And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: Robert Eurich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From the 16 August 1999 Chicago Tribune http://chicagotribune.com/version1/article/0,1575,SAV-9908160024,00.html SCHOOL'S LOGO ROILS WISCONSIN TOWN BOARD DECISION TO DROP `REDMEN' SPURS VOTE EFFORT Associated Press August 16, 1999 MILTON, Wis. Tradition motivates petitioners who want the school board to restore a nickname that critics called insensitive to American Indians. "My sons are very proud to be `Redmen.' They are proud of the heritage," said Maggie Larsen, who has sent two sons to Milton High School. "It's a shame that we've become a land of the perpetually offended." After years of discussion, the "Redmen" nickname and an accompanying logo were retired July 19 by the school board 5-2. Larsen and a group called Citizens for Better Representation are circulating petitions that demand a referendum. The group plans a rally Monday prior to a school board meeting. School district lawyer Bob Krohn and Kevin Kennedy, executive director of the state Elections Board, said a school board cannot be forced to set a referendum on a policy question. "There are statutes related to borrowing money and revenue limits but not on other kinds of issues," said Steve Hintzman of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, concurring with Kennedy. The Milton School District is one of many in which Indian-derived names and symbols have been debated. State Rep. Frank Boyle (D-Superior) is sponsoring legislation that would authorize the state Department of Public Instruction to force school boards to remove offensive labels. Sentiments vary among the estimated 40 districts that Boyle has targeted after 18 districts changed their nicknames. John T. Benson, state superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction, complimented the Milton board in a July 23 letter for its "courageous action." In Menomonie, voters recalled three school board members who sided with students who tried unsuccessfully to switch the Menomonie "Indians" to the "Mustangs." In Tomah, elders of the Ho-Chunk Nation have supported a local school's use of symbol depicting a Great Plains headdress and the nam "Tomah Indians." The Milton change was promoted since 1990 by Carol Hand, a Lac du Flambeau Chippewa, who says she had to leave town because of harassment. Larsen and other petitioners complain that school officials made their decision without a referendum. "They ignored the democratic process," Larsen said. "We don't feel they listened to their constituents." "I strongly believe that `Redmen' is not a racist or sexist term," petitioner Arlen Bethay said. "I don't think it is offensive." A referendum can resolve the community's division, said his wife, Glenna. "With a referendum, either way it will be done," she said. "At least it will be more than seven people deciding the fate of their heritage." Earlier this year, she said, a picture of an Indian in a Great Plains headdress was the sanctioned logo on shirts and banners. Now "it is considered racist," she said. The Bethays and Larsen circulated a petition once before, unsuccessfully asking the school board for a referendum. "I didn't think we'd have to go any further than that," Larsen said. "I felt this was a policy issue that needed to be determined by the board," board member Bob Cullen said. "For every person who said, `Let's take the issue to a referendum,' we had an equal number of people telling us it is our decision to make." -- American Indian Sports Team Mascots http://members.tripod.com/earnestman/1indexpage.htm "Little drops of rain wear away the greatest of stones."
