The

code of conduct for Fayette County students

states that gang-related activity and bullying

will not be tolerated. However, the teenage code

of silence often supersedes the school rules.

16-year-old Sandy Creek High School student was

severely beaten Aug. 1 by a band of young men,

two of whom have been charged by the Fayette

County Sheriff's Department with simple battery.

Several of the perpetrators were identified by

the victim as members of the Wolfpac, a so-called

group of former Sandy Creek students.

"The

students in that group are out and gone,"

said Dr. Charles Warr, Sandy Creek High School

principal. "It was a very unfortunate

situation for this young man," he added,

referring to the beating of one of his students.

According

to Jeri Walsh, her son and her home have been the

target of threats and vandalism by the Wolfpac

for some time. "How they manage to avoid

being caught is beyond my comprehension,"

Walsh wrote in a letter to the editor last week.

"These teens tormented my child the entire

school year, forcing him to miss many days of

school. We wondered why he feared going to

school; he was too embarrassed to tell us until

this beating occurred..." Walsh wrote.

Her

son spent six hours in the hospital after the

attack.

She

said medical personnel kept a careful watch on

the liver and spleen, fearful of a possible

rupture, due to an enlargement triggered by a

recent case of mononucleosis. "He was black

and blue from head to toe and sustained an eye

socket fracture," Walsh explained.

"I

could have lost my child... this is a very

emotional thing for me," Walsh said.

According

to school officials, there is no gang activity in

the high schools that they are aware of. Both

Warr and Starr's Mill High School Principal Sam

Sweat denied seeing any signs of in-school

gang-related activities.

Warr

acknowledged that gangs can spring up, especially

with so many people moving into the county from

other parts of the country.

"We

have a strong policy prohibiting any kind of gang

activity; we will not allow it," said Wayne

Robinson, director of secondary schools for the

system. He cited the updated student discipline

code which defines a gang or gang member as

"a person who is part of an association of

three or more people, associated for common

purpose, which engages individually or

collectively, in illegal behavior. Gang related

activities includes, but is not limited to,

communication of gang affiliation through hand

sign flashing, wearing of clothing articles in a

certain way or color scheme, jewelry, tattoos,

gang signs, symbols or graffiti on personal

items, vandalism of public or private property

and acts of intimidation, threats, fighting or

other forms of violence."

The

penalties call for detention, notification and/or

suspension from one to 10 days with a possible

recommendation for a hearing before a

disciplinary tribunal which could result in long

term suspension to expulsion.

The

Fayette County Sheriff's Department reported that

the beating incident took place at 196 Thompson

Rd., near the Fulton County line. Arraigned in

connection with the incident were Joshua Reid

Harrison, 17, and Dustin Peppers, 18.

Harrison

and Peppers were the only two people identified

warrants were issued for anyone else due to the

lack of positive identification.

The

Wolfpac appeared on a website created by another

youth group called the Rollin' Cracka Five

earlier this year. The site was shut down by the

sheriff's department and the group's leader was

charged with soliciting gang activity. The case

has yet to be heard in court.

The

Wolfpac was investigated at that time and not

considered to be a street gang, according to Maj.

Bruce Jordan, the sheriff's criminal

investigative head, because the group did not

meet the two most important criteria of a gang:

being formed for the purpose of committing

crimes, and using the commission of crimes by

individuals as a measuring stick for promotion

within the group.

"It

was a social group," said Jordan. "We

have to be very careful who we classify as a

gang," he said.

The

main reason for the fight, investigators believe,

is that members of the Wolfpac and the Rollin'

Crackas were in the same location and simply do

not like each other, especially after the

Cracka's statements on the Internet.

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