Although the Elder versus Oak Hills game is considered a heated rivalry, some do not always agree considering that the Highlanders have not defeated Elder in football since 1986.

Senior Austin O’Brien was asked for his input on this game, all he had to say was, “This game isn’t a rivalry at all. Oak Hills treats it as their super bowl where Elder treats it as just another game.”

The definition of tradition is “the stories, beliefs, rituals, etc., that have been part of the culture of a group of people for a long time.”

This tradition might finally be coming to an end, but some think different. When senior Brad Simonson was asked if the tradition of painting the guardrails is now over he simply responded “Absolutely……. Not. It will take a pause for a while but eventually it will kick back up and continue strong after we are long gone.”

It’s hard to put an end to a tradition that has been on the West side for so long but Green Township is trying their very best. And their very best might be just enough to stop it right in its tracks as they arrested nine kids from both schools on 8/31/2016 and 9/1/2016 who were trying to carry on this great historical feud. All nine e were charged.

Some believe what these kids do every year is childish but others have different opinions. Senior Cameron Hoinke was asked if he thought it was immature to partake in the painting of the guardrails he simply said, “Not at all. Kids have been doing this for a very long time and the kids who were just now caught are the only ones who ever got serious punishment.”

Green Township did not let this incident go unnoticed.

The Green Township Police Department posted this on Facebook Tuesday morning (9/6) pertaining to the events that happened a week earlier. As shown in the post to the left, a group of Oak Hills girls decided to continue the spray painting tradition and were caught soon after.

Around the same time the next night, the Panthers tried to leave their mark and write the next chapter in the tradition history books. Same result as the night before, all were caught by the Green Township police department.

There are two outlooks on this situation and the consequences that these young teens are facing.

One side believes that these kids should pay the full amount for the damage they have done to the private property.  This would amount to a couple thousand dollars to replace the signs that were damaged. Some went as far as calling these young kids “thugs”.

Another side thinks that these kids were just following tradition and slipped up. They believe they should maybe do some community service but nothing serious to the point where it could harm their future. Senior Austin O’Brien took this side when asked if he thought the kids who were caught were punished a little bit harshly for carrying on tradition.

He responded, “I think that the punishment for these students was a little overboard.”

Others on Facebook also stood up for the kids as well, claiming that they should pay for the signs through service but let’s not forget what It means to be kids.”

After this unfortunate situation the spray paint tradition has taken a hard tumble and may never return. Only time will tell for this long- established tradition.