ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / October 6, 1999

ST. JAMES – The picketing of St. James High School took a twist Fridaywhen St. James Parish Sheriff Willy Martin arrested 15 protestingparents.

They were charged with impeding the flow of traffic, obstruction, failure to disperse and interference with an educational institution. All 15 werebooked and charged at the St. James Parish Jail in Convent then releasedon their own recognizance.

On Monday morning, the sheriff arrested five more protestors and charged them all with one count of interference with an educational institution.

The protesters have been marching outside of St. James High School on thewest bank since Aug. 18. They are protesting the transfer of former St.James High principal Ridgley Mitchell to the Learning Academy on the east bank. For several weeks parents kept their children home from St. JamesParish schools, and at one point, over a third of the parish’s students boycotted classes.

Some parents applied for home study and are being allowed to teach their children at home. However, after several weeks, most of the boycottingstudents returned to school, and by Sept. 7, the student population was at97 percent of the school system’s expected enrollment.

But the parents kept on marching.

For the past three months they have been in front of St. James school withsigns, walking back and forth in front of the school in a peaceful, non- violent protest.

However, according to Martin, the protestors started to get out of hand at a St. James High home football game two weeks ago.”We got a ton of calls,” said Martin. “People trying to get out of the schoolonto the highway had their view obstructed by the protestor’s signs.

People were also being intimidated by the protestors.”To prove his point, Martin showed a videotape of that evening taken by one of his deputies. The tape did show some protestors yelling at passing cars,and even one marcher walking onto school grounds to challenge the deputy with the video camera.

Martin said the protestors were creating a safety hazard and he had no intention of stopping their right to protest.

However, the parents say Martin has a different agenda.

“Martin has declared martial law,” declared Jackie Levy, one of the boycott’s organizers.” We were arrested by a 100-year-old law that ismeant only for black people.”Levy is talking about a state law that says it’s a felony to cause the “obstruction or interference with member of staff, faculty or students of educational institutions.””We’ve been marching on that spot since day one,” said an angry J.P.Ambrose. “All of a sudden he changed his mind on Friday. Why?”According to Levy, the reason for the change is that the official attendance records for the St. James School System were sent to thestate Department of Education on Friday. These numbers determine howmuch state money the school system will receive. The marchers believethat once the figures were in, there was no more need to be tolerant of the protestors.

“When the school numbers went in at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon,” said Levy,”the man set his dogs on us.””Originally, they could protest in that area,” Martin said in response. “Butnow it is a safety issue and they are challenging us. We have to protecteveryone’s right.”Levy denies that anybody stopped traffic or harassed drivers. “That’s justnot true,” she said. “We never stopped anybody.”Another marcher, Darrell Favorite agreed. “We weren’t getting intoanybody’s face. They are treating us like common thugs.”At last Friday night’s football game, Martin told the protestors they could not march on the grassy area between the two roads that serve as entrances to the school. He told the marchers to take their protest acrossLouisiana Highway 18, where they could march as long as they wanted.

“I do not want to stop their right to protest,” said Martin. “But people havea right to come to a football game without being harassed. We wanted toput a stop to the intimidation.”But the protestors ignored Martin’s instructions and marched between the two roads. Martin arrested them.”We knew it was coming to this,” the sheriff said. “They wanted to getarrested. They challenged us and we arrested them.”Martin said the protestors challenged him again Monday morning and he was forced to arrest five more people.

The sheriff said all 25 arrests went without incident.

“They were peaceful arrests, and everybody cooperated 100 percent,” he said.

The parents arrested Friday night tell a different story.

“It was a terrible experience, ” said Levy. “We were handcuffed, and thestaff was rude and obnoxious to us.”Ambrose said, “They didn’t read us our rights.”But Martin insists everybody was treated fairly and legally.

“Everybody was handled with care. But they ended up writing all over thewalls and giving false information to the booking officers.”Protestor Lincoln Moore said deputies twisted his arms.

He continued, sarcastically, “He treated us real nice, and we can’t wait to go back.”The five protestors arrested Monday morning were released later that afternoon, and they all said that they were treated well.

Queenie North, who was in jail for three and a half hours said, “They treated me fine. They even fed us red beans and rice.”Audrey Joseph agreed. “They were nice. They fed us. We cooperated andthey cooperated.”All the defendants are slated to appear in court on Dec. 7. The penalty forinterference with an educational institution is a $500 fine or six months in jail or both.

The protest, which started over the transfer over a principal, has now moved into another arena. Martin thinks the upcoming election hassomething to do with the present situation.

“It first started out as an issue over a principal, ” he said, “then they tried to make it a racial issue, and now it is a political issue.”Several of the marchers were carrying signs that were disparaging to Martin.

Some protestors claim that because one of the boycotters is a candidate running against Martin for sheriff, Martin has a personal vendetta against the protestors.

Ambrose claimed, “Ridgley has only been one issue. Our fight has alwaysbeen with the school board, the superintendent, the athletic department, and now we have to fight the police.”

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