Washington-Marion Tailgate Back On After Judge Signs Injunction
Washington-Marion High School alumni and current students are celebrating homecoming, or at least trying to. An incident earlier in the week, unrelated to homecoming events, brought a negative cloud over this week's festivities. Two students got into a fight and were later arrested after fleeing the school. The chaos resulted in Washington-Marion and two other Lake Area schools being locked down.
Two students were involved in a physical altercation as previously reported another person (believed to be a former LaGrange student was on the scene. The juvenile did not engage in the fight, but according to the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Office Spokesperson Kayla Vincent, they had a set of brass knuckles. Sometime during the fight onlookers reported to school officials they heard something about a gun.
When the two students stopped fighting, all three juveniles fled the property, and Washington-Marion was immediately locked down to protect students. Out of extra precaution, Vincent reported because of the close proximately Molo Middle School as well as LaGrange High School were also locked down. Law enforcement located all three juveniles and the lockdown was lifted. Two WM students were arrested as a result of fighting. Calcasieu Parish officials expressed safety concerns surrounding the WM homecoming events and at other area schools Thursday night.
Also out of precaution Washington-Marion and the Calcasieu Parish School Board reportedly canceled the homecoming tailgate event on Wednesday, Sept. 21, a day after the fight. Carter’s son, Wilford Carter Jr., posted a video saying the tailgate is back on. He said of the alumni, “We are not talking about students now, we’re talking about grown adults.” He added a lot of funds go back to the community when tailgates are held at the school.
A judge has signed an injunction keeping the Calcasieu School Board from closing the parking lot to the area of the Washington-Marion tailgate Friday night. The complaint raised is that the fight involving the two students, during school hours earlier this week, is an isolated incident. Though very disappointing, the fact is that fight between two juveniles has nothing to do with Homecoming, the Alumni class reunion, or the tailgate party.
According to reports social media threats toward WM staff supposedly also played a factor in shutting down Friday's tailgate. However, Attorney Wilford Carter Sr. announced that he filed an injunction on behalf of the event organizers. Thursday Judge Derrick Kee signed the injunction and set a hearing for Monday, September 26 at 9 am. Meanwhile, Mr. Carter said that it made no sense to shut down the tailgate especially if the game, the homecoming dance, or no other school events were canceled.
Every year during Washington-Marion Homecoming the Alumni hold their reunion. So, there was a lot of money spent to prepare for the various class reunions going on, the food, and former students who came a long way to celebrate. Carter questioned, “Who are they protecting, grown people that come from all over the country to this function?” Carter said. “That’s the concern of the people who asked me to file this injunction. “We are not talking about students now, we’re talking about grown adults.”