“We don’t scare kids, we don’t scare adults,” said James Herman, the President of the Beja Shrine clown unit.
However, with recent ‘creepy clown’ incidents around the nation and incidents in our area, professionals like say the actions of some are hurting the clown’s image.
(James Herman- President, Beja Shrine Clown Unit) “What’re they doing? What’s the objective?”
Herman said he went to clown school 17 years ago and has been Jimbo the clown with the shrine circus ever since.
“The rules are very distinct to be a Shrine clown,” said Herman, “there are no scary faces, no scary costumes, no alcohol, no cigarettes, no obscene gestures, no smoking and if anyone is scared we are immediately told to turn around and walk away.”
Herman said some people have been afraid of clowns for years, and the recent craze over ‘creepy clowns’ isn’t helping their image.
“We don’t foster that at all, we don’t even like scary clowns in haunted houses, because they demonstrate a fear factor,” Herman said.
But he believes this phenomenon will fade in just a few weeks.
“Halloween will end, things will settle down. I think it will get back to normal, I really do,” Herman said, “I think there’s so much hype in our society that it’s getting to be a little bit overwhelming.”
A Facebook threat against several Green Bay and De Pere schools, implied the they would be targeted on Monday.
Police said it turned out to be a hoax, orchestrated by a 13-year-old.
Green Bay schools encouraged parents who kept their children home Monday morning, to bring them in for the second half of the day.
We contacted the district to see how many absences there were, but the district has not yet provided that information.
