Elkhart High School Vandalized
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
ELKHART – In the Texas A&M Aggie War Hymn, there is a line about sawing varsity’s horns off. To the best of this reporter’s knowledge, no one ever took that snippet literally – until now.
Unfortunately, it appears as if someone 100 plus miles away from College Station found inspiration from the War Hymn and actually sawed the horns off of the Elkhart Elk standing in front of Elkhart High School.
The malicious act was part of a larger scale of vandalism which occurred over the past weekend and caused nearly $8,000 in damages to EHS.
“We had some individuals to enter the facility at the high school and they ended up vandalizing some areas,” Elkhart ISD Superintendent Dr. Lamont Smith said.
“We had a window broken out, our copy machine was damaged and our elk – our statue – the horns were ripped off,” he added.
Smith said there the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office had a few suspects in mind but no arrests have been made as of yet.
“If anyone knows who the felons are, I hope that they would reach out to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office with their names. The focus at our high school is always about learning and providing a quality education for kids. It is disappointing that someone would break-in to the facility,” Smith said.
Damage estimates are still being finalized. If the amount of damage is greater than $1,500 the crime would be considered a state jail felony which could result in confinement in a state jail facility for up to two years and a fine of not more than $10,000.
If the damage totals more than $20,000, the crime will be considered a felony of the third degree which carries a punishment of between two and ten years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
This is not the first time the elk has been vandalized. Over the 2016 Memorial Day weekend, the statue and a vehicle left in the parking lot were vandalized with what appeared to be an orange spray paint.
Several profane words and other graphic images were scrawled along the base of the elk and from the hood to the trunk of the vehicle.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
