Nude water-gun tag getting high school seniors in trouble

[Danee]

From: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/04/30/seniortag.ART_ART_04-30-09_B1_51DN8VG.html?sid=101

Dublin Coffman senior arrested; authorities not amused
Thursday,  April 30, 2009 3:21 AM
By Simone Sebastian

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Educators have threatened suspension. Police have warned of criminal charges.

And yet high-school seniors continue to run naked through their neighbors' yards spraying one another with water guns.

Senior Tag -- the annual underground game of tag with a twist -- has returned this spring and already claimed a victim.

Dublin police arrested a 17-year-old Dublin Coffman student Tuesday afternoon when he was spotted running naked between houses on Monterey Drive.

In Senior Tag, teenagers stalk and chase one another around town, aiming to hit opponents with water from squirt guns. The last man standing wins. The game typically lasts for weeks.

"As long as they are not breaking the law, we don't have a problem with it," Dublin Lt. Heinz von Eckartsberg said.

But in many of the Senior Tag games, students who are naked can't be tagged out.

The Coffman student was charged with disorderly conduct. But, with no prior arrests, he'll likely serve only community-service time through the city's diversion program, said von Eckartsberg.

Other students who were playing the game in the area weren't taken in, von Eckartsberg said, because "they weren't naked."

The nature of the game makes it easy for fun to cross into illegal activity: trespassing, public nudity and reckless driving.

Dublin police have received eight complaints from residents this week related to Senior Tag. Five were related to students shooting water guns out of moving cars. Three were to report naked teenagers.

But, other than the Coffman student, none of the reported incidents resulted in arrests because the students were gone by the time police arrived, von Eckartsberg said.

Some local businesses have tried to clamp down on the game.

A gym in Pickerington has posted a "No Senior Tag" sign on its front door after high-school employees were ambushed by tag players as they left work, said Metro Fitness manager Amy Pallay.

Schools have made an effort, too. Dublin high schools sent an e-mail to parents yesterday, warning them that students could face legal consequences.

Even talking about the game can get a student in trouble at Pickerington North High School, said senior John Zustra, who played the game this year.

So students have taken the game to the Web.

A search for Senior Tag on Facebook yielded about 30 groups yesterday -- most from central Ohio schools -- where students are organizing and getting updates on games. Upper Arlington High School's Senior Tag group has 218 members. Worthington Christian's has 48. Whitehall-Yearling's has 15.

Videos promoting Senior Tag games in Gahanna are on YouTube.

"As long as the school isn't involved in any way -- kids aren't talking about it at school, no documents are being passed out at school -- then you are fine," Zustra said. "They know it's going to happen. They just can't have anything to do with it."

ssebastian@dispatch.com

[Danee]

As some said on another forum:

They were wrong in attempting to do this, after all, its
1. Kids being kids in harmless good fun
2. Non sexual nudity which is a big no no in the U.S.

[joeyn]

Sounds fun!

It's just water!
 

[pat9916]

Sounds fun!

It's just water!
 

It does sound like fun! I challenge all to a nude water gun fight!

[pat9916]

Sounds fun!

It's just water!
 

It does sound like fun! I challenge all to a nude water gun fight!

You're on! *Ties a bandana around the head and pulls out a Supersoaker 2000* 

I see your Supersoaker 2000 and raise you a Supersoaker CPS 4100!

[Shane_e]

what happened to a good ol, boys will be boys sentence?

[Turtlejosh]

Oh I think i've found what I'm doing for my final year next year ;)

[Stuart]

Sounds fun!

It's just water!
 

You're on! *Ties a bandana around the head and pulls out a Supersoaker 2000*  

I see your Supersoaker 2000 and raise you a Supersoaker CPS 4100!

Hang on a sec, I'm just rigging a power washer to a diesel generator. If I stick it along with the water supply in a shopping trolley, I may have the water gun equivalent of a tank.  

[Danee]

I see your Supersoaker 2000 and raise you a Supersoaker CPS 4100!

I need one of those!!!!!!!!   

But..you HAVE one!  And you had it modified for......

[WeisserWolf]

sounds very funny.. but

this water gun looks like.... "ouuuuch"....