Things have changed since I was in school, but I can remember two that stand out pretty clearly. A race induced fight that involved nearly the entire student body when I was in Jr. High, it all started between a redneck and a hood and was fueled by rumors that one guy's relatives were in the KKK. The school had a 7th grade hall and an 8th grade hall with the cafeteria on one end and the gym on the other. There was a big open yard in between the entire school that held the biggest fight you'd probably ever see in Jr High. One color to each hallway for the rest of the week. The other is when nearly 50 members of the High School band were charged with shoplifting at a major resort. The band took a yearly trip to march in a parade at a big, popular place down south. Two sophomores got caught shoplifting in one of the stores at another attraction and ratted out another, that one another....all the way down the line. The band ended up not being invited back for many years after and was even told they were never welcome as a group again at one of the places. Every member's room was searched and I think there was over $5000 worth of stuff that was recovered that was taken from two resorts, local stores and even a few truck stops they stopped at on the way down.

Stabbings and shootings are crazy. In the old days we fought it out during school and got in-school suspension where we usually ended up going at it a little more or we met up down the road after school and fought it out off campus. Either way, no weapons and rarely more than two people throwing punches. My how things went down hill about 1985 when gangsta rap started to get big....damn Easy E and NWA.