jason
09-19-2008, 03:08 PM
Granbury resident sees something satanic in team's pirate flag
Football boosters use skull and crossbones to show pride in Pirates; resident sees nothing jolly about it
By SHIRLEY JINKINS
syjinkins@star-telegram.com
One person’s spirit symbol is another’s banner of doom, according to Hood County residents involved in an unlikely scrap over black skull-and-crossbones flags intended to rally football fans round the Granbury High School Pirates.
"I’ve started a big stink, evidently, in Granbury," said Nadra Arnold-Curry, who spoke up at a recent Hood County Commissioners Court meeting to register her disapproval of the black flags distributed by the Touchdown Club football boosters. "I appreciate our teams and coaches, too. But I have to stand up for my biblical convictions."
The 39-year Granbury resident branded the flags "satanic" and warned that the city could be risking "the wrath of God" by flaunting them.
Hood County commissioners listened, then granted the booster club permission to post them on county property.
"It had nothing to do with the content of the flags," Commissioner Dick Roan said. "Most of the flags in question were in the city of Granbury, but for the two or three that were on county property, we approved them."
School spirit
No doubt, the Jolly Roger symbol was originally intended to strike fear into the hearts of would-be pirate victims.
But in Granbury?
"Everything I’ve ever read about black flags and white skulls and bones, it’s called the 'flag of death,’ " Arnold-Curry said this week. "That’s what I automatically think of when I see it, gloom and doom."
Arnold-Curry, football boosters and county commissioners alike say they can’t believe that the flag flap has grown to such proportions.
The Hood County News has printed several letters and editorials after a Sept. 10 story on the Commissioners Court meeting, and other media outlets have checked in, too.
"It’s all fairly comical, in my opinion," said Don Titus, president of the booster club, which bought about 200 of the fearsome flags to rally community support on game weekends.
The flags are posted around the city and at participating businesses on Thursdays and taken down on Saturdays during football season.
With the arrival of coach Scotty Pugh from Dallas’ Highland Park program, Granbury’s less-than-stellar football program received a makeover during the off-season, Titus said. The Touchdown Club swelled from 20 to 400 members and began sprucing up school-spirit symbols such as repainting faded "peg leg" pirate footprints on sidewalks.
Titus designed a new logo for the club, and plans called for putting his nonpirate "G" design on flags to line the streets.
"It was going to cost $80 apiece to have them made," he said, "so we went instead with the Jolly Roger design on pre-made flags that cost us $1.80 apiece."
Arnold-Curry and Titus spoke on the phone after the county meeting last week, he said, adding, "The difference between us is she thinks the flags are satanic and I think they’re nautical history."
Team support
Sandy Price sells embroidered and screen-printed team uniforms and spirit wear at her Granbury shop, All About Sports & Awards.
Her son Zach plays junior-varsity football.
She flies the Jolly Roger in front of the shop every Thursday and Friday.
"Before this even came up, we were hanging up a big old Jolly Roger sign in our 'Pirate Cove’ area," she said. "Most of the people in town have been quite excited about it."
LINK (http://www.star-telegram.com/229/story/919023.html)
old people are dumb....
Football boosters use skull and crossbones to show pride in Pirates; resident sees nothing jolly about it
By SHIRLEY JINKINS
syjinkins@star-telegram.com
One person’s spirit symbol is another’s banner of doom, according to Hood County residents involved in an unlikely scrap over black skull-and-crossbones flags intended to rally football fans round the Granbury High School Pirates.
"I’ve started a big stink, evidently, in Granbury," said Nadra Arnold-Curry, who spoke up at a recent Hood County Commissioners Court meeting to register her disapproval of the black flags distributed by the Touchdown Club football boosters. "I appreciate our teams and coaches, too. But I have to stand up for my biblical convictions."
The 39-year Granbury resident branded the flags "satanic" and warned that the city could be risking "the wrath of God" by flaunting them.
Hood County commissioners listened, then granted the booster club permission to post them on county property.
"It had nothing to do with the content of the flags," Commissioner Dick Roan said. "Most of the flags in question were in the city of Granbury, but for the two or three that were on county property, we approved them."
School spirit
No doubt, the Jolly Roger symbol was originally intended to strike fear into the hearts of would-be pirate victims.
But in Granbury?
"Everything I’ve ever read about black flags and white skulls and bones, it’s called the 'flag of death,’ " Arnold-Curry said this week. "That’s what I automatically think of when I see it, gloom and doom."
Arnold-Curry, football boosters and county commissioners alike say they can’t believe that the flag flap has grown to such proportions.
The Hood County News has printed several letters and editorials after a Sept. 10 story on the Commissioners Court meeting, and other media outlets have checked in, too.
"It’s all fairly comical, in my opinion," said Don Titus, president of the booster club, which bought about 200 of the fearsome flags to rally community support on game weekends.
The flags are posted around the city and at participating businesses on Thursdays and taken down on Saturdays during football season.
With the arrival of coach Scotty Pugh from Dallas’ Highland Park program, Granbury’s less-than-stellar football program received a makeover during the off-season, Titus said. The Touchdown Club swelled from 20 to 400 members and began sprucing up school-spirit symbols such as repainting faded "peg leg" pirate footprints on sidewalks.
Titus designed a new logo for the club, and plans called for putting his nonpirate "G" design on flags to line the streets.
"It was going to cost $80 apiece to have them made," he said, "so we went instead with the Jolly Roger design on pre-made flags that cost us $1.80 apiece."
Arnold-Curry and Titus spoke on the phone after the county meeting last week, he said, adding, "The difference between us is she thinks the flags are satanic and I think they’re nautical history."
Team support
Sandy Price sells embroidered and screen-printed team uniforms and spirit wear at her Granbury shop, All About Sports & Awards.
Her son Zach plays junior-varsity football.
She flies the Jolly Roger in front of the shop every Thursday and Friday.
"Before this even came up, we were hanging up a big old Jolly Roger sign in our 'Pirate Cove’ area," she said. "Most of the people in town have been quite excited about it."
LINK (http://www.star-telegram.com/229/story/919023.html)
old people are dumb....