Newspapers / Grimsley High School Student … / Nov. 21, 2000, edition 1 / Page 2
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High Life Tuesday, November 21, 2000 News 2^ 2000 Election keeps America waiting By Erin West Reporter TTie Key Club will be holding a “Toys for Tots” drive from No vember 3- through December 8. New and old toys are accept able. Boxes will be placed in each I first period class. The next PTSA Walk-Thru is scheduled for January 22,2001 at 7 p.m. Parents can walk their child’s schedule and meet their teachers. The band will perform their an nual holiday concert on Decem ber 6 at 7:30 p.m. The orchestra’s holiday performance will be held on December 5 at 7:30 p.m. Both concerts will be in the auditorium. Grimsley High School Student Directories are available in the main office. The cost is $5. Make checks payable to CHS PTSA. The Grimsley marching band will march in the annual Greens boro Holiday Parade on Decem ber 9, 2000. The parade begins at noon. T’eer tutoring is still available. Students are to report to tbe futures center on Thursdays from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Most of the tutors are seniors who are ca pable of offering assistance in any subject area,including for eign language. For questions, see Ms. Manning or Carter Stroupe. Grimsley Whirlies who shop at Harris Teeter, remember the number 1128.Just give the cashier your VIC card and the number. For the rest of the year the school will earn a 2% rebate from any purchase. Whirlie Santa collectible figures are available from If It’s Baskets. The cost is $49.95 and the Booster Club earns $5 for each Santa sold. These make a great gift for your Whirlie. Call Beverly Avren at 218-5161 for additional information. Greensboro Ballet, along with the Greensboro Symphony Or chestra, will be performing “The Nutcracker” at the War Memo rial Auditorium at the Greens boro Coliseum Complex. Show dates are December 9 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and December 10 at 3 p.m. Grimsley Students perform ing in the ballet are Liza Cassity, Rikki Smith, Joanna Bryant, and Rachel Rodriguez. At 7:30 p.m. EST, November 7, 2000, NBC announced A1 Gore to be the winner of the presidential elec tion. The other major networks (in cluding CBS) stated the conclusion soon thereafter. Many viewers unquestioningly accepted Dan Rather’s statement that preceded the pre-election cov erage, that if an outcome is an nounced by ABC, we could “.. .take that to the bank.” At 2:15 a.m., the FOX network stated that George W. Bush was the winner. The other major networks then did the same. These premature predictions un dermined the public’s faith in our country’s media. However, the con fusion and controversy that has fol lowed the initial election coverage has declared this election as one of the most unique events in our country’s history. The embarrassment was not just claimed by our nation’s media. Many world leaders rushed too quickly to congratulate the “winning” candidate, discovering the errors in coverage af terwards. This created a situation that posed much ambiguity about the cor rect diplomatic protocol. This election has challenged a more than 200-year-old institution, the Elec toral College. This was the first time in over a century that a candidate, A1 Gore, won the popular vote, but not the Electoral College Vote. As a result, some have again raised the question Internet photo West Palm Beach residents say their votes were discounted due to confusing butterfly ballots. Because of the closeness of the election, these ballots could be the deciding factor in determining the 43rd president. as to whether the electoral system should be abolished. The Electoral College consists of 538 people who elect the president and vice president. Members of the Elec toral College are obliged to vote based on each state’s popular vote though there is some differences among states’ specific requirements. Each state gets one electoral vote for every member it has in the House and Senate. The ac tual electors are chosen by parties and by voters in the states. In most states, the candidate who receives the major ity gets all of the state’s electoral votes, even if the vote was close. Winning this election required a candidate to have 270 of the electorate’s votes. Following the elec tion, A1 Gore had260votes and George W. Bush had 246, without counting Florida’s 25 electoral votes. Thus, both candidates were highly motivated to win Florida, resulting in many disputes about legal avenues and processes. A1 Gore, on the other hand, clearly won the nation’s popular vote. He had 49 percent of the individual votes while Bush had 48 percent. At one count. Gore was leading the popular vote by 169,542 votes. If Bush wins the elec tion, it would mean this would be the 4th time m histoiy that a man who lost the popular vote won the presidency. The three others were John Adams, Rutheford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison. This situation flies in the face of the popular idea of “one man, one vote” or that the majority wins. The last time serious consideration was given to abolish the Electoral Col lege was in 1969, when the House of Representatives approved such a bill. Then President Richard Nixon was ready to sign, but did not have the chance, because the Senate blocked the bin. The interest in changing to a “ma jority mles” system falls along differ ent party lines, this time. Still, no one has given it much thought for 31 years. The American people will watch in the weeks, months, and years ahead, to see the electoral system will be seri ously challenged, or if the attention will subside as media attention wan ders to “hotted’ issues. New program to increase student awareness By Erin West Reporter Grimsley’s START program prom ises action, as it has already sprung up with a whirlwind of healthy activi ties. START is the acronym for Student Tobacco and Alcohol Resource Team. It is a dmg and alcohol prevention pro gram, and Grimsley is one of only four schools in Guilford County chosen to participate. The club’s members were selected through an application process. They hope to make prevention efforts effec tive by sharing knowledge about al cohol and tobacco, and by raising lev els of awareness of not only Grimsley students, but also parents and others in the community. START was initiated through a part nership between Alcohol and Drug Services (ADS), Project ASSIST, and the Guilford County Schools. How ever, it would not have been possible without a grant from the Moses Cone- Wesley Long Community Health Foundation. The schools selected to participate along with Grimsley were Eastern, Northeast, and Ragsdale High Schools. Our program at Grimsley began with cooperative efforts between counse lor Suzanne Weaver and Susan Bragg, a START coordinator. Together, they introduced the program and invited students to apply. To apply, any 9th through 12th grade student who was interested needed to complete an application form and provide two letters of recommenda tion. Eight Grimsley students were chosen, and subsequently received extensive alcohol and tobacco educa tion and prevention training. They also signed a contract stating they will not use alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. After applications were reviewed, the selected students were Pam Edwards, Jay Davies, Meghan Sullivan, Manecia Dilworth, Calvin W^Tin, Brantley Highfill, Katie Beavers, and Victoria La Fevers. The newly elected co-presidents are Jay Davies and Meghan Sullivan. Calvin Wynn and Brantley Highfill are secretary and treasurer, respectively. It was amazing what these students accomplished during their first meet ing on October 12. In addition to elect ing officers, they talked about Red Rib bon Week (October 23-27) activities. The activities included creating a bul letin board, preparing and distributing posters and flyers, and having a “Drive by Sharing” in which members passed out literature to parents as they dropped off students and put infor mation under car windshield wipers in the parking lot. In addition, the plan was made for ‘ “Mr. Butts,’ ’ a cigarette mascot, to make an appearance on Halloween and pass out literature. The club’s major focus is to deUver the message that drugs and alcohol are not healthy ways to have a good time to teens. ‘This is a threatening topic for some folks,” said Ms Bragg. However, as Megan Sullivan, a se nior, said, “Our mission statement is not to deprecate people that use to bacco and alcohol products, but rather to promote healthy lifestyles.” While team members try to recognize the sensitivity of the issues, they feel the effort is very worthwhile. Brantley Highfill, a sophomore, said, “[I enjoy] meeting other people and working for a good cause.” Calvin Wynn, a junior, said “[my goals are] to educate my peers for future generations.” Manecia Dilworth, a junior, said “I [joined because I] wanted to teach people about the reper cussions of their actions.” ^ Burgin photo 1 he START clubtakes time out of their monthly meeting for a group shot. At this meeting the club discussed visiting Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings and conducting Great American Smokeout activities. The membersare, from left to right, Victoria LaFevers, Meghan Sullivan, Calvin Wynn, Susan Bragg, Suzanne Weaver, Brantley Highfill, Manecia Dilworth, and Jay Davies.
Grimsley High School Student Newspaper
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Nov. 21, 2000, edition 1
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