Page Two — THE GRYPHON
GR YPHON
EDITORIALS
Possible Merger Voted Down
The Rocky Mount and Nash
County School Boards met in
Nashville, on Nov. 12 to discuss
the survey of Nash Co. schools
done by the Division of School
Planning of the Department of
Public Instruction. This survey
suggested three possible courses
of action for Nash County. 1)
Merger with Edgecombe,
Rocky Mount, and Tarboro
Systems. 2) Merger with Rocky
Mount system. 3) Additional
input of current expense fund
ing for Nash County.
All of a sudden the Rocky
Mount School Board was faced
with a decision that would affect
the education of thousands of
students in Rocky Mount.
Meetings followed, and a
committee to study the matter
was formed. A lot of pressure
was put on Rocky Mount Board
Members, and by no means did
they take their job lightly.
At the Nov. 12 joint meeting of
the two systems there was no
mention of merger. The
meeting was in fact to only plan
and discuss courses of action
that should be taken. The Rocky
Mount per-pupil expenditure is
extremely higher than Nash
County’s and both systems are
trying to resolve this problem.
So, even though merger was
never formally discussed,
naturally there was tension in
finding a solution.
Rocky Mount Board members
reacted well under the pressure
and on Nov. 19 voted
unanimously not to consider the
merger of the Rocky Mount City
School System in the near
future. Dr. Currin stated, “We,
have nothing to gain by
merging.” This was a very wise
decision. For a while it ap
peared that Rocky Mount,
already busting at the seams
with the building of new
facilities to handle the rising
amount of students entering
their public schools, might
falter under the pressure and
give in.
The decision not to consider
merger, though, reassured
many students and parents in
Rocky Mount that their school
board does have their best in
terest at heart.
Awards Procedure Questioned
“It seems that the same
people get all the awards all the
time, and I’m just wondering if
something can’t be done about
that...” And so were the words
of a observant member of the
SRA stated at the December 2
meeting. Quite a bit of
discussion took place, and
specific examples were men
tioned. But in answer to the
statement, yes, something can
be done about that.
Mr. Newbern selects the
Rotary Couple and Kiwanis Boy
or Girl on a monthly basis. It is
apparent that the Student
Organization officers, along
with class officer, and Cabinet
members are chosen first. It
was stated in the meeting that
Mr. Newbern doestj’t know the
students w'ell enough to pick
them, so he picks the ones he
does know. The truth of the
matter is that the Civic clubs
want the students who hold
positions and prestige among
their peers and in their com
munity. So, what it amounts to
is that the students selected to
receive honors for ■ their
positions are the same students
elected by the students to hold
the position. When a student
votes for any officer at RMSH,
he is as good as nominating him
to receive one of the Civic
awards.
The awards given at the end
of the year more directly in
volve the students. The highly
coveted Carol Mortimer Award
is given to the senior girl selected
from a list of girls nominated by
the Student Body. The D.A.R.
award, given to a junior girl, is
based solely on the girls
nominated by the Junior Class.
The SRA also gives an award to
a student who gives unsparingly
of his time and services to the
THE GRYPHON
Member of Columbia Press Association
Member of Quill and Scroll
PUBLISHED
Editor
Advertising Manager
Business Manager
Circulation Manager
Senior Staff Writers
MONTHLY
Cathy Allen
Sara Jane Collier
Kim Nelson
Phyllis Goffney
Nancy Davis, Bill Matthews,
Terre Kilpatrick, Isabel Williams
Junior Staff Writers
Billy Odom, Boon McGee
Terri Gardner, Mitchell Landen, Jan Forsythe,
Thomasina Pollard, Debbie Cook, Dolly Clark,
Biff White, Robin Bass, Gail Phillips
.Natalie Knight, Teresa Mosleyi
Virginia Culpq)per, Wade Bryant, Corbi Bullock,
Karen Butler, Dona Edwards
Advisor
Principal
Assistant Principal
Assistant Principal
Mrs. Henrietta Barbour
Mr. Elton Nwbem
Mr. Richard Hicks
Mr. Robert Miller
Rocky Mount caught in the squeeze
All Conference, Only Two?
Ever since the announcement
of the 1974 All-Conference team,
a sometimes silent and
sometimes not so silent question
has run through the minds of
many RMSH students . . . “Why
only two?’* Without question,
the two who were chosen, Jarvis
Moore and Doug Henley, were
excellent choices. But why
weren’t there mor^?
To be selected for the All-
Conference team, the player
must be nominated by the
coaches of the Conference
teams. These coaches met in
Greenville this year at the end
of the football season and
nominated those young men
whom the coaches thought
deserved it. The coaches went
down the list of offensive and
defensive positions and players
were discussed and voted on.
The purpose of the selection is
to choose a team consisting of
the best players in the con
ference and recognize them
publicly.
Though the system appears
school, but at the same time has
received no other honors.
Before a student says that
he’s sick and tired of seeing the
same faces in the newspaper or
the same pair of legs march up
to receive an award at the end
of the year, he should rmember
that he had or could have had a
great deal to do with that
selection.
fair enough, there are still many
unanswered questions. How can
a team which ended the season
with a 5-5 record and tied for
second place in the conference
end up with only two players on
the All-Conference team? How
is it that players receiving All-
Conference honors last year
were overlooked during the
selection this year? Why do
teams that RMSH beat this year
have twice as many All-
Conference team members as
RMSH does? And why are there
no honorable mentions named,
even though the coach alone
makes this decision with no
regard to vote or opinion of
other conference coaches?
A lot of these questions can
never be answered, but they
must be raised and as many of
the facts presented as possible.
The first fact should be that
RMSH’s head football coach
was not present at the All-
Conference meeting in
Greenville. Therefore, all
nominations made for the
Gryphs were made by other
coaches. One can see how these
coaches would select Jarvis and
Doug without the presence of
their coach. Jarvis and Doug, in
addition to being outstanding
players, received a great deal of
newspaper publicity. However,
those receiving All-Conference
honors last year surely felt the
sting of a personal let-down
when left unrewarded this year.
Being President of any nation
is not an easy task. Being
President of the United States is
even more difficult. The
American press and public
expect superhuman quality and
action.
Gerald Ford is trying. But it
seems to have become a
national pastime to “get the
president.” At every step he
takes. Ford finds press and
public waiting to pounce on him
like a dog attacks a bone.
it’s not easy to be president
The hours are demanding, the
decisions are tremendous, and
the pressures are enough to
upset the health of a star
athlete. There are dangers, and
consequently little privacy.
Tension surrounds every
move the president makes. If
Ford sticks to domestic
problems, he finds a press
outraged by his lack of concern
for foreign policy. If he travels
abroad to promote better
diplomatic relations, he is
accused of deserting a crisis
economic situation at home.
In connection with a recent
effort to cut the national budget,
Ford was hammered with the
accusation that he was ignoring
the defense budget to carve the
meat away from HEW spen
ding. ^at his accusors failed
to realize was that Congress had
already cut defense spending to
the minimum before Ford ever
received the budget for further
cutting.
It’s not easy to be president,
with the tremendous lack of
support a president receives. If
press and public continue to
demand perfection, they may
go to the polls one day to find
they have no candidate.
What they possibly lacked was
the support of an absent coach.
No one can honestly and
sincerely say that the RMSH
Gryphons had only two out
standing players on their team.
The team’s size was con
siderably smaller than their
opponients’, but their deter
mination and spirit was real
and seen by all teams they
faced. But should and does the
size difference account for the
difference in the number of
selected All-Conference players
at RMSH and other schools. If
the absence of Coach Wiggins
kept boys from being on the
team, could honorable mentions
have been named. The coach
doesn’t even have to attend thie
meeting to choose the players;
for it is done entirely by the
coach himself, without the
approval of the other Con
ference coaches. It appears
ridiculous for one coach to
nominate almost his entire
team for honorable mention, yet
it seems equally ridiculous for
RMSH to have no honorable
mentions.
Players Speak Out
For some, the selection of All-
Conference may seem trivial
and unimportant. But it would
not if they only realized that
RMSH’s football team began
practice early in August and
worked almost nonstop for
three months. It’s important to
the players, for they gave their
heart and soul to Gryphon
football and received less than
what they considered fair
reward.
Some of the players also
spoke out on the matter. Marvin
Dancy had this to say about the
selection of the All-Conference
team. “When I first found out
that a lot of the team didn’t
make any kind of All-
Conference honor, I was
shocked. When I found out why,
I was terribly upset.”
“I wasn’t so upset that I didn’t
make it, but because some of
my teammates didn’t who I
thought should have,” says
Senior Earl Lawrence.
Split end Richard Lea told the
GRYPHON, “What made me
mad was that Northern Nash
had ten honorable mentions and
they came in last in the con
ference. We tied for second and
had only two.”
It’s too late now to go back
and choose more members.
Whether more players would
(Continued on page five)"'