ZERO TOLERENCE SENDS CLEAR MESSAGE IN DECATUR SCHOOL INDICENT THAT ATTRACTED JESSE JACKSON'S ATTENTION

An Illinois judge last month barred the Rev. Jesse Jackson from attending the ceremony for graduating high school seniors in Decatur. Ill., because he led protests last fall of the expulsions of six students who brawled at a football game.

The judge upheld his earlier order that neither Jackson nor his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition protesters could come within 50 feet of the city's three high schools without permission. In fact, the judge had permanently banned these protesters from the campus in March, agreeing with school officials that demonstrations there had disrupted teaching.

Good for the judge.

What occurred at the high school football game was basically a riot, and it's a miracle that no one was seriously hurt, if not killed. Jackson and other good citizens should have stood with the school board and the courageous school officials who were determined to do what was necessary to protect life, limb and property against this outbreak of hooliganism. The offenders were known to the police and to school officials charged with maintaining order. Instead, for months Jackson led his motley band in a media festival of interference in something that was none of his business.

By the time of the judge's order, Jackson had decided that his schedule didn't permit his attendance anyway, even though he was invited by parents of a couple of the expelled students who attended alternative-school classes and completed graduation requirement. He decided he would travel to Europe instead.

It may just be that the no-nonsense judge and school officials have given us all a textbook primer in how to respond to Jackson-style agitation: zero tolerance. Such an approach appears to have worked here and, we hope, will provide an example to others.