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WILDOMAR: A black student is stabbed with an ice pick outside Elsinore High School.
11:27 PM PDT on Friday, June 4, 2004
By JAMIE AYALA, HENRI BRICKEY and ELIZABETH BROTHERTON / The Press-Enterprise
Other episodes
May: A 200-student fight erupts on the campus of Temescal Canyon High School.
March: 12 students are arrested at Centennial High School after a racially motivated fight.
Aug.-Sept.: Four white students are arrested after allegedly punching and kicking two black students at Murrieta Valley High School in separate incidents.
The day after a black Elsinore High School student was attacked in the school parking lot, alle
edly by two men later arrested on suspicion of hate crimes, other students said Friday that racism has existed on campus a while.
Kenneth Turner, a black student at the school, was walking with a bl
ack male friend and a white female friend in the parking lot at
about 1:45 p.m. Thursday when, Turner said, two men confronted the group.
Witnesses told police that Armando Perez, 18, pulled an ice pick during the ensuing fight and stabbed Turner in the abdomen. Police said the other man, Myles Suwonprasop, 18, ran to his truck, returned with a hammer, and used it to threaten the students. Riverside County sheriff's officials would not give further details about the fight or the races of the men arrested.
On Friday, the day Turner was supposed to spend wishing favorite teachers farewell and signing yearbooks, the former all-league varsity football linebacker sat in a hospital bed.
At home later Friday, Turner said the trouble began the day before when Perez stared at the three fr
iends and lifted up the hem of his shorts, flashing a tattoo of an iron cross.
Turner said he shrugged off the gesture and walked away. Then he said Perez called him racial slurs before attackin
g him.
Turner said racial tension on campus has been building since last ye
ar.
"This year it's gotten a lot worse. Those people are starting to do more and are getting bolder," he said.
At the beginning of the year, a group of students protested in front of the campus with homemade flags that had Nazi signs on them, he said.
Rod Freeman, Turner's foster father, said Murrieta and Temecula are hot spots for racial taunting.
"There's no doubt something is going on in the valley," he said from his home Friday. "These kids are under attack. This isn't the first time."
Freeman and his wife, Loretta, say they are afraid to send their 16-year-old son, who is a junior, back to Elsinore High this year and are debating whether to
send him to private school next year. Two older daughters went to school and had no problems.
Perez, a resident of Lake Elsinore, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon,
a hate crime and trespassing on school grounds. Suwonprasop of Murrieta was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, a hate crime, e
xhibiting a deadly weapon and trespassing on school property.
Both men were booked at Southwest Detention Center in French Valley with bail set at $25,000 each. Suwonprasop was posting bail at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Perez remained in custody.
Racism in schools
"Racism has always been a problem at this school," said graduating senior Jennifer Brower.
Lake Elsinore Unified School District Superintendent Sharron Lindsay said Friday that the suspects gained access to the campus during a time when gates are open for students released early because they don't have a full load of classes.
School officials said Friday they plan to
evaluate security measures at Elsinore High.
The district had already announced plans to implement a stricter dress code prohibiting potentially offensive racial slogans or symbols and
provide training for employees and students.
"It'll be a multi-prong approach, looking at the whole issue of tolerance," Lindsay said.
If it was racially motivated, Thur
sday's fight would be the latest in a string of such episodes at area schools in recent months.
Last month, a fight at Temescal Canyon High School in Lake Elsinore involving roughly 200 students was triggered by racial slurs, some students at the school said. In March, police were called to Centennial High School in Corona after a racially motivated fight broke out, resulting in the arrest of about a dozen students.
In Murrieta, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has been meeting with local school officials to follow up on two incidents where white students attacked black stud
ents at Murrieta Valley High School last year.
Loraine Watts, president of the Lake Elsinore and Southwest Riverside County branch of the NAACP, said Friday that racially charged inc
idents seem to be increasing.
"There is an underlying climate throughout the state. It seems like daily a different school is having a problem," Watts said.
After racially motivated fights broke out at
Temescal Canyon High School last month, Watts proposed that the district meet with parents this summer to discuss the issue to curtail violent actions. No date has been set.
She also offered to provide talks on tolerance for the students.
"The kids need to report what they see. That same student who won't report it, might be the one to get hurt," Watts said.
Chelsea Sumner, 18, described Elsinore High as having "tons" of white pride kids - commonly defined as students who share beliefs with white supremacist groups.
Although in the late '50
s, Lake Elsinore was the subject of a KTLA-TV documentary on anti-Semitism called "The City of Hate," Mayor Thomas Buckley said Friday that there was no recent history of preva
lent racial violence. "Obviously there are some individuals who are horribly racist, but you have that anywhere you live," he said.
In the six years that Buckley has lived in the city, he said he hasn't heard of or seen a concerted effort or pattern of racial tension. If
anything, he said the area has become more diverse, with various nationalities moving in.
Of the 2,428 students at Elsinore High School, four percent - or 101 - are black. Fifty-four percent are white and 35 percent are Hispanic or Latino.
One parent picking up her child from school Friday said she isn't worried by the fight, which she called an isolated case.
"Compared to other schools in the area, Elsinore doesn't have that many problems," said Wendy Jones, 43, a white stay-at-home mother whose
son attends Elsinore High. "I feel really good about the school. Sometimes that stuff just happens."
http://www.pe.com/breakingnews/local/stori...ab05.57e65.html
11:27 PM PDT on Friday, June 4, 2004
By JAMIE AYALA, HENRI BRICKEY and ELIZABETH BROTHERTON / The Press-Enterprise
Other episodes
May: A 200-student fight erupts on the campus of Temescal Canyon High School.
March: 12 students are arrested at Centennial High School after a racially motivated fight.
Aug.-Sept.: Four white students are arrested after allegedly punching and kicking two black students at Murrieta Valley High School in separate incidents.
The day after a black Elsinore High School student was attacked in the school parking lot, alle
edly by two men later arrested on suspicion of hate crimes, other students said Friday that racism has existed on campus a while.
Kenneth Turner, a black student at the school, was walking with a bl
ack male friend and a white female friend in the parking lot at
about 1:45 p.m. Thursday when, Turner said, two men confronted the group.
Witnesses told police that Armando Perez, 18, pulled an ice pick during the ensuing fight and stabbed Turner in the abdomen. Police said the other man, Myles Suwonprasop, 18, ran to his truck, returned with a hammer, and used it to threaten the students. Riverside County sheriff's officials would not give further details about the fight or the races of the men arrested.
On Friday, the day Turner was supposed to spend wishing favorite teachers farewell and signing yearbooks, the former all-league varsity football linebacker sat in a hospital bed.
At home later Friday, Turner said the trouble began the day before when Perez stared at the three fr
iends and lifted up the hem of his shorts, flashing a tattoo of an iron cross.
Turner said he shrugged off the gesture and walked away. Then he said Perez called him racial slurs before attackin
g him.
Turner said racial tension on campus has been building since last ye
ar.
"This year it's gotten a lot worse. Those people are starting to do more and are getting bolder," he said.
At the beginning of the year, a group of students protested in front of the campus with homemade flags that had Nazi signs on them, he said.
Rod Freeman, Turner's foster father, said Murrieta and Temecula are hot spots for racial taunting.
"There's no doubt something is going on in the valley," he said from his home Friday. "These kids are under attack. This isn't the first time."
Freeman and his wife, Loretta, say they are afraid to send their 16-year-old son, who is a junior, back to Elsinore High this year and are debating whether to
send him to private school next year. Two older daughters went to school and had no problems.
Perez, a resident of Lake Elsinore, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon,
a hate crime and trespassing on school grounds. Suwonprasop of Murrieta was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, a hate crime, e
xhibiting a deadly weapon and trespassing on school property.
Both men were booked at Southwest Detention Center in French Valley with bail set at $25,000 each. Suwonprasop was posting bail at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Perez remained in custody.
Racism in schools
"Racism has always been a problem at this school," said graduating senior Jennifer Brower.
Lake Elsinore Unified School District Superintendent Sharron Lindsay said Friday that the suspects gained access to the campus during a time when gates are open for students released early because they don't have a full load of classes.
School officials said Friday they plan to
evaluate security measures at Elsinore High.
The district had already announced plans to implement a stricter dress code prohibiting potentially offensive racial slogans or symbols and
provide training for employees and students.
"It'll be a multi-prong approach, looking at the whole issue of tolerance," Lindsay said.
If it was racially motivated, Thur
sday's fight would be the latest in a string of such episodes at area schools in recent months.
Last month, a fight at Temescal Canyon High School in Lake Elsinore involving roughly 200 students was triggered by racial slurs, some students at the school said. In March, police were called to Centennial High School in Corona after a racially motivated fight broke out, resulting in the arrest of about a dozen students.
In Murrieta, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has been meeting with local school officials to follow up on two incidents where white students attacked black stud
ents at Murrieta Valley High School last year.
Loraine Watts, president of the Lake Elsinore and Southwest Riverside County branch of the NAACP, said Friday that racially charged inc
idents seem to be increasing.
"There is an underlying climate throughout the state. It seems like daily a different school is having a problem," Watts said.
After racially motivated fights broke out at
Temescal Canyon High School last month, Watts proposed that the district meet with parents this summer to discuss the issue to curtail violent actions. No date has been set.
She also offered to provide talks on tolerance for the students.
"The kids need to report what they see. That same student who won't report it, might be the one to get hurt," Watts said.
Chelsea Sumner, 18, described Elsinore High as having "tons" of white pride kids - commonly defined as students who share beliefs with white supremacist groups.
Although in the late '50
s, Lake Elsinore was the subject of a KTLA-TV documentary on anti-Semitism called "The City of Hate," Mayor Thomas Buckley said Friday that there was no recent history of preva
lent racial violence. "Obviously there are some individuals who are horribly racist, but you have that anywhere you live," he said.
In the six years that Buckley has lived in the city, he said he hasn't heard of or seen a concerted effort or pattern of racial tension. If
anything, he said the area has become more diverse, with various nationalities moving in.
Of the 2,428 students at Elsinore High School, four percent - or 101 - are black. Fifty-four percent are white and 35 percent are Hispanic or Latino.
One parent picking up her child from school Friday said she isn't worried by the fight, which she called an isolated case.
"Compared to other schools in the area, Elsinore doesn't have that many problems," said Wendy Jones, 43, a white stay-at-home mother whose
son attends Elsinore High. "I feel really good about the school. Sometimes that stuff just happens."
http://www.pe.com/breakingnews/local/stori...ab05.57e65.html