Some upset by burning of dummy at bonfire

When Cape Girardeau Central High School principal Mike Cowan opened the Southeast Missourian shortly before 5 a.m. Friday, he thought, "Oh, dear."

On the front page was a photo showing a group of Central cheerleaders tossing an effigy of a Jackson cheerleader into a bonfire at a rally on school property the night before.

Just as he suspected, when Cowan got to school, there already had been a number of calls from individuals who were unhappy about the photo. Calls also were made to the school board office and to the Southeast Missourian.

"At this particular time, with heightened sensitivity that everyone is feeling, we certainly would apologize if we created any duress," Cowan said. "That's the last thing we wanted."

Cowan said he realizes the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 have left people feeling especially sensitive to such pictures.

"Times have changed in America, in our thinking, in our state of mind," Cowan said.

Cowan refused to let the students, who put the effigy together and did not announce they were going to burn it, take sole responsibility.

"The bonfire is a school activity," Cowan said. "It's an activity we announce and is held on school property. We should not say these kids are acting on their own. As principal, I accept responsibility, and it falls squarely on my shoulders."

Re-examining practice

Cowan said administrators are rethinking the practice of allowing students to burn effigies at rally bonfires.

"It's never meant to offend anyone," said Patty Wamble, a cheerleader sponsor who also teaches business at the high school. "That was not the purpose of that at all. I'm sure we won't be doing it again. We should have thought more about it."

Wamble said Central High School has a bonfire every year before the Jackson football game and has burned an effigy each of at least the past five years. The annual Central-Jackson football game is one of the biggest and longest running high school rivalries in Southeast Missouri.

An effigy of a football player wearing red -- Jackson's school color -- was also burned, Wamble said.

"This is just something we've always done. We've always thrown some type of dummy into the fire," she said. "But they can't have an actual uniform. No names or no numbers to signify anyone."

Central athletic director Terry Kitchen, who was at the Thursday-night bonfire, said he understands "the sensitivity of throwing something that looks like a human being into a fire." But Kitchen said the students were just trying to have an "enjoyable" night.

"It's really just all about the competition," he said. "There was nothing vicious meant by it. It's just something the kids are doing to have fun. At the same time, people are real sensitive to it, so you're walking a thin line."

Kevin Bohnert, athletic director at Jackson High School, leveled more criticism at the Southeast Missourian than at the Cape Girardeau students.

"I don't think the picture should have been used," Bohnert said. "They probably put on a whole hour-long program, introduced kids and did other very appropriate things, and instead you chose that picture."

Bohnert said he is concerned Jackson students will try to do something in retaliation.

Editor's regrets

Southeast Missourian editor Joe Sullivan said the photo should not have been published.

"In hindsight, I regret that we ran it," Sullivan said. "But I am more regretful that something like this was allowed to happen. There apparently was adult supervision there that didn't see anything wrong with it."

Others reacted in various ways.

Diane Cook, a mother with two daughters at Delta High School, said both the photo and the activity were very inappropriate.

"As far as the bonfire, burning logs and all that, we used to do that when I was in high school," she said. "That's fine. But when you are throwing effigies of people in there, that is going too far."

Don Hill, a Jackson resident, has a son who is a junior at Jackson High School.

"I just felt it was inappropriate with the condition the country is in," he said. "Being in the newspaper, it just creates an animosity that's not needed. I felt it was very inappropriate that teachers even let it happen. It was in bad taste."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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