Bomber Mascot Crisis Issue # 1 ~ 07/24/01 ******************************************** ******************************************** Editor's Note: We (Maren and I) have agreed to separate submissions concerning the issue of the bomb mascot from those the readers expect to find in each day's Sandstorm. We are sending each issue of this newsletter to all subscribers to the Sandstorm. If you do not wish to read the contents of this newsletter, set up a filter in your e-mail reader to direct any mail from <rick.anderson@pobox.com> to your trash folder. The format of this newsletter is identical to the familiar Sandstorm. From time to time I'll include whatever factual information I can obtain at the beginning of each issue. Sincerely, Richard Anderson (60) -- Asst Editor, Sandstorm ******************************************** ******************************************** July 23 status report: I visited the RSD office today intending to meet with Superintendent Semler to discover just exactly what the agenda item of August 14 is to be. Mr Semler is on vacation and will not return to his office until next Monday (July 30). I was given a copy of an "Agreement For Offer and Acceptance of an Equipment Grant" which was proffered by Roy Ballard dated July 18 -- this is the infamous document which was not provided when Roy and his crew installed our bomb on July 1. Principal Steve Neill has signed off on the document with the comment "I believe the school board / supt. needs to approve this gift." [I think Steve wrote the comment -- the penmanship seems to match his signature.] Two other RSD officials have signed off (July 19) on the document as well. The person who provided me with the information was unaware of anything other than the consideration of the gift at the August 14 board meeting. None of the three possible actions -- "accept" "reject" "more information needed" -- has been checked. -Richard Anderson, Editor ******************************************** ******************************************** Today's comments submitted by: Cliff St. John (58), Judy Willox (61) Jack Grouell (61), John Adkins (62) Robert Cross (62), Sandra Genoway (62) David Rivers (65), John Allen (66?) Kim Edgar (79), Betsy Theroux (82) Jil Lytle-Smith (82) ******************************************** ******************************************** >>From: Cliff St. John (58) Re: Bomber Nickname Research Project - Stein's Report Ray, While you are, in my opinion, one of the five best Bomber basketball players ever to have played the game on our Bomber court, you are not correct with your position regarding our Bomber logo. During my stint as a Bomber student (1956 through 1958) there was never a mention of the "Day's Pay". We all knew that the Bombers were named after the "bomb", not an airplane. How else can the mushroom cloud be explained? It wasn't until after the Richland Villager proclaimed in bold headlines "IT'S THE BOMB", explaining what Hanford workers had been working on during that period of ultra secrecy, that we Bombers changed our name from "Broncos" to "Bombers". The Hanford worker's donation of a day's pay occurred two years earlier. The politically correct and historical revisionists cannot change the facts. I'm disappointed that you should place yourself in their camp. -Cliff St. John (58) ******************************************** ******************************************** >>From: Judy Willox Hodge (61) To: Tedi Parks Teverbaugh (76) Tedi, my dear, kiss my Spudnut!!! LOL!! NEVER will the beloved Bomber halls OR foyer EVER hold a Krispy Kreme for its mascot!! That honor would ONLY go to our beloved Spudnut IF the worst is to come and we do lose our beloved bomb and our name of the Bombers. Get a grip girl!! LOL!! Bomber Cheers, -Judy Willox Hodge (61) ~ Richland ******************************************** ******************************************** >>From: Jack Grouell (61) I originally posted this in the Sandstorm in September, 1998. It seems to have some relevance to the current discussion of "The Bomb". It is inevitable that any discussion of Richland will eventually touch on the reason for its existence, which was to provide a place to live for the thousands of workers and their families who were there to build and operate the Hanford facility. While those workers were engaged in this effort, thousands more were fighting in the battlefields of the Pacific and Europe. My dad was one of those GI's and, in 1945, after fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and some of the other battles leading to the defeat of Nazi Germany, he was being held in a camp in France, awaiting shipment to the Pacific for the invasion of Japan. The bombing of two cities in Japan with nuclear weapons made that invasion unnecessary and my dad was sent home, along with thousands of other GI's, many of whom would not have survived the ongoing war with Japan. Am I sorry there was a bomb? I am sorry there was a war. I am grateful that there was a way to end it without further unnecessary loss of life on both sides. Was it necessary to use the Bomb? Was ANY of it necessary? The debate will never be resolved. What is resolved is that the war ended without an invasion, and lots of dads came home. The people who built Hanford have nothing to be ashamed of. Jack Grouell September, 1998 July 21, 2001 Today I would add that we must never forget the tragedy that was WW II, and we can not tolerate the efforts of those who would re-write the history of that time out of context and with the intention of making the horrible facts of war socially acceptable and politically correct. The heritage of Richland is "The Bomb" and that cannot be changed. -Jack Grouell (61) ******************************************** ******************************************** >>From: John Adkins (62) Re: Richard Anderson (60) Subject: Official RHS Nickname and Mascot I must disagree with Richard Anderson's points regarding contacting the Richland School Board. Let us not delude ourselves that the Richland School Board will pay attention to us if we do not make ourselves very visible. Politicians respond to political pressure: if you want their attention, send them a letter, send them an e-mail; they may not like it, but they will pay attention. Politicians who do not pay attention to their constituents are proceeding at their own peril, and in this case there may be double jeopardy for them, first there are future bond issues that Bomber Alumni will cast votes, there are future school board elections in which Bomber Alumni will cast votes; oppose us at your own peril. It is clear that some staff personnel at Richland High School are integral to the original pressure to remove the bomb; to these people I say, "If you do not like the school that we fund for you, perhaps it is time for you to find another location to teach at." -John Adkins (62) - Richland ******************************************** ******************************************** >>From: Robert Cross (62) Since I am unable to attend the August 14, 2001 School Board Meeting, would you please see that this gets to the meeting? As a Richland High School graduate, I was proud to hear about the gift of a bomb shell that several other graduates donated to the school. I am very saddened to hear of its removal. Had it not been for the Hanford atomic works site, my family would never have come to Richland and I would not have graduated from the greatest high school in the country. I would be only slightly interested in some Portland high school or some such. Although the bomb represents a powerful destructive force, to us Richland High School grads, it means our childhood and all the hard work that our parents did while we were growing up. The bomb is our mascot and we are proud of it and hope that no one ever forgets why it existed. -Robert Cross (62) ******************************************** ******************************************** >>From: Sandra Genoway (62) To Jim Anderson and all other less-than-enthusiastic about the bomb mascot people: Maybe we should seriously take you up on your idea of implanting the BOMB in front of all major buildings in the City of Richland, with placards to inform all persons living and visiting there about the history of its citizens and the Hanford Project and its historical importance. Have you really thought out what all of this "political correctness" ideology has, and is, leading this Nation to? It follows down the road of thought control! We should fight it every which way possible; that alone, it comes from the re-writers of history. In this day and age, there should be no acceptance and no excuse for this type of "Orwellian" political activity, especially in the U.S. We need to protect our historical background and show these PCer's that we are passionate about what we remember of our past and proud to have been a part of such an important endeavor, for which many of our community did make personal sacrifices, whether willingly or unwillingly. We are also suffering the consequences for what happened because of WWII and the *lust for power* (something that continues today). -Sandra Genoway (62) ******************************************** ******************************************** >>From: David Rivers (65) Here is my response regarding the bomb. Each one of these people will get a letter addressed just to them. I know it's long but it's the way I feel and I want them to know just how disgusting this whole thing is! -David Rivers (65) July 20, 2001 Rich Semler Superintendent of Schools Richland School District 615 Snow Avenue Richland, Washington 99352 MegWeiss 201 West Greenbriar Richland, Washington 99352 John Steach, Vice President 345 Snyder Road Richland, Washington 99352 James L. Peterson 2309 Camas Avenue Richland, Washington 99352 Mary Guay Legislative Representative 2312 Hood, Apt. B Richland, Washington 99352 Phyllis Strickler 1015 McPherson Richland, Washington 99352 Richland School Board c/o Richland Public School Administration 615 Snow Avenue Richland, Washington 99352 Tri-City Herald Letters to the Editor 107 N. Cascade Kennewick, WA 99336 Re: Richland Bombers Dear __________: Allow me to introduce myself. I graduated from Columbia High School (aka Richland High School) in 1965. I was born in Richland in 1946. After being too seriously wounded in North Africa to remain in the military service of this country, my father came to Richland to work on the Manhattan Project. In my law office, I proudly display a commerative token which reads, "Manhattan Project A-Bomb", which he had mounted on a lighter. Likewise, hanging in my office is ball cap bearing the "R and the mushroom cloud." These are items which I cherish and proudly display. I was chagrined and dismayed some time ago when I returned home for the annual gathering of the '65 Bomber graduates to find that my Junior High School Alma Mater had done away with the name "Warriors." I had to question how many Nez Perce people were polled when that determination was made. As an Apache, my father could not drink a beer at the Community Center, when he first arrived at Hanford -- I am sure no one asked his opinion of the name change. I have read with amusement, the articles by the Marco Polo journalists who have the unmitigated gall to write for a local newspaper and condemn local traditions. I read this morning in the Sandstorm, with even more amusement, a letter allegedly penned by the local Superintendent of Schools advising that the placement of the bomb is a "political issue." Nothing could be further from the truth! Richland, as those of us who were born and raised there know it, was founded as one of the three "Secret Cities" of the Manhattan Project. Our families came to Richland with a united purpose -- to work on a secret project, the details of which they were uninformed, but one which our country considered of paramount importance in the war effort. Yes! There was a war -- a world war in which we were not the aggressor. During the early days of the Project my father was involved in some sort of "accident". He and two other men were in a room when fatal doses of radiation leaked through by some means or another. My father happened to be holding a piece of masonite or something akin thereto at the time. Though his legs were severely burned and scarred, he survived while the other two men died. I have searched for evidence of the accident, but find none. My father carried his secret with him until just before his death, when he revealed it to me. Yes -- he believed in the oath of secrecy he took right up to the time of his death. In 1965, I joined the Marine Corps because I believed it was the right thing to do. During my tour in Vietnam I became painfully and personally aware of the erosion of the traditional values which had been maintained by Americans through the years. During the 1968 Tet Offensive, we had moved our artillery to Khe Sanh and were turning an area over to the Army Americal Division. When the country exploded, we were left helpless but managed to identify the locations from which we were being bombarded. We called in artillery support from the Americal Division and were told in no uncertain terms that the artillery would not expose its position for a handful of Marines. We lay there for hours until a Navy destroyer and aircraft carrier came in to lend support in the morning. Shortly thereafter, the Americal Commanding General was removed from his post. However, I had learned in that one night that even the military had lost the discipline and esprit de corps for which it had once prided itself. As I alluded to above, there is nothing political about the Bomb being displayed in the "Home of the Bombers." Long before I was of high school age I watched the proud young men and women who went before me enter Col-Hi and become Bombers. The name "Bombers" was revered throughout the state and probably beyond. I remember the Bomb being at every game and being so proud to be a Bomber myself. When my father passed away a few years ago, the former Governor of Nevada called and asked if he could write a piece about my father for the local paper. Naturally, I agreed. At his funeral, my classmates Terry Davis and Jim Heidlebaugh came to Las Vegas and Terry gave the eulogy. While we were standing, waiting for the funeral to begin, Governor O'Callahan came up to us and told us that it did his heart good to see that Bombers still stuck together. We were awestruck. As it turns out, the Governor, himself, had been a steel worker at the Manhattan Project long before he and my dad became close friends here in Nevada. There is nothing political about what is happening here. A few newcomers are embarrassed that our hometown was founded upon the production of an atom bomb. A few newcomers are embarrassed that the name "Bombers" might offend Japanese-Americans and others. The name "Bombers" should not offend any American. It may well offend the Japanese nationals. However, that embarrassment was earned many years ago. As I recall, from my days in education quite some years ago, the life expectancy of a Superintendent in a given position is approximately 2.5 years. The tenure of Board Members is, naturally, somewhat longer in some instances. To each of you I say, "HOW DARE YOU?" The facts are what the facts are. The City of Richland was founded upon the Bomb and kids who attend that school are proud to be Bombers. As a temporary servant of the School District, you have no right -- no right whatsoever -- to rewrite history for your own agenda. When Jim Adair and Roy Ballard pulled into Las Vegas last year and Roy told me of his intentions with respect to the Bomb, I applauded him. When the Bomb was unveiled at the recent Bomber gathering, I posed proudly with it, together with my fellow Bombers. Today, I am ashamed of each of you in taking your role to destroy the traditions of our city out of some feigned idea of political correctness. I will remain ashamed to have you represent the City of Richland and its educational community unless and until you take a stand against this silliness and demand that the Bomb be reinstated in the gym where belongs. Sincerely, DAVID J. RIVERS ******************************************** ******************************************** >>From: John Allen (66?) I am sending this reply I received from Steve Aagaard at the RSD. I had asked him if the "Bomber" name was also going to be considered at the 14 August Board Meeting. His reply is below. ---JMA John, Sounds like a wild rumor to me. I have heard absolutely nothing about this possibility. Steve Aagaard Communications Manager Richland School District ******************************************** ******************************************** >>From: Kim Edgar Leeming (79) Just a thought, but while attending the meeting, it would be nice if Veterans could wear their uniforms (if they still fit). Just another way of showing how proud you are to be an American and of its history. -Kim Edgar Leeming (79) ******************************************** ******************************************** >>From: Betsy Theroux Thoman (82) Hi, I just want to know when, in the last century and now, the voice of the few rule? (Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot... that is how we got Bush for President.) For Pete's sake, it is just another piece of political stupidity that will try and dictate that any historical truth, that is un-PC, needs to be made into a Politically Correct one. Next the Bombers of Richland will change over to the ..... I don't know ..... the Pansies? (a flower I do like). I am so NOT a political person and it seems to me a shame that the need to try and whitewash or remove our high school history. To those in the Tri-Cities, go to the meeting in August and be the vast majority to say that the bomb is symbol of the school mascot and not the symbol of hate ..... and maybe the majority will rule. Thanks for listening, -Betsy Theroux Thoman (82) ******************************************** ******************************************** >>From: Jil Lytle-Smith (82) Let's remind those who think that having the bomb (shell) in place is a bad idea just what the bomb is ........ THE BOMB IS A SYMBOL OF STRENGTH, IT PRESERVES THE PEACE. -Jil Lytle-Smith (82) ******************************************** ******************************************** ******************************************** Send RHS Nickname/Mascot entries to: <rhsnickname@richlandbombers.com> ********************************************