the message that DHS doesn’t condone this behavior,” he said. “We want to be great rivals on the field and the court, but it shouldn’t be about disrespect.”

More than 100 students, staff and community members from Carson and Douglas worked on cleaning up the field last week.