Vandals destroy irreplaceable memorabilia of former star athlete

By Garthia Elena Halbertghalbert@cdispatch.com - Amidst shattered glass and broken doors, the late Monday night vandalism of West Lowndes High School also left behind damage that cannot be repaired.

A Lowndes County teenager, Jeremy Wilson, 17, was arrested Tuesday on charges he broke into WLHS and West Lowndes Middle School, vandalized school property and took two buses for a “joy ride,” one stolen from the high school and one from a service station on Highway 69 which the county school district uses to park three of its buses.

Besides broken windows and doors, the vandalism at WLHS also included a shattered trophy case. In that case, along with many other sentimentally valued pieces, was a tribute to a beloved former student - the late Keffer McGee of Crawford.

McGee, a star athlete at the high school and later at Mississippi State University, graduated from WLHS in 1993 and from MSU in the fall of 1997. He was attending graduate school at MSU when he died later that year in a tragic swimming accident at age 22.

WLHS retired his No. 9 jersey that year and placed it alongside several trophies he'd earned from playing football at the school inside the trophy case in his honor.

Most of the trophies were destroyed, and a framed picture of McGee drawn by “Uncle” Bunky was broken.

“The trophies were damaged too badly,” said WLHS principal Roosevelt Bridges when asked if he would try to repair them. “Some of them were broken into several pieces. We've got the name plates but other than that we'll just have to throw them away.”

The picture drawn by “Uncle” Bunky seemed salvageable though, noted Bridges.

“They just broke the frame mostly, it looks like - just threw it on the ground and busted the glass. We'll put it in another frame and have it back on display. ... It's a very beautiful picture and we really have cherished it. Uncle Bunky brought it to me just before he retired. He said ‘I got a surprise for you.' And he gave me that drawing.”

McGee's jersey was unharmed, and also untarnished, said Bridges, is the memory of Keffer, who was special to all who knew him personally any many more who didn't but followed his athletic career.

“He was no regular student,” remembered Bridges, who has been principal at WLHS for 20 years and taught there for 15 years before that. “He was a very special student. ... He kept his grades up and was a well-mannered young man. We wish we had more like Keffer.”

Along with the trophy case, doors and windows, the school's driver's education car was damaged when Wilson attempted to gain entry by prying at the door handle. Wilson is also charged with trying to burn a pile of books.

Wilson and an accomplice, Carl Brewer, who sheriff's officers said did not enter the schools, were arrested for the bus thefts and break-ins Tuesday.

Wilson, of 156 Johnnie B. Wilson Road, is charged with two counts of burglary, two counts of grand larceny and arson. Brewer, 33, of 190 Brewer Lane, is charged with burglary in the case.

Wilson, a student at WLHS, may face expulsion for his role in the incident.

“Right now it's hard to say if he'll be expelled. He was a special education student,” explained Bridges. “I'm pretty sure he's going to be recommended for expulsion. But you do have to make considerations for special education students.”

Wilson's case will go before a committee, which will make the recommendation whether to expel him or let him return to school.

“Looking at where we are right now, it's going to be hard not to recommend him for suspension.”