Adult involved in middle school fight convicted

October 22, 2006

By MARY AMES/Frontiersman

PALMER -A woman who went to Wasilla Middle School with her sister and niece, encouraging the girl to fisticuffs last spring, was found guilty on two charges by a jury Friday.

Mary Bright, 36, was on trial in Palmer District Court for disorderly conduct and contributing to the delinquency of a minor after police and school authorities said she and her twin sister - the mother of a then-sixth grade girl - pushed the girl into a fight and shouted encouragement while she punched, slapped, kicked and pulled the hair of an unsuspecting victim. No other adults witnessed the fight between the two classmates, which reportedly ended abruptly.

The two women, who never signed in at the office, left through the front doors and took their young kinswoman home. Between five and 10 students saw the fight, and some of them helped the injured victim to the office.

Bright saw no harm in her conduct March 30, when the two Wasilla Middle School girls got physical.

&#8220I was just there,” Bright said.

Amy Spargo, WMS principal, notified Dave Eller, the Wasilla Police Department's school resource officer. School officials called the trio back to school to speak with Eller and Spargo.

From the witness stand, Spargo said she remembered the day in part because the fight caused so much distress for the victim's family, and she was in contact with them until 8 p.m.

&#8220They went through a lot,” Spargo said. &#8220I consider it a very serious incident. We have to have a very firm stand that every adult in the building have students' safety in mind.”

Spargo said she didn't witness the fight, nor did two teachers who heard the commotion and &#8220hustled kids into the office.”

&#8220To this day, I don't know what stopped it,” she said. &#8220One thing that was conclusive is the mother and the aunt didn't stop it.”

No one disputed the series of events leading up to the fight. The niece told her mother the other girl slapped her as they walked to the bus after school.

Although she reported the incident, no one at the school did anything about it, the girl said to her mother. Later, in Spargo's office, the sixth-grade student admitted she lied about being slapped by her former friend, witnesses agreed.

Bright and her sister went to the school to &#8220right a wrong,” said Jon-Marc Peterson, assistant district attorney. &#8220Nothing good was going to come out of them going to school that day.”

&#8220I went along for moral support,” Bright testified. &#8220You're making support sound like a bad thing.”

Bright maintained her sister went to the school to speak with a counselor about the slapping incident. She had no idea visitors were supposed to sign in at the office, nor did she notice the informative signs posted near the entryway, Bright said. The trio walked by Kent Rilatos, a WMS safety and security adviser, without asking directions to the office or telling him why they were there, she said.

&#8220I thought he was a bus driver,” she said. &#8220He didn't look like no counselor to me.”

Bright entered the school a little behind her sister and niece because she talked football with Rilatos, she said. Then she stood by the trophy case and waited for her niece, who told the adults they would all have to wait in the cafeteria for the bell to ring.

&#8220She come walking by, talking to a friend,” Bright said. &#8220Next thing I know, there's a fight. I didn't want no part of it.”

Three middle-school girls, including the victim, testified that the fight didn't happen the way Bright described it.

One said the niece came up and &#8220just punched” the victim. She couldn't remember who stopped the fight, she said, but it wasn't one of the two adults.

In a note she wrote to describe the incident at the time, the former sixth-grader said the women were &#8220encouraging and cheering,” saying things such as, &#8220You can do this.” Another student said she heard the women tell their relative &#8220to hit her.” Another said the niece was saying, &#8220I can't do this. I can't do this,” when Bright told her to, &#8220kick (the other girl's) butt.”

James Wheeler and Craig Condie acted as Bright's public defenders, each cross-examining witnesses. Wheeler offered closing arguments.

&#8220It's unfortunate we all got drug here for this,” Wheeler said. &#8220The state wasted significant resources bringing this here today.”

The trial, which ran from Tuesday to Friday morning, was four days of irrelevant evidence about a continuation of a middle school vendetta, he said. The victim had an ax to grind and was trying to punish the family of an ex-friend, he said.

The jury took about three hours to convict Bright.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.