GBYPHOIV'
EDITORIALS
I,
Coach Hicks Goes To Parker ^
All good things must pass, and so it is with the parting of Richard
Hicks from our school. He left on September 25 his position as
assistant principal to fill the office of principal at J. W. Parker
Junior High School. It will be difficult to find a person to take his
office and to manage the responsibilities, both the pleasant and the
unpleasant ones, that accompany an assistant principal’s job with
the dignity, fairness, and efficiency with which he handled them.
Mr. Hicks established with many students a rapport which
served to endear him to them. Not all students, however, ap
preciate our former assistant principal. These students are the
ones who were sent to Mr. Hicks to be disciplined. Surely Mr. Hicks
did not enjoy this part of his job, for it could be pleasant for no one.
These students more often than not failed to see the even-
handedness and justice Hicks utilized in his unwanted task. The
man was fair in whatever he did.
Coach Hicks’ absence will also be felt in our loss of him as our
head basketball coach. His part in the development of our team is
unestimable.
In a job that would try the patience of the most temperate man,
Richard Hicks has indeed done a commendable job. We wish him
luck in his new position.
Litter Becomes An Eyesore
One of the problems that is always noticeable at Rocky Mount
Senior High School lies on the ground. This is the ever-present
problem Of trash on and around the school campus. This problem is
growing day by day and will soon become uncontrollable if it is not
stopped. The litter collects mostly during the two lunch periods
when people do not or will’ not take the short time needed to deposit
it in one of the nearby trashcans.
Of course, there is always the argument that there has to be
something for the special detention students to do during the hour
after school. But for someplace that students spend one-fourth of
their day or longer, it seems that they would at least like to be in a
clean place instead of a dirty, littered area.
Everyone seems to be conscious of the environment being
polluted, but they do not realize that littering is the most common
and one of the worst pollutants. Keeping our trash off the ground
and in the trashcan is one of the responsibilities we must bear to
keep the land we are living in a little bit cleaner.
Got The Back-to-School Blues?
Editor’s Note: In an effort to
increase participation in the
Gryphon, some space will be
reserved each issue for student
contributions. The staff
reserves the right to edit any
contributions.
As many of you know (and a
few of you don’t) school has
started once again. And, quite
possibly, you are finding it hard
to sleep now that you are faced
with the overexertion and
everyday stress and strain of
secondary education.
For example, around 11 p. m.
you suddenly realize that your
model of the White House for
Mrs. Bazookalooka’s history
class is due in ten hours and you
are all out of sugar cubes. You
start to worry, presumably
because the last time a kid
failed to turn in a project in
Mrs. B’s class he disappeared
and was never seen again. By
11; 59 you remember that Mrs. B
has to defend her Mid-Atlantic
Wrestling title tomorrow and
the project can wait. You finally
go to bed only to discover that
you cannot sleep. “This,” you
say, “will never do.” You
remember that a glass of warm
milk will usually do the trick,
provided that you can find a
warm cow at 1:00 a. m. You
'can’tr In- a feeble attempt- to
Xbna
The Soapbox
By Terri Gardner
Fear is an element with which
the majority of high school
students are familiar. It in-,
troduced iteself in the 1960’s
with race riots, shattered
windows, and deadly bullets. It
burned, looted, killed, and
crippled. Then, for three years,
it slept, loosening its strangle
hold on the hearts of the people.
They slept, too, comforted by
their enemy’s silence. But on
September 5, 1975, it raised its
head from slumber in the
fragile hand of a red-hooded
figure. President Gerald R.
Ford was luckier than his
Bicentennial Contest Announced
“Bicentennial Seniors,” a
$112,000 scholarship program
for high school seniors who will
graduate with the class of 1976,
is being launched this month by
the National Association of
Secondary School Principals.
Complete details on how to
participate in the program are
available now at the guidance
office or from room 006.
One national winner will
receive a $10,000 scholarship,
and 102 state winners will
receive $1,000 scholarshipc
under the program.
Winners will be selected first
locally, then on a state-wide
level. Two winners will be
chosen in each state and the
District of Columbia. Each of
the 102 state winners will also
receive an all-expense paid trip
to Williamsburg, Va., from
January 16-19, 1976, to attend
seminars on educational and
social issues and to be on hand
for the selection of the national
winner.
Competition will include the
preparation of a minute-long
television script to be patterned
after the CBS television net
work’s 200 years ago today
“Bicentennial Minutes;” a
commentary discussing the
relevance of the “minute” for
today and the lessons it contains
for the future; and a current
events examination em
phasizing issues and events
from the past year.
The program is administered
by the National Association of
Secondary School Principals
and is funded by the Shell Oil
Company. Applications must be
filed by October 6, 1975.
make yourself drowsy you go
out and start to mow the lawn.
In a short time your neighbors
let you know (usually with both
barrels) that this method will
not work. Your lawnmower now
full of buckshot, you go back
into the house to listen to some
oily man talk about piston rings
on television.
Then, feeling a strange urge
to get back to your coffin before
the sun rises, you decide that
you’ve had enough. You head
for the nearest bottle of sleeping
pills, hastily swallow a few
dozen, and, now heavily
sedated, you slip silently into
oblivion.
You finally come to in Mr.
Twidwit’s fourth period English
class and you don’t know how
you got there or how many days
you’ve been there. Even worse,
you notice that you are taking a
test. Not only are you un
familiar with the material on
the test but you don’t even know
what to put in the “name”
blank.
When you finally grasp
reality again you decide that it
is impossible to be witty and
intelligent if you cannot
remember what your name is.
There must, indeed, be a better
way to go to sleep. And I assure
you, my friends, that there is.
Just make a tape recording of
your science teacher’s next
lecture on “Theoretical Inertia
Forces and You.” If that doesn t
■ -put -you- to- sleep; nothing -will-. ■
Editor’s Echo
By Terri Gardner
The public too often takes its
newspaper for granted; it fails
to realize how closely its per
sonal freedom is tied to freedom
of the press. The week of Oc
tober 5-11 has been proclaimed
Newspaper Week ’75 to em
phasize the importance and
service of the press in a free
society. The week is basically in
recognition of professional
papers, but its goals and ideals
are equally applicable to high
school newspapers.
The duty of a responsible
press is to report the news as
objectively as possible, but its
effects are much broader than
simply informing the public. By
forceful reporting and vital
editorials, the press can bring to
light incidents which might
otherwise escape into
anonymity. It can stimulate
thought on current topics,
provide solutions, and suggest
change.
The circulation of a school
paper is, of course, much
smaller than that of a daily or
national paper; but even so
there are issues which are of
concern to its student body and
community and which as such
should be reported equally as
well as any national paper
would report an issue of
national importance. It is this
■aim-which the Gryphon-hopes to •
achieve throughout its report
ing this year. But no paper can
be successful in this attempt to
inform the public of the issues
and to bring about positive
change if the public itself is not
responsible. It is up to the in
dividual to question the events
around him and, above all else,
to expect the best possible
reporting from his press. Dual
freedom means dual respon
sibility.
predecessors; the gun in the
hand of Lynette Fromme did
not go off. But what will happen
next time?
Since the attempted
assassination of George
Wallace in 1973 which left him
crippled from the waist down,
numerous government officials
have supported the enactment
of a stiffer gun control law.
Opposition has been en
countered, however, frojti
private citizens who fear they
will be left defenseless against
criminals, who will obtain
weapons illegally if necessary.
The only other solutions are to
remove public officials from
contact with the public, thereby
removing the assassin’s target,
or to tighten the security around
them. President Ford insists
upon keeping contact with
voters, stating, “I have no in
tention of allowing the
Government of the people to be
held hostage at the point of a
gun.”
Security, then, is the only
answer. Since the attempt on
Ford’s life, the Secret Service
has tightened its security,
using, it is believed, more
agents and mingling them to a
greater extent with the crowd.
President Ford is also believed
to be wearing a bullet-proof
vest. The press needs to tighten
its security, too. The swing
through California which in
troduced Ford to Lynette
Fromme was preceded by a
detailed release of his agenda;
anyone could know where the
President would be and when he
would be there.
Fear has awakened, and it
will flower into life in the dark
special news bulletins which too
often spell death unless the
public is prepared to meet it.
THE GRYPHON
Rocky Mount Senior High School
318 South Tillery Street
Rocky Mount, N. C. 27801
Member of Columbia Press Association
Member of Quill and Scroll
PUBLISHED
Editor-in-Chief
Managing Editor
Advertising Manager
Business and
Circulation Manager
Senior Staff Writers
MONTHLY
Terri Gardner
Teresa Mosley
Biff White
Junior Staff Writers
Advisor
Principal
Assistant Principal
Boon McGee
Corbi Bulluck, Virginia Culpepper
Dona Edwards, Thomasina Pollard
Margaret Beck, Trey Bulluck
Wimberly Burton, Billy Carroll, Debbie Denson
Arlene Harper, Allen Hayes, Jackie Fulcher
Cathy Kilpatrick, Debbie Mosley. Donna Odom
Jackie Wilde, Sandy Wilg“s> Fleet Woodley
Any Bryant, Kevm Maurer
Mrs. Henrietta Barbour
Mr. Elton Newbern
Mr. Robert Miller