Practical jokes have a long tradition at South Salem High.
MATTHEW MANLEY
August 1, 2006
Shealyn Friedrich had a porta-potty in her front yard. The best part is she has no idea how it got there.
"When we first drove up, my dad thought that maybe the plumbing had broken or something," Friedrich said. "How in the nation was someone able to get a porta-potty onto my lawn?"
Friedrich, a South Salem junior, had been on vacation in Mexico with her family when she returned to find the sanitation unit in front of her house July 6.
The Synergy Hi Tech model was summarily removed by a team dispatched from Honey Bucket.
The caper pulled on Friedrich is just one example of a pastime that is becoming more and more popular among high school students: pranking.
From yard-forking to toilet-papering trees to car-flouring, late-night mischief provides a thrill for some and a hefty clean-up job in the morning for others.
Like the prank pulled on Friedrich, though, most student pranks are strictly for fun.
Accomplished prankster Emily Cornish, a senior, said efforts are made to preserve the spirit of fun while pranking -- no permanent damage is done.
"Nobody's ever really serious when they go prank someone, we're just excited," Cornish said. "It's never mean-spirited."
Sometimes, though, pranking rivalries do get a bit heated. Cornish and some of her friends have been caught up in the cycle of prank retaliation, resulting in what she calls a "war."
"It kind of never ends. You can never really get even," she said.
The senior class prank has a longtime legacy at South (as well as nationwide). Math teacher Michael Day, who has taught at South for 15 years, cannot recall a year when the senior class did not pull off some large-scale practical joke. Day remembers senior pranks in which thousands of metal BBs were thrown in the hall, the roof of nearby Howard Street Charter School was painted, and an impromptu slip and slide was set up in the center hall.
"Some of them have been funny and some of them have been cruel," Day said. "I far prefer the funny ones."
It is the cruel pranks that can land students in real trouble, according to the Salem Police Department. Penalties for malicious pranks vary with the record of the individual caught for the offense and the judge presiding, but are primarily determined by the degree of damage done.
Matthew Manley is a student at South Salem High School. He can be contacted at Clypian@journalist.com.
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