14 arrested after assault on MSU's Sparty

EAST LANSING (U-WIRE) - Casey Shuck woke Friday morning to the sound of water balloons and paint balls hurling at the Sparty statue. But despite the attack, damage was minimal.

The physical science junior was staked out by Sparty with fellow Spartan Marching Band members, poised to protect the statue from vandalism by University of Michigan students, when about 30 people attacked the area.

Shuck, an alto saxophone player, said that at about 4:30 a.m., some people drove by and fired paint guns and balloons at the statue. Shortly after, more people came out of the bushes toting gallon buckets of yellow paint.

MSU police Lt. Mary Johnson said the department received a call about the incident at about 5 a.m. Fourteen people were arrested in the incident. She said warrants are being sought for the students through the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office.

Shuck said, that although he and other band members managed to clean most of the paint off the statue, many sleeping bags and other personal belongings were damaged in the attack. Johnson said there was also paint on the pavement near the statue.

"I was offended," Shuck said. "It's our mascot. It's our tradition. We're going to defend it at all costs."

He said in his three years with the band, the incident was the most extreme act of vandalism he has seen.

Johnson said the event may be related to an incident last week when the "M" in the center of the Diag was defaced with green and white paint.

"Apparently, it is was supposed to be retaliation for somebody going down to the University of Michigan and doing some graffiti, but that's no excuse," she said.

Aside from the attack on Sparty, Johnson said, the weekend was relatively quiet.

"It didn't sound like any unusual disturbances or actions," she said. "It looked like quite a few people left for the weekend."

There was also little excitement in Ann Arbor, said the University's Department of Public Safety police Lt. Douglas Swix.

"There was quite a bit of partying going on," he said. "Other than that, it was reasonably quiet."

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