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This is an excerpt from an article by Steve Stewart titled "Senior prank touched off an inquisition" that appeared in the Decatur Daily on Sunday 5/3/09.  2 ex-Decatur High School students recount 1959 prank painting of water tower

  Fifty years ago, the big mystery was who painted the Delano Park water tower.  Now we know the rest of the story.

  Johnny Ferrell and Skip Cox were seniors at Decatur High School in 1959.  Skip says they were selected stage hands for the senior-class play, "Senior Scrambles, 59."

  "Miffed over our menial jobs for the play, we decided to paint the water tower in front of DHS," Skip explained in an e-mail.  They bought paint, brushes and other supplies and charged them to senior-class account.

  "Late at night, Johnny and I climbed over the guard fence, climbed up the ladder that led to the platform with a guardrail that went all the way around the water tower tank.  We painted 'Senior Scrambles 59' in the biggest letters we could reach."

"Sweating jelly beans"

  On Feb. 11, 1959, the morning after their antic, "DHS was in an uproar," Skip reported.  The faculty and staff were aghast!  The student body was thrilled!  An inquisition was held.  Faculty members set up court in the DHS auditorium.  They called in students one by one for questioning.  "Johnny and I were sweating jellybeans," Skip said.

  Nobody told on them that day .  The paper ran a front-page picture saying someone had done a "good but dangerous job" of advertising the play and Public opinion seemed to turn in their favor.

  About two weeks later, Johnny says, they got worried that the prank would cost the senior class its trip to Washington, D.C.  They confessed and that was the end of it.  The class took its trip.

  Skip now lives in Del Mar, Calif. and Johnny lives in Allen, Texas.  They are attending the Class of 1959 reunion here this weekend.