Editor:

[The author of this  letter wrote this while traveling in October and was not able to submit it before the Nov. 4 referendum was defeated but requested the letter be printed anyway.]

   Recently there have been a number of letters in this paper concerning the SHS athletic team’s mascot.

   It appears that alumni of old would like to` drop the “Storm” and go back to the “Redskins.” There is some opposition to this change from people or groups or both because of some negative meaning attached to the “Redskins” name.

   While I understand the need to be sensitive to the feelings of others, it is my observation that this political correctness may be a little over done with this issue. I’m not trying to dismiss the fact that some people are offended by the word “redskins.” I’m just trying to point out that as it would be used by SHS it should not be misinterpreted as a slur or mean spirited term.

   To further make my point, I was recently traveling in Oklahoma and Arizona, both states with large Native American populations. While having lunch in Oklahoma I observed a school bus with the word “Redskins” emblazoned on it from every angle. The bus pulled into the fast food restaurant where I was having lunch and about thirty kids got off. They were a mixed group of cheerleaders and football players that included whites and Native Americans nearly equally. While in Arizona I traveled through the Navajo Nation and to my surprise I found a large sign in front of the high school in Red Mesa and guess what their team name was? That’s right, the Redskins!

    Now it would seem to me that if the Native American populations of these two areas in the west, where their treatment was extremely unfair and prejudiced can somehow see using the term for school mascots that we in Maine and Scarborough should get a grip on reality and keep this issue in perspective.

    I was always told not to bring a problem to the table without at least one possible solution to that problem. So as a possible option I was thinking about the Alabama “Crimson Tide” teams and wondered if maybe we could call our teams the ”Red Tide.”

    Just a little levity, I don’t mean to hurt the clam diggers feelings.

Tedd Slater

Scarborough