Claire Bernish

June 4, 2015

(ANTIMEDIA) Four people in Senatobia, Mississippi have been served with arrest warrants and are facing possible $500 fines and/or up to six months in jail — for cheering at a high school graduation ceremony.

“They yelled out and they excessively celebrated during the calling of names,” said Superintendent Jay Foster, who pressed charges afterwards on grounds of ‘disturbing the peace’. “When you make a conscious decision to disrupt that for that individual, what is too harsh?” Is this a rhetorical question?

The offenders apparently committed such heinous acts as calling out a graduating family member’s name, or saying, “You did it, baby.”

“We were instructed to remove anyone that cheered during the ceremony, which was done,” chief of campus police, Zabe Davis, told the New York Times. “And then Jay Foster, the superintendent, came and pressed charges against those people.”

The superintendent stands behind his decision: “I did go and sign papers on them for disturbing the peace. My point is not to have somebody have to pay money, but I want them to know there are consequences for their behavior, and I want us to have a dignified service.”

Consequences? Perhaps, but as one of the accused, Ursula Miller, states, “I can understand they can escort me out of the graduation, but to say they are going to put me in jail for it. What else are they allowed to do?”

Foster had to physically visit the police department and fill out an affidavit on the matter, which then had to be taken to court, sworn on, and filed in order to press charges.

“It’s crazy. The fact that I might have to bond out of jail, pay court costs, or a $500 fine for expressing my love, it’s ridiculous, man. It’s ridiculous,” said Henry Walker, another grievous offender.

No, it’s not April Fool’s Day, this is not a test, this is not satire; this really happened. And yes, it is absurdly ridiculous.

This article (Six Months in Jail for Cheering at a School Graduation? Possibly…) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TheAntiMedia.org. Tune in! The Anti-Media radio show airs Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Image credit: Andrew Schwegler. Help us fix our typos: edits@theantimedia.org.