Last May, two teenagers were arrested and charged with felonies following a series of bomb threat phone calls to Clinton High School.

When they were charged, they each faced 10 years in jail and up to a $10,000 fine.

So what happened Friday, both in a prank phone call made to Vicksburg High School and to the District Attorney’s office at the Warren County Courthouse, are no joke.

It is no laughing matter. It is nothing to take lightly. And, it is something that should come with the full weight and consequences of being charged with a felonious act.

The individuals responsible for Friday’s calls remain at large. But, they need to be found.

When you force a school of hundreds of children, teachers, staff and administrators to evacuate a school, head outside and wait for emergency officials to sweep the school to ensure it is safe, then you have done something well outside the realm of a so-called prank.

When you threaten the lives of a district attorney, public defenders, their staffs and others in the courthouse, then you have done something far worse than a prank.

To you, those who called, it might have been funny. It might have been something to lighten the mood on a Friday afternoon.

But imagine what the parents of those children forced to evacuate must have felt when they heard of the threat. Do you think they thought it was funny? Do you think they had a good laugh?

Our school and law enforcement officials do not have the luxury of laughing off these threats. They cannot simply dismiss these as pranks and must take each one as if it were a real thing.

The charges awaiting those who made these calls, and the ones who made the calls similar calls to Vicksburg High and the U.S. Post Office in Vicksburg and remain at-large, should be severe.

These kinds of pranks are unacceptable, and example should made to ward off others from ever think of doing it again.