Be careful what gets out into cyberspace.

Cheerleaders tell their side

Exclusive: National infamy is undeserved, they say

07:16 PM CST on Sunday, January 7, 2007

By KAREN AYRES / The Dallas Morning News

It took only a moment to snap the photo that made the "Fab Five" famous. Now, they would do anything to erase that moment.

The five McKinney North High School cheerleaders, each in uniform and holding phallus-shaped candles, thought it would be funny to pose for the picture inside a condom store – a harmless joke for their friends to see on MySpace.

Courtesy

"We will never live it down," says Elizabeth Griffin, seen in her former role as a McKinney North High School cheerleader. She graduated early and is now headed to college.

They never imagined it might cost one of their mothers her job as high school principal and, then, thrust them into the latest national debate over the questionable behavior of popular teenage girls.

"It was a stupid mistake," Elizabeth Griffin, 18, one of the cheerleaders, told The Dallas Morning News on Saturday. "We will never live it down, but we never thought about that at the time."

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Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | News: Education

Lessons learned

The four girls at the center of the controversy are no longer on the
squad. Elizabeth and Karrissa graduated early and are headed to
college. The other two girls will finish their senior year at the
school.

The girls and their parents say the experience
has taught them a valuable lesson – albeit one they didn't ask for:
There are consequences for everything, even things that seem harmless
at the time.

"I don't have a senior year," Elizabeth
said. "I might have made some bad decisions like the picture and
staying in the group at homecoming, but it's taught me a lot about how
life is. I've learned a lot from it."

E-mail kayres@dallasnews.com

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