4
I The Lovell Chronicle I February 25, 2016
CHRONICLE
It was shocking to see a Shoshoni basketball fan aggressive-
ly confront and shove a Rocky Mountain student during Satur-
day night's Rocky-Shoshoni boys basketball game in Cowley, but
school officials, fans and the students themselves are to be com-
mended for not overreacting and escalating the situation.
The incident took place early in the second quarter after a Sho-
shoni player took an accidental elbow to the face and was bleed-
ing, As school officials cleaned up some blood on the court and
coaches tended to the young man, an angry relative of the injured
player took offense to something from the student section and at-
tacked a student with a forearm shiver to the chest•
Adults quickly intervened and separated the man from the
students, but there was an angry standoff and the agitated man
made two more moves toward the students before he could be
escorted from the school.
This was, no doubt, a highly embarrassing display of aggression
for Shoshoni fans, no matter what the man perceived was said
by Rocky students, various versions of which have been bandied
about for several days now, but it is no doubt also causing local
school officials to examine how far a student section can go in
"cheering" for their team.
There's no excuse for a man attacking a student in that fash-
ion, no matter what set him off or what he thought he heard, and
school officials have interviewed numerous students in an attempt
to find out if anything offensive was said.
School officials and many in the crowd wisely kept their cool for
the most part Saturday, and as a result, the incident didn't blow
up into a fist-fight or worse. Some angry words were exchanged,
but there was no physical action after the initial shove• The fan in-
volved clearly didn't appear to be in his right mind.
Let's hope school officials react properly to the incident - and
we believe they already are doing so - to promote sportsman-
ship without clamping down too hard on enthusiasm. We've seen
"school spirit" ebb and flow over many years of activities depend-
ing on student body enthusiasm and administration rules regarding
behavior.
It's a thin line, of course. Sometimes students appear to get a
little too boisterous, causing officials to clamp down, but recently it
appears principals and athletic directors have loosened the reins a
..... little bit, allowing some "chants" that might not have been allowed
..... a few years ago such as the college favorite Wou can't do that!"
following a foul. Most of the chants are all in good fun, but some
border on poor sportsmanship.
Mind you, this behavior isn't like, for instance, Cody or oth-
er larger schools, where student conduct is allowed to get out of
hand and downright rude, but as students across the state see
what happens at pro and college arenas, many are tempted to
push the envelope, despite the Wyoming High School Activities As-
sociation's attempts to get students and fans to ' join the ride" and
exhibit good sportsmanship.
We have been impressed by the school spirit displayed at both
Lovell and Rocky Mountain in recent years, and we would hate
to see the clamps put on too tightly again. But Saturday's event
should also prompt school officials to examine what is all in good
fun and what goes a little too far.
In general, students are often better behaved at games than
many parents. We trust school officials will examine student be-
havior and take the necessary steps to maintain the proper bal-
ance between spirited cheering and behavior that pushes the
envelope.
We all need to remember that it's just a game.
- David Peck
LOVELL
Publishers: David & Susan Peck
News Editor: Patti Carpenter
Production: Karlie Voss
Dustin McClure
Staff: Marwyn Layne, Dorothy Nelson,
Teressa Ennis, Leonora Barton,
Paul Roland, Sam Smith
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WHAT PO YOU
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Letter to the Editor
Our area
Dear Editor, opportunity to serve them. We- Rod Winland, Athletic Direc-
In January and February, our heard many great comments from tor, coaches and the entire school
community was honored to host the out-of-towners on how great administration.
both basketball and wrestling they had been treated by our WHSAA (Wyoming High
tournaments that blessed us with community and other businesses. School Activities Association).
many opportunities to show what We would like to extend spe- On behalf of our employ-
this area has to offer. During these cial thanks to the many people ees and other businesses that
two weekends we saw many "non that put in so much time and el- had success from all of your hard
niner" plates as well as a large fort to organize these events. Not work to make these events great,
amount of busses traveling into limited to but special notes to: thank all involved for your time
our neighborhood. Lovell High School - Joe Korit- and effort.
With so many individual fam- nik, Athletic Director, coaches and Craig Trumbull and
ilies and schools that were in- the entire school administration. Bonnie Nation
volved, it was great to have the Rocky Mountain High School Brandin' Iron Restaurant
Letter to the Editor
Fourth graders seek information on Wyoming
Dear Editor, it would be fun to receive post- Our address is 4th Grade at
The fourth grade at Aviston cards, souvenirs, resources or Aviston Elementary, 350 South
Elementary, located in south- any information about our great Hull Street, Aviston, IL 62216:
ern Illinois, is learning about the country from each of the 50 A sincere thank you to anyone
United States and the different states, who is able to contribute. We ap-
environments, climates, resourc- We hope that people who preciate the excitement you will
es and highlights found in each read this letter will be interest- add to our learning experience.
region, ed in mailing our class items per- Aviston Elementary 4th
The kids in the class think tainingto their state, graders
Guest Column
The political fates
of our nation and of
Wyoming are being de-
cided right now across
the country through a
series of presidential
primaries, debates and
caucuses,
Here in Wyoming,
we are merely observ-
ers. Or are we?
I was recently in
Nevada, one of the bat-
tleground states, and
got to follow some of
the national candidates and make
some observa[ions on the nation-
al scene.
On the Democratic side, l al-
ways assumed Hillary Clinton
would be our next president. She
is not my choice, but with all the
strife on the Republican side, if
she can get through the primaries
and her convention, she could
easily win the general election.
This is not good news for
Wyoming. Although not as shrill
as President Barack Obama, she
would continue the legacy of
her husband Bill iand his Interi-
or Secretary Bruce Babbitt) to
wreak havoc on the Wyoming en-
ergy industry.
Gov. Matt Mead, former Gov.
Dave Freudenthal; the Wyoming
Business Council and legislative
leaders have been aggressive in
the last 12 years trying to diversi-
fy the state's economy away from
fossil fuels. It has worked well in
certain places around the state.
In other places, more work needs
to be done. Hopefully, the current
legislature will expand on those
diversification efforts.
With Hillary in there for a po-
tential eight years after Obama's
eight years, the national war over
fossil fuels could be over - and
Wyoming will have lost.
While in Nevada, we saw folks
Bill Sniffin
My Wyoming
swooning over that Don
Quixote character Ber-
nie Sanders. He is right
that the middle class
has been slaughtered
over the past 20 years.
But common sense
would indicate Sand-
ers is unelectable in the
general election against
any of the Republicans.
Ah, the Republi-
cans. This is where the
craziness is located.
Back in August of
2015, I heard Jeb Bush speak at
the Iowa State Fair and he was im-
pressive. I always liked the con-
cept of former governors run-
ning for president, as they know
what it is like to hire lots of good
staff and make lots of important
decisions.
First-term Senators like Mar-
co Rubio and Ted Cruz just do
not have that kind of experience.
Those two, plus Dr. Ben Carson,
could all be ineffective if elect-
ed president. After eight years of
an ex-senator being president, I
do not think the country can en-
dure another bout with a presi-
dent going through on-the-job
training.
That leaves Bush, who is the
former governor of Florida but
who has suspended his cam-
paign, and John Kasich, the gov-
ernor of Ohio. Both impress me.
Oh yeah, I left out the
600-pound gorilla named Donald
J. Trump.
l am a huge fan of Trump...
but just on the TV show The Ap-
prentice. As a candidate, I am
not so impressed by the way he
is running. Smarmy, snarky and
petty for someone running for
the highest office in the country.
But, and this is a big but . .
• some of what he says makes
sense. I always loved the concept
of a businessman going into a po-
litical situation and applying busi-
ness principles. Trump is right in
that it has been amateur night at
theWhite House for the last sev-
en years. That nuclear deal with
Iran stinks and other dealings
with Europe, China and Russia
have not been handled well.
The Republican primary cam-
paign has really been hijacked by
Trump and turned into a reality
TV show. It really has.
Does he really want to be
president? Even if he loses, his
Trump brand has gained billions
of dollars of exposure.
Some fear he would be a cra-
zy person to have his finger on
the nuclear trigger. That is the
least of my worries. He is a cau-
tious and strategic thinker. Our
country would be in safe hands
with him as president, but again,
that lack of governmental experi-
ence could be a disaster.
Hillary tried to turn her na-
tional campaign around in Ne-
vada. Sanders comes from a
tong line of philosophical candi-
dates like Eugene McCarthy and
George McGovern. Democrats
are expected to come to their
senses and turn down the lure of
Sanders and make Hillary their
candidate.
The Republicans will hopeful-
ly turn to Kasich, my personal fa-
vorite. If Trump wins, that will be
a great show to watch.
When it is all over in early No-
vember, it is easy to predict that
Hillary Clinton very well could be
elected our next president.
If so, that is really not good
news for Wyoming's fossil fuel
economy.
(Check out Bill Sniffin's col-
umns at www.billsniffm.com. He
is a longtime Wyoming journal-
~st from Lander who has written
six books.)
VJLk: *.
