Someone left a stack of papers at the Hulett Library calling for the local school’s grimacing “Red Devil” mascot to switch to a hawk, sparking outcry in the town beginning Wednesday.
But it’s difficult to tell who’s behind the proposed change. Even the most vehement opponents of the movement either don’t know or won’t say.
A note accompanying the pamphlet gives a list of names of people who can provide “information” but doesn’t call those people proponents.
The three sources of “more info” the note lists are Crook County School District 1 Board member Hannah Ista, Jeanie Haas and Mel Bears.
Ista and Haas did not return phone call requests for comment by publication time. Bears told Cowboy State Daily she’s not involved in the movement: her name was probably placed on the note since she works at City Hall and it’s a hub of information and fliers.
She went on to say that “the Haases are good people.”
This controversy surfaces in town every 10 years or so, Bears added.
Brian Neiman, of Hulett, ignited a Facebook-borne resistance to the change when he posted photographs of the pamphlet to his page early Thursday.
He told Cowboy State Daily that he found the pamphlet at the local library, and he’s been working all day to confirm who is behind the effort.
“If they want to make change, they’re going about it entirely wrong,” said Neiman. “There needs to be public discussions, open forums, community involvement between parents, alumni staff. And then everything can be taken to the school board.”
The pamphlet encourages people to attend an Oct. 20 school board meeting and says a “final vote will be taken.”
But school board members hadn’t heard of the proposal until Wednesday or Thursday, according to the ones who spoke to Cowboy State Daily.
“I haven’t seen anything that says we’re doing anything with it,” school board trustee Toby Connally said in a Thursday phone interview. As to who’s behind the change, Connally said, “no clue.”
Trustee Steve Blakeman said he “just found out about it” and doesn’t know where it came from. Trustee Marlene Edwards echoed that.
Treasurer Thayne Gray didn’t know about it until contacted by Cowboy State Daily, and voiced doubts that Ista could be behind it based on her earlier commentary during board meetings.
Board Chair Chase Williams first heard of the proposition Wednesday, and he received about a dozen phone calls from residents – all opposed to the change – he said.
Though a new situation, Williams said he’s now expecting a huge turnout at the next board meeting, in Moorcroft on Monday at 6 p.m.
‘I Think It’s Stupid’
Lifelong Hulett resident Sally Waugh, who attended the local high school in the early 1970s, told Cowboy State Daily that Hulett residents don’t think of the “Red Devils” mascot in religious terms.
“The hills around here are beautifully red, and when the dust devils blew with the wind, they were red,” said Waugh. “They weren’t brown. They weren’t tan. They were red… It has nothing to do with religion.”
She said the school adopted the emblem in the 1950s.
Of the proposed change, Waugh said, “I think it’s stupid.”
She theorized about the motives and impacts of the movement’s proponents but declined to say whom she believes those proponents are.
The Cost Though
Connally ventured no sentiments but spoke of the cost of the proposition.
“As far as changing a mascot, you’re looking at spending a million dollars,” he said. “By the time you change all your uniforms, all the writing on a field, all the writing on a basketball court; bleachers, repainting a whole bunch of stuff in a school — I don’t believe it’s feasible anyhow.”
Speaking in his personal capacity and not as school board chair, Williams said he opposes the change, since the mascot is intertwined with the “local history.”
“Some people don’t love the Red Devil mascot,” said Williams. “On the flip side of the coin, if we start to whitewash history and change these school mascots to what makes people feel better, it doesn’t do justice to the history that’s already been made. The hundreds and hundreds of students who went through Hulett High School and graduated and moved away probably view themselves as Hulett Red Devils and not as a Hulett whatever.”
But whether to change it will be up to the prevailing feeling among the residents, not his own thinking, he said.
Positive And Inspiring
The pamphlet notes that the community is dedicating a new athletic field and has new family recreation facilities.
These changes also yield “a unique opportunity to align our school mascot with values that truly represent our aspirations for our youth,” says the pamphlet.
Changing from the “Red Devils” to the “Hulett Hawks” would “(honor) our existing school colors while providing a positive, inspiring symbol for our students and community,” says the pamphlet.
The document claims “most Hulett citizens have never been comfortable with the ‘Red Devils’ mascot” but have hesitated to voice those concerns out of respect for tradition.
The pamphlet touts the facets of hawks, which have sharp eyesight, soar above obstacles and challenges, show remarkable patience, master thermal currents and are loyal to their mating partners.
Students could be involved in crafting the new logos. Town halls could seek design preferences, and the current red background could remain, the flier says.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
