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Oct. 11, 2002
Homecoming game, dance, and pep rally rescheduled
Blair's Homecoming football game has been postponed to November 4 and the dance will be held November 2. The pep rally scheduled for October 11 will be held on November 1.
In a schoolwide announcement on the afternoon of Oct 11, Principal Phillip Gainous said, "as of now, the Homecoming game is rescheduled for November 1 [and] as of now the Homecoming dance is rescheduled for November 2." The homecoming game had to rescheduled to the next Monday because of the rules having to do with the number of practices between games. Gainous also said that the pep rally planned for that day had to be canceled due to rowdy behavior by a mob of students at the end of lunch. He expressed hope that the rally could be rescheduled but did not give a date at the time.
Blair will play Magruder High School for Homecoming instead of original opponent Paint Branch. The Paint Branch game was played on Monday, Oct 14 as a regular game.
The game against Paint Branch, originally scheduled for Friday Oct 11 at 6:30 p.m., was postponed several times in response to a shooting at a northern Virginia gas station (see related story, Shootings continue to disrupt schools).
Additional reporting by Nora Toiv, Cori Cohen, Jared Sagoff, Robin Hernandez and Kevin Fang.
In a schoolwide announcement on the afternoon of Oct 11, Principal Phillip Gainous said, "as of now, the Homecoming game is rescheduled for November 1 [and] as of now the Homecoming dance is rescheduled for November 2." The homecoming game had to rescheduled to the next Monday because of the rules having to do with the number of practices between games. Gainous also said that the pep rally planned for that day had to be canceled due to rowdy behavior by a mob of students at the end of lunch. He expressed hope that the rally could be rescheduled but did not give a date at the time.
Blair will play Magruder High School for Homecoming instead of original opponent Paint Branch. The Paint Branch game was played on Monday, Oct 14 as a regular game.
The game against Paint Branch, originally scheduled for Friday Oct 11 at 6:30 p.m., was postponed several times in response to a shooting at a northern Virginia gas station (see related story, Shootings continue to disrupt schools).
Additional reporting by Nora Toiv, Cori Cohen, Jared Sagoff, Robin Hernandez and Kevin Fang.
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Early reports indicate that postponed Homecoming football games for schools across the county will be played at 2:00 p.m. and that other postponed football games will be played at 6:30 p.m.
you mean 2pm on saturday...so I'm changing it.
i feel bad for the senior football players because homecoming is probably a big deal to them and there's no way that as many people are going to come to the game on saturday as would have if the game was on friday night.
i have been waiting three years to go to the crowded homecoming game as a senior and do all the cheers and stuff, and now it won't happen.
i do feel very bad for those who lost friends and family in this mess, but we have to continue on with our lives.
and how are we supposed to get all excited at the pep rally tomorrow when there is not going to be any homecoming game tomorrow night. i would personally like to thank whoever made the final decisions for ruining part of my senior year.
The big assumption here is that this guy will get caught sooner or later, and it's perfectly fine until then. But this is something that could take a very long time. Does MCPS plan to forego all sporting events, all outdoor activities, etc. until then?
I am rather appalled that someone grabbing a gun and killing a few people can cause the population of several communities to go into almost complete submission. We should not be afraid to walk out our front door.
A learned man once said that courage is not letting your actions be determined by your fears.
This is coming from Mr. Mathwin through me. The update time should read p.m., not a.m. In the lead, after cancelled, change "and will possibly" to "but it may." In the first sentence, put a comma after "November 1."
JM
Plus, really, what's the downside? All that happens is that you're going to have to put off your bumping, freaking, and grinding for two weeks. Sheesh, what's the big deal?
i also want to say if the juniors are going to b with the freshman i dont think thats a good idea!!!
FOR RUINING THE FIRST PEP RALLY OF ALL FRESHMAN INCLUDING MYSELF. COME ON PEOPLE WE ARE ALMOST ADULTS AND WE BEHAVE LIKE KINDERGARTENERS??????
i've said it before and i'll say it again: is being afraid to stand at a gas station for fear of being shot-is that life? is walking out of school with your head spinning cuz you're looking around so quickly and walking zigzagged in an attempt to protect yourself-is that life? waiting 3 years to be a senior, to scream out your year at your pep rally, to play your clarinet in the marching band at your first pep rally as a senior, and then to have it all cancelled-is that life? to open up the tv and all you hear is white truck and sniper and yet another yet another YET ANOTHER OH GOD WHEN WILL IT END!?!?!!?!?!!?!?!!? is that life? HELL NO THAT AIN'T LIFE!!!!!
and the worst thing is, the police still have no clue as to what this person is after---all we know is that we have to take precautionary measures and disrupt our lives and sit and do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING while this psycho bastard runs rampant all over the place.
this aint life, folks!
will any of us ever be able to stand at a gas station again, walk across the street again, even after they catch this crook? i bet not.
you've got little children getting stomach aches before school starts becuase they are absolutely terrified---what happened to the children having innocent lives? last year they were put through sept 11th, this year, they're being put through a psycho %$#%^#$ who's picking victims at random and whoops---what if that victim was little so-and-so's relative? how does mommy or daddy explain to a little kid what is going on, what those images are that they are forever bombarded with. i see my little sister's face when she watches the news and i shut the tv, and just the absolute sadness on her face makes me want to go out there and...and...i dunno, do something horrible to that sorry s.o.b., just for making the little children scared. or for killing all those poor people who were going about their daily business. or for ruining so many kids' senior years. or for causing so many people so much pain.
i am not a morbid person, or a negative person, but even my sunshiney-ness is at quite a low ebb right now. the mix of the weather and the psycho and the cancellations and your regular senior burdens is just hanging over my head like a damn storm cloud that broke last week when i first heard about the shootings and keeps on breaking every time i hear about a new one. i wish to God that i could do something. i dont give a damn about the reward money; i just want life to go back to normal for all of us. i dont want to be scared anymore. i dont want to be mad anymore. and i SURE AS HELL DONT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT ANY MORE SHOOTINGS!!!!!!!! one thing i want to hear, and when i hear this, oh dear God it will be music to my ears when i hear that they have caught this bastard and that he will PAY a very expensive price. yes, he will pay, he will pay, and when they are through with him here, he will pay in hell!!!!!!! he will burn and he will rot in hell and the pain that we feel will be intensified ten times over and he will know the true pain that he has caused us all!!!!!!! HE WILL %$%$^%%^$ PAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(ok, again i apologize for my ranting and raving, but once again i am speaking for the families of the victims-they need to be spoken for.)
8 dead, 2 wounded. 10 days. An AVERAGE of one shooting per day! This guy obviously wants to be caught. We gotta do everything and anything to catch him. We need John Walsh. We need President Bush. We need everybody! This is unprecedented. Don't go telling me about the Boston Strangler, Son of Sam, Zodiac murderer, etc. They killed fewer people over a longer period of time, and there was something about the victims related (eg Son of Sam victims were blonde females). The guy here is worse. I say we don't give him the death penalty. We do what they did in the movie The Princess Bride "I'll cut off your legs, arms, nose, hair,eyes, and tongue; I'll leave your ears so you can hear children scream as they look at your hideous body."
Hey! I have a good idea! We should set up something at MBHS so we can collect $$$ to donate to the reward fund. A good goal would be $1 per student. That's over $3,000 bucks!
Who cares about the sports Teamz--they say the same darn thing every year ^_^;
I do agree with Gainous' decision...better safe than sorry ya know..don't wanna see any peeps get hurt or trampled, regardless of their graduating class
I hope we can give this pep rally another try..and hopefully a certain group of kidz would just chill, stop acting like animals, and lay off school property
~Peace Out, and Take Care
Bboy ???????????
Ignoring the loud noise, the pep rallies of the last few years have been peaceful. Now add a mob of students to the pep rally. Here are groups of students attacking groups of students. Punching and fighting occurs. Someone knocks down a speaker and throws it at a crowd. Basketballs become grenades. The marching band's instruments become swords. Instead of letting this happen, it makes since to cancel the pep rally . . .
For a fight to occur, there either has to be a motive or the attacker has to be rather dumb. The sniper(s) might fit into the dumb category. The Israeli buses might blow up because someone hates Israel. Blair students form mobs because . . . what have I observed lately? Look at some of the other comments posted on this article, and I see the four grade levels (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006) accusing each other of causing the pep rally cancellation.
There are also comments from people angry at the sniper. There is a difference between being angry at the sniper and being angry at the class of 200X. The sniper is a murderer, a criminal. Even our government is willing to punish him. The class of 200X, is a diverse group of students, with a few that participate in violence: but most of them are just interested in a safe, peaceful high school. Get angry at persons at a certain grade level is like racism. It doesn't work.
What should we do, other them to claim that "my class of 200Y is better than 200Z" while ignoring the violent morons that happen to be in the class of 200Y? Some people suggest to redirect our anger at accusations at another high school, as was done in a previous pep rally. I do not support this. This is like going to a rally for the U.S. Olympic team, and throwing insults at Canada. Instead, students at MBHS should promote their school as a safe, reasonable learning (and entertainment) environment.
(p.S.) how do we kno who won homecuming court? do we have to wait another week 2 find out?
Are we havin another spirt week?
I agree that the dancers should be put back in the pep rally!! Usually, the sports teams just huddle in a group and scream things into the microphone that I never understand anyway, the dancers are entertaining to watch and really show blazer pride!
~~ 05 pryd ~~
He told me that every year before pep rallies kids get rowdy, but this was the first time he saw the situation as dangerous. I don't think it's very hard to side with him on this one. The mob during lunch and the previous fights between 06 and 05 make it clear. Gainous always has a reason for doing things, and it's never just to piss you off.
As for the dancers, I'm not sure why they were cut, perhaps it was time constraints. Anyway, I'm sure there was a logical reason, and even if it isn't a fair one you hear the other side of the story before whining.
My fellow seniors, don't get bummed, what all of this means is that we'll probably get to do everything over again, spirit week and all. It's dissapointing, yes, but I'm guessing most of us enjoyed our weekends regardless.
So I don't want to hear any more Gainous bashing. Go Blair Football.
But on the other hand things like fights whatnot are just stupid; people think its funny and its really not,it just makes things worse. They just need to realize that it just makes them look really bad when people find out they started the problems.
do you realize that your gonna be going to blair next year, and the year after, and the year after? meanwhile, the SENIORS are gonna be out of here this year. all i have to say is, have fun in your three more years here (actually, more like 4 since this school year just started)