Senior pranksters clear books from library
While juniors paint new slogan on water tower


GUILDERLAND — Last week, in what is being called a senior prank, the Guilderland High School library was emptied of many of its books and "The Class of 2006" was written on walls and a ceiling.

The break-in occurred late on Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, other ambitious pranksters painted a new message on the water tower near Guilderland High School.

Decades ago, the tradition for graduating students was to paint a message on a large boulder in front of the high school.

Current graduates have moved up in the world, and painted the tower slogans. The tower is located in fenced property, which used to serve as an Army depot and is now owned by the Northeastern Industrial Park.

Jane Dwyer, who lives on Depot Road, called The Enterprise this week to find out what the current message says.
"Yesterday, I looked out my bedroom window," she said on Wednesday, "and they had painted out the old message, covered it all over in red and there was a new one."
Dwyer said she had liked the last message: "Life’s a trip. Enjoy the ride."
A few years ago, a tower message raised a few eyebrows: "Life’s short. Party naked."
She marveled at how the students managed to get the words up there. "There’s a guardrail and it’s very high," she said. "I don’t know how they do it."
The current message, said Dwyer, starts out with the traditional "Life’s" but she couldn’t make out the next word. "It ends with ‘Suck it up,’" she said. "I even got out my binoculars, but I can’t make it out."

The Enterprise visited the site to read the words: "Life’s a blow-pop. Suck it!"
Dwyer liked the earlier, more "optimistic" message better, she said, and wondered why it was painted over so soon. Usually, a new message is painted once a year by the graduating class.
A look at the back side of the tower reveals the reason. It says: "Juniors ’07 — We get our s**t done early!"

Library break-in

With last week’s library caper, other seniors made up for their classmates’ prank.
"A large number of books were put in an adjacent library classroom," said Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders.

Seniors then volunteered to help move the books back.
"Probably 30 kids at a time worked, rotating in and out," said Sanders. "They did a fantastic job."
Asked how the pranksters got into the school, Sanders replied, "That’s under investigation."
Asked if school video cameras recorded the break-in, Sanders said, "There are cameras. We don’t want to tip our hand."
The investigation is "ongoing," Sanders said this Tuesday and none of the culprits have been identified.
Asked if they would be arrested, Sanders said, "A decision has not been made yet."
Asked what the costs were to repair the damage, Sanders said, "There was not a large dollar cost to removing the graffiti. It doesn’t rise to the level of an insurance claim."

There was no physical permanent property damage, he said.
A lot of the cost, he said, will be the time spent by library staff "putting the books in exact order." Although the senior volunteers got the books back on the shelves in their approximate places, Sanders said, "The books need to be put in proper sequence."

Sander said the high school principal, Michael Piccirillo, has met with the student council and talked to senior class representatives.
"He’s indicated it’s not what we expect," Sanders said.
Asked about the frequency of senior pranks, Sanders said, "Pranks occur from time to time."
He concluded, "It wasn’t necessary. We would want our students to be respectful of the school."