MILTON, Wis. (AP) -- A carving of an American Indian releasing a red hawk will be part of ceremonies marking a change in the nickname and logo for Milton High School' s sports teams.

The event March 19 is designed to commemorate the former Redmen nickname, considered offensive to Native Americans, and recognize the new nickname, the Red Hawks.

Administrators say an open house at the school will include a video presentation highlighting events that occurred at the school during the Redmen years, display of plaques and a new spirit flag and the debut of the Red Hawks logo.

Local artist Mike Jones created the large carving of a Native American, kneeling with his arms stretched, releasing a red hawk, for the ceremonies.

A vault in the base of the sculpture is intended to serve as a time capsule, and community members are being asked to contribute articles or written memories of the Redmen era for placement in the vault.

Principal Craig Duncan told school board members at this week' s meeting that the carving stands 6-foot-7.

A logo committee, comprised of community volunteers, has been working out details for the ceremonies for months, but Duncan said it hasn' t been an easy job, given the past tensions over the nickname issue.

In January, three school board members survived recall elections prompted by their votes last year for changing the nickname.

" The committee sees the ceremony as a symbolic passing of the torch, " Duncan said. " Some of the frustration is that others may not see it that way.

" Some of the frustration comes from a concern about the fragile feelings involved as well, " he said. " Finally, the committee wants to do as it was charged to do, but is finding the task more complicated and more difficult than imagined in August."

He asked the board for its help.

The board didn' t find any fault with the plans submitted by the committee. It approved the date and activities as scheduled.

The electorate of Milton, Wisconsin voted on January 4, 2000 to retain their incumbent school board members. The recall was initiated because the board decided to change the nickname of the high school from the Redmen to the Red Hawks. Congratulations to the people of Milton who saw this recall attempt as the anti-Indian measure that it was.

MILTON--The three Milton School Board members who faced a recall election Tuesday will serve out their terms on the board. District voters re-elected Dale Beaty, Wilson Leong and Michael Pierce in an election that some believe drew one of the heaviest voter turnouts in the district's history. School officials this morning said they did not have a final tally of how many people cast ballots in the special recall election.

"Now, it's time to put this aside and move on," Pierce said. All of the incumbents expressed a feeling of relief and gratitude for the community that rallied around them.

"I'm very satisfied with the results," Leong said. "It reinforces the faith I have in the community. There was a tremendous voter turnout. I think that was indicative of the support the community felt toward this issue."

Beaty also hopes the district now can move on and put this behind it. "Milton is seen as a progressive and forward-looking community that is held in high esteem," Beaty said. "If this vote had gone the other way, people would have a different view of our community."

Recall petitions were filed against the three incumbents in October after they voted against allowing a referendum to decide the fate of the Redmen nickname and logo for the high school's sports teams. The three incumbents facing recall supported retiring the nickname because they believed it was offensive to American Indians.

Beaty was challenged in the recall by Patrice Gabower. After the votes were totaled, Gabower showed she was a gracious looser. "I think it was a good night," Gabower said. "The community had a chance to get out and have their say."

Although the polls closed at 8 p.m., Milton Township didn't report totals until 11:30 p.m. All of the candidates except Michael Laird, who challenged Pierce in the recall, waited for the final results. Laird left at 11 p.m., but not before congratulating the incumbents on what he perceived would be their victories. "We did it," Laird said. "We got them out to vote. Didn't we?"

Michael Martin, who ran against Leong, said he was pleased to see so many people vote in the election. "I really was impressed with the turnout," Martin said. "All of this could have been answered in August with a referendum."

School officials said this morning they did not have a final tally of how many people cast ballots in the special recall election. While waiting at the district's central office for the vote totals to be called or brought in from the city and township polls, the incumbents talked among themselves.

Martin sat with supporters in another room watching a football game on television. Gabower spent most of the night seated in a chair in the main office, waiting for the final votes.

Maggie Larsen, who has been an outspoken opponent of the board's decision to retire the Redmen nickname without a referendum, told Pierce that the purpose of the recall wasn't to divide the community. And it wasn't a personal affront against him or the other board members, she said.

Pierce and Larsen have known each other for years. They both grew up in Milton, and their children are friends. Pierce told Larsen he understood and that his vote on the Redmen issue and referendum request was what he thought was right. "The number of people who came out and voted showed how important this issue and the election were to the community," Larsen said. "We had the opportunity to voice our opinion and vote."

Larsen also offered a sincere congratulations to Pierce. Leong and Pierce are up for re-election in April. A third seat, held by Bob Cullen, also is open this spring. Gabower, Laird and Martin have filed papers to run for the three open seats on the board. "We'll be back," Gabower said.

Writer/Activist Writes The Milton Miracle

JANESVILLE, Wisconsin (December 2, 1999) — A local peace activist has written a short story concerning the Milton High School nickname controversy which consists of an imaginary series of conversations with Miracle, the famed white buffalo born five years ago in rural Janesville.

John Graf, a former local newspaper sports reporter and radio news announcer, is making available The Milton Miracle to those concerned about the conflict over a change of the school nickname from "Redmen" to "Red Hawks." The action has resulted in a recall campaign to oust three school board members who supported the name change.

Miracle's birth in August of 1994 was considered the fulfillment of prophecy by the Lakota Sioux, marking the beginning of an age of peace and harmony. Thousands of Native Americans and others have visited Miracle in Janesville at the Heider farm on South River Road.

"Ever since Miracle was born, I've wondered how such an occurrence has significance for our region," says Graf, who has long been involved in Southern Wisconsin peace activities and twice ran for the U.S. House of Representatives on peace platforms. "And one day, while contemplating how Miracle 'speaks to me,' the idea for this story came."

The fictional discussions between the author and the white buffalo, which in line with Lakota legend has changed color several times and now is a tannish brown, attempt to raise discussion of the Milton situation to what the author calls "higher ground."

"Miracle is a wise social/political analyst in the story," Graf says. "She discusses the need for community-building and utilizing the principles of conflict resolution to find common ground. Her advice concerns rising above the divisiveness of the controversy over the name change and the way it was made."

Graf describes the story as an effort to help focus the issues raised in the recall election of three Milton school board members.

"Both respect for Native Americans and respect for democratic processes are legitimate concerns. But they are separate issues. Miracle's suggestion, in the story, is that those issues need to be treated one at a time, and she points out there's a hazard in confusing the two concerns," Graf says.

Miracle doesn't take a stand on how people should vote in the recall election but does call upon all candidates in the recall to take a specific action.

"At the risk of spoiling the story's climax, Miracle's call is for all the candidates to pledge in writing—in advance, to the voters—how they'd deal with the name change issue if elected," Graf says.

Graf hopes the story will have value for other communities facing concerns about using Native American cultural symbols in the games of non-Indian cultures. The Milton scenario is playing out similarly to that of the Wisconsin community of Menomonie, which reversed a name change after a recall of school board members.

"I think that there are many Milton residents on all sides who would like to get this issue behind them," Graf says. "Milton has an opportunity to set an example of letting go of what divides the community and establish an exciting new tradition. There's a grieving process involved in that. Perhaps Milton can show the way for others to propose change in a dignified fashion, minimize the controversy, and energetically test new nickname ideas at pep rallies instead of in committees."

Graf is developing a plan for publication of the story, which he calls, "a modest literary effort, but one which I hope can uniquely help untangle the issues, thanks to Miracle's message of peace."

(Text of The Milton Miracle is available to reporters via e-mail for review or for news/feature articles. Contact John Graf, 608-758-9544 E-mail: jgraf@jvlnet.com

MILTON, Wis. (AP) -- School board members who favored changing a high school nickname because it might offend women and American Indians are named in recall petitions.

The petitions contained nearly 2, 150 signatures, about 250 more than required for an election, officials said.

A group called Citizens for Better Representation organized the petition drive after the school board retired the " Redmen" nickname and logogram for Milton High School sports teams in July.

The group wanted the board to submit the question to a referendum.

Some illegible spellings and questionable addresses found in the documents won' t hurt the recall election, said Al Roehl, a deputy clerk.

" Even if such signatures were removed from the petitions, those exclusions would not render the total number less than that required to proceed with a recall, " Roehl said.

Candidates must file nomination papers at the school district office by the end of the day Dec. 7 for a recall election scheduled Jan. 4.

The three board members, Mike Pierce, Wilson Leong and Dale Beaty, are automatically on the ballot.

When the l election was announced at Monday' s school board meeting, members rejected a challenge to the petitions by Pierce and Leong.

They challenged the petitions because they said a clear reason for the recall was not indicated.

MILTON
The Milton School board retired the "Redman"on July 19. Students decided to adopt "Red Hawks" on Tuesday, September 21. School board members are now facing threats of recall from a group called Citizens for Better Communication that is getting advice from pro-logo supporters in Menomonie, WI. The Milton School Board welcomes letters of support for their action of July 19, and encouragement to continue in the face of this challenge. Send letters to:

District Administrator Dr. Douglas Waitrovich
and School Board Members: Wilson Leong, Sue Johnson, Bob Cullen, Mike Pierce, Dale Beaty, Jim O’Leary, and Al Roehl.

Milton School District Central Office
430 East High Street
Milton, WI 53563

Milton Courier, PO Box 69, Milton, WI 53563
The Janesville Gazette, PO Box 5001, Janesville, WI 53547-5001

STATUS OF LEGISLATION

SB217 has been referred to the Senate Education Committee where it will receive a hearing this fall. AB433 was referred to the Senate Education Reform Committee, Chaired by Steven Nass where it will most likely remain.

Check our website http://pages.prodigy.net/munson for "Synopsis of the Bill" and "Talking Points". If you want to circulate our Petition and present it at a hearing for the bill, contact: Chris or Alicia. 10 sheets of the petition were filled out at Indian Summer Festival.

Milton - Students have chosen Red Hawks as the new nickname to replace the embattled Redmen nickname retired by the School Board after numerous votes and meetings earlier this year.

Opponents of the Redmen nickname had argued it was racist and sexist. Supporters argued it was steeped in tradition and never meant to be offensive, and they say they're organizing a recall for School Board members who voted in July to retire the Redmen name.

Last week, students in grades 7 through 12 first narrowed the choice of three nicknames - Red Hawks, Red Storm and Mavericks - to just Red Hawks and Mavericks after a vote last week.

On Tuesday the students voted again, and it was 597 for Red Hawks and 325 for Mavericks.

Because the School Board had already approved all three choices, said Milton School District Superintendent Douglas Waitrovich, the students will be rooting for the Red Hawks at their Friday homecoming and using that nickname in the traditional floats and decorated business windows.

"We are moving forward," Waitrovich said. "Each part of this is very emotional on the part of students and some parents, and we recognize that. The School Board will approve the new nickname on Monday and discussions will start on a new logo."

Waitrovich said it is likely the committee that worked on nickname change will come to the board with more than one choice of a Red Hawk logo and mascot, and then possibly the students will vote again. "We are working out details whether we will have some sort of contest or if we will solicit logo suggestions from the community and our graphics arts classes."

He said he is aware some students at some sporting events are using traditional Redmen cheers and are acting as if the board never voted to retire the nickname. "We are trying to remain neutral in this and let the students work this out themselves," Waitrovich said. He said it is possible some students are distressed over the loss of the nickname, but some of the cheers are also probably attributed to teens attempting to irritate the administration.

Votes for Redmen in balloting both Tuesday and last week were not tallied by those checking the ballots, he said. He declined to say how many ballots said Redmen and said that information would be given to the school board and if they wanted to release that later, they could.

Maggie Larsen, with Citizens for Better Representation, which opposes the change, said it was unfair of the district not to count and announce the Redmen totals along with the others.

"I don't like any of the choices," said Larsen, who has sent two sons to Milton High. "Red Hawks is the first name they latched onto when they were talking about a change." She said although some students may be using the Redmen cheer as an irritant, many of them are genuinely upset about the change and don't think their concerns have been addressed.

She said her group, which was originally planning on getting an injunction to block the change, has changed its tactics.

"We are going for a recall of School Board members now," she said. The group had gotten advice from the Menomonie group that recalled three School Board members there after they voted to retire that district's Indian logo.

"We will be filing intent to recall papers by the end of the week," she said. Larsen declined to say which School Board members the group would be recalling. The July 19 vote to retire the Redmen name was 5-2.

"The board certainly respects their rights to organize a recall," Waitrovich said. "This is a very emotional issue."

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Sept. 22, 1999. Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law.

The Milton School Board, in courageous action, voted 5-2 to respectfully retire the school district's "redman" logo on Monday July 19. Many community members, including teachers, clergy and media worked long and hard to raise the level of understanding about this educational policy issue to the point where change could take place. The "Redman" logo was first challenged by Dr. Carol Hand, a Lac du Flambeau Ansishinabe woman in 1990. A long journey of public education deserves recognition. If you or your organization would like to write in appreciation of this positive action you can send letters to:

Dr. Douglas Waitrovich, District Administrator
Milton School District Central Office
430 East High Street
Milton, WI 53563

Wilson Leonge, Sue Johnson, Bob Cullen, Mike Pierce, Dale Beaty, Jim O'Leary, Al Roehl
(the last two voted to retain the "Redman" logo)

Milton Courier, PO Box 69, Milton, WI 53563
The Janesville Gazette, POB5001, Janesville, WI 53547-5001