Saturday, March 29, 2008

The way it was: March 25, 1988


By late March of 1988, the school newspaper was really starting to look like graduation was drawing near.

The front page of the March 25, 1988, edition of the Golden Times included a story naming the 56 seniors who would be honor graduates, and a story on the upcoming April 30 prom promising the “Time of My Life.”

The above photo, in the lower left corner of the front page, shows (from left) Brian Haggbloom, Greg Murray and Stephen Hester acting in “The Nerd.” Brian was playing the part of Axel Hammond, Greg was Willum Cubbart, and Stephen was “The Nerd.”

JHS’ FBLA’ers were competing for district awards on page 4, and on page 5, the JHS Quiz Team had conquered the sub-regional. “I was pleased by our high scores and our margins of victory,” some guy named Myatt said, rather cockily.

Two of our classmates were signing to play sports on college scholarships. Kim Sims, the “red-head who could fire the ball across the net with a vengeance” according to the article, signed to play volleyball at Arkansas Tech.

Randy Bullock, who juggled football, basketball, baseball and being a first-chair bass singer in regional choir, signed to play football at the University of Central Arkansas. (He would later play at Northwestern State in Louisiana – I remember getting some comments from him and fellow classmate Brandon Rowlett after their team beat Arkansas State in Jonesboro in the early 1990s).

In his back page column, David Bennett promised a “suitably sick, twisted, obscene fate” would be awaiting everyone with his year-ending column in two months.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Come Out of the Woodwork!

If you've been reading this blog at all and you went to Jonesboro High School at any point in time, or if you taught at JHS, leave a comment and say "Hi". Even if you've commented on earlier posts, leave a comment here to let us know you're there and if you're coming to the reunion in October!

[In case you were wondering, we plan to get information out about registration soon. Don't think you've been forgotten. When that information gets sent out I will leave a post on the blog. If you have any questions, please email: jhsclassof1988@gmail.com]

Sunday, March 23, 2008

10 years ago: The Westside school shooting

A few months before our 10-year class reunion, the world's lens zoomed in on Jonesboro for several days after four middle school girls and a teacher were shot and killed by two boys at Westside Middle School on March 24, 1998. I remember how weird it was to see people and places I knew on TV 24/7. I also recall the crushing sadness that enveloped me.

I remember the day vividly because, as an assistant editor for the Batesville Daily Guard, I was at the school a little more than two hours after it happened. The school was cleared of students, parents and teachers by the time I arrived, but it was still heart-wrenching: bulletholes in the brick walls, blood stains on the sidewalks, and the constant whir and hum of news helicopters circling the school.

The Columbine High School shooting in Colorado followed a year later, and just last April, I was again working in the middle of the world's biggest news story when 32 students and faculty were gunned down, before the shooter killed himself, at Virginia Tech, just 30 miles from my Roanoke, Virginia, home.

I longed for our high school days when Mr. Williford was about all the security we had. Did any of us ever really think something like Westside or Columbine was possible back in 1988?