5 PPHS seniors charged

[HighSchool Fan]

Athletes booked in vandalism of own football stadium

By Bill Spinks
Herald Democrat

Five Pilot Point seniors - three of whom were football players - have been charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief for their alleged involvement in last week's vandalism on their own stadium.

Arrest warrants for the five students were obtained on Wednesday. The students were allowed to turn themselves in early Thursday afternoon, and were booked at the Denton County Jail.

The warrants were issued for Joshua Cruz Chacon, 17; Matthew Carl Hatten, 18; Drew Alan Fuller, 18; Britton Lee Foster, 18; and Steven Christopher Stratso, 18, all of Pilot Point.

All five of the students posted $500 bond and were released Thursday night, according to the Denton County Sheriff's Office. Hatten was also charged at the jail with failure to provide identification, which carried an additional $305 bond and $205 fine.

Hatten, Chacon and Fuller were listed on the Bearcats' 2004 football varsity roster. Foster did not play football in 2004, but was a starting pitcher for the baseball team.

Pilot Point police chief James Edland told the Pilot Point Post-Signal that a tip led to the five students, who were questioned the day the vandalism was discovered. "We have statements from all five boys," Edland said. "They all admitted to their actions."


Fuller

The criminal mischief charges carry a maximum penalty of 90 days to one year in jail and a fine not to exceed $4,000. The total damage to the stadium did not exceed $1,500, according to the school, which would've raised the charges to felonies.

Coaches arrived at Massey Stadium last Thursday morning to find a basketball goal cemented near the middle of the 50-yard line. Additional damage was discovered inside the restrooms at the south end of the stadium. Obsenity-laced orange and white spray paint covered the fieldhouse, track, concession stands and restroom facilities.

References to nearby rival Celina were written, along with derogatory references to G.A. Moore, a former Celina head coach who is retiring this year as Pilot Point coach. The markings were an apparent attempt to implicate Celina students in the vandalism.

Ironically, Hatten had transferred from Celina with his older brother, C.J., to play for Moore, who had coached the two at Celina before becoming coach at Pilot Point.

The brothers, and their father on their behalf, were plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the University Interscholastic League in 2003, after both the District 9-3A and UIL executive committees had ruled the Hattens had transferred for athletic purposes. The case, delayed several times, is now in limbo in a Travis County court.

The brothers had received a court injunction and continued to play for Pilot Point in 2003. C.J. Hatten graduated in 2004; Matt Hatten regained full eligibility for his senior year.

Pilot Point ISD superintendent Cloyce Purcell said the school district has also taken action against the five students.

"The youngsters are having to make restitution and have been removed from campus for a period of time," Purcell told the Post-Signal.

Purcell said the five seniors will have to meet certain conditions before being allowed to take part in the school's graduation ceremonies on May 27.

[District303aPastPlayer]

umm... why are they thinking about allowing them to participate in the graduation services... HELLO!!! they cemented a freakin basketball goal into the football field and vandalized their own stadium... i saw dont even let em watch... just mail them their diploma.

[jason]

personally, i dont think the basketball goal in the football field is that bad, its pretty funny, and something that can be easily removed...

now, as far as vandalizing the stadium/facilities with the spray paint, that is something that is NOT easily undone and can be costly to fix and the kids should be punished...i dont think though that one stupid thing should undo 4 years of high school work thus causing them to not walk at graduation.....

give them some community service (repainting the things they ruined), but dont take away something they've worked 4 years for.....

IMO.......

[District303aPastPlayer]

here in sinton... with the rules of our school... you go to OCS for a single day in teh 2nd semester... no graduation for you.... which i do admit is kinda harsh... but still... i agree with it...

[HighSchool Fan]

i agree with most of that jason. i think the BB goal is funny. i also think the painting went overboard. i don't think they should get to walk across the stage either. they showed their respect for the school and the community when the painted on it. have them check the mail a couple of days after graduation for a diploma.

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by jason
personally, i dont think the basketball goal in the football field is that bad, its pretty funny, and something that can be easily removed...

now, as far as vandalizing the stadium/facilities with the spray paint, that is something that is NOT easily undone and can be costly to fix and the kids should be punished...i dont think though that one stupid thing should undo 4 years of high school work thus causing them to not walk at graduation.....

give them some community service (repainting the things they ruined), but dont take away something they've worked 4 years for.....

IMO.......

They worked 4 years for a diploma, not for a "right" to walk across a stage; that "right" is earned through all actions through the 4 years.

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by HighSchool Fan
i agree with most of that jason. i think the BB goal is funny. i also think the painting went overboard. i don't think they should get to walk across the stage either. they showed their respect for the school and the community when the painted on it. have them check the mail a couple of days after graduation for a diploma.

Maybe those girls the coaches were talking about were one of their girlfriends in those emails.

But seriously, I have no problem with them walking at graduation. If they had spray painted a different school (say, Celina) then law enforcement would've handled it and the school would've done nothing. Like one of you said, make them clean up the paint before they can walk.

[HighSchool Fan]

Originally posted by big daddy russ
Maybe those girls the coaches were talking about were one of their girlfriends in those emails.

But seriously, I have no problem with them walking at graduation. If they had spray painted a different school (say, Celina) then law enforcement would've handled it and the school would've done nothing. Like one of you said, make them clean up the paint before they can walk.

totally disagree, the punishment should always be worse than the crime. just cleaning up your own mistake shouldn't be good enough. if you get caught littering, you don't just pick up your trash, you get to clean a couple of miles of hwy trash. there needs to be more consequences. something to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen again. people need to quit treating punks like this with just a slap on the wrist.

[Bandera YaYa]

I agree, the punishment needs to be worse than the crime....believe me, I could come up with alot of things those boys could do for restitution to their school.....I think maybe working all summer keeping the football stadium and field in tip top shape would be a start.....if you make it easy to forget the punishment, most likely they will forget the crime too.......as far as walking at graduation, I think they really don't deserve that honor....it all gets down to consequences to actions....they kinda "cemented" that consequence, along with that bball post, in my opinion....these boys need to realize what they did is totally unacceptable, take their licks and go forth with their lives, hopefully having learned something valuable for their futures. I have to admit tho, when I read about the cementing of the BBall post into the football field, ILMAO!!! At least they have good sense of humors.....so they can't be all that bad!!!

[kepdawg]

My senior year a couple of kids (very involved/popular) stole a bulldozer from a nearby construction site. They drove the bulldozer threw the chainlink fence surrounding the field and the onto the field. They didn't walk.

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by HighSchool Fan
totally disagree, the punishment should always be worse than the crime. just cleaning up your own mistake shouldn't be good enough. if you get caught littering, you don't just pick up your trash, you get to clean a couple of miles of hwy trash. there needs to be more consequences. something to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen again. people need to quit treating punks like this with just a slap on the wrist.

I didn't say they JUST had to clean it up for punishment. I think the punishment should involve more than just that... but they should clean it up BEFORE they're allowed to walk. That was the point of my post.

[HighSchool Fan]

Originally posted by big daddy russ

But seriously, I have no problem with them walking at graduation. Like one of you said, make them clean up the paint before they can walk.

WOW!! i didn't think i was that far off from what you said. i don't see anywhere here were more punishment is talked about. all i see is clean up the paint and you can walk.

[Chief Woodman]

Pilot Point got what they deserved. After they knowingly let a cheater (the Hattens) transfer against UIL rules (theywere ruled ineligible more than once). All they taught that family is that you can flaunt your nose at the rules cause all you have to do is tie it up in court untill it is too late to matter. Should they be surprised that the cheater broke the rules again, this time turning on the ones who helped him do so the first time? Wonder if daddy can get him out of this one.

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by HighSchool Fan
WOW!! i didn't think i was that far off from what you said. i don't see anywhere here were more punishment is talked about. all i see is clean up the paint and you can walk.

That's because I didn't say anything about it. I was interjecting on what I thought of them walking for graduation. That's the direction the conversation took, and that's the direction I went.

I DON'T think they should be refused to walk because of it. Punish the kids in ways it will really hurt. I didn't care about walking and neither did most of my friends... it probably means more to their parents than it does to the kids. I say make them do community service, give them fines and make them clean up their mess (and more if you want). Maybe we were just different, but keeping us from walking wouldn't have been punishment. I would've rather been at a Pantera concert in Corpus the night I graduated.

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by Chief Woodman
Pilot Point got what they deserved. After they knowingly let a cheater (the Hattens) transfer against UIL rules (theywere ruled ineligible more than once). All they taught that family is that you can flaunt your nose at the rules cause all you have to do is tie it up in court untill it is too late to matter. Should they be surprised that the cheater broke the rules again, this time turning on the ones who helped him do so the first time? Wonder if daddy can get him out of this one.

I was thinking the same thing. Are they really that surprised?