STUDENT BRINGS TOMAHAWK CHOP TO SEMO; SENIOR DOESN'T FEEL SYMBOL OFFENSIVE TO INDIANS, OTHERS

Move over Atlanta, Cape Girardeau may be the next Tomahawk Town.

A student at Southeast Missouri State University has contracted with a St. Louis manufacturer to sell the Southeast Missouri State Chop, a red and black foam-rubber version of the Atlanta Braves' notorious tomahawk chop.

They'll be available next week in Cape Girardeau, just in time for the next SEMO Indians home football game, said Gary Kellmann, whose idea it was to bring the tomahawk to Southeast Missouri.

"I don't see it as offensive to anybody," Kellmann said, alluding to the controversy surrounding the "chop" in Atlanta, where the Braves and Minnesota Twins have been battling it out in the World Series.

Native Americans have protested the use of the chop as degrading. Even actress-activist Jane Fonda has tried to stop the chop. But despite the protests, the chop has become synonymous with the series and the Braves.

Kellmann said if he thought the tomahawks were degrading to Native Americans, he wouldn't sell them. He said response so far to the SEMO chop has been mostly, but not entirely, positive.

"The (SEMO) cheerleaders really wanted to do it, and so did the band," Kellmann said. "But the (university) administration isn't crazy about the idea."

Kellmann said he hopes the chop will rouse Indian spirit, not controversy.

"The reason schools pick a mascot is for a positive connotation," he said. "The connotation of the Indian is pride, happiness and spirit. That isn't negative."

Kellmann said nearly any mascot name could be construed as having negative implications.

"Should Irish people be protesting Notre Dame's Fighting Irish, or cowboys be upset about the Dallas Cowboys?" he said.

Kellmann, a senior, has tried before to market items, such as a Missouri Lottery key chain. He even had the idea to sell dirt from New Hamburg, as a souvenir of the 1990 earthquake.

That idea fell through because he didn't jump on the idea soon enough, he said. This time, he decided to seize the moment.

"I think even after the football season is over, this thing will be great during Show Me Center basketball games," he said.

The SEMO Chop is about a foot long and bears the Indian logo on its handle. It will sell for about $5 at Pete's Pumps & Deli on Broadway and possibly some other local stores, he said. The first shipment, about 500, will be delivered late next week, he said.

"I think this is a way to get people more involved in the game," he said, adding that some may think he's selling the tomahawks "just for the money.

"Even if these are successful, I won't be rich," he said. "But I've got plenty of school bills to pay."