[Vision2020] More sickening bigotry

Tue Sep 20 10:15:34 PDT 2005

Visionaries,

How long will this disgusting anti-simianic, speciesist display of narrow-minded bigotry be allowed to go unchallenged??? 

Thank God the LMT had the guts to expose it!!

What would Dian Fossey do??

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Gorilla warfare in Weippe? 
City council, residents are split over whether the old Weippe High School mascot should return to spot on water tower David Johnson
Published: Lewiston Tribune 2005-08-17 
Page: 1C 
WEIPPE -- With members of the Weippe City Council split down the middle, the question remains: Will the gorilla return to the town's water tower?

The answer appears to be in Mayor Norm Steadman's corner. But the mayor, who took ill prior to a recent vote on the issue, isn't talking.

"I think I'll reserve comment about it," says Steadman, who holds the swing vote on whether the old Weippe High School mascot will again adorn the tower behind Weippe City Hall.

It's an issue unlike any other to hit the town.

"I've been here 18 years and this is the first time the council ever split," says City Clerk Carla Hartig.

The 76-foot-tall, 250,000-gallon cylindrical tower had been painted for the better part of four decades with at least two versions of the gorilla. But members of the city council, apparently without a formal vote, gave the nod three years ago to a $9,481 paint job with no gorilla.

So the tower today stands as a stark white monolith.

Hartig recalls warning council members that a gorilla-less tower might cause a stir. And sure enough, 83-year-old Maxine Johnstun has led the charge.

Johnstun proudly wears a gorilla T-shirt to council meetings and points to a recent public opinion poll showing 62 people wanted the ape and 24 didn't.

She also reports that more than $1,300 in donations have been collected to pay for the painting job. 

Dave Daniels, a member of Weippe's 1969 state champion football and basketball teams, says the old days deserve recognition. "There are people who, say, don't live in the past." Daniels laments. "Well, what are we doing with Lewis and Clark? The gorilla used to be Weippe."

Bob Hartig, a coach at nearby Timberline High School, begs to differ. "If you're going to put a mascot on there, put a Timberline Spartan on there. This is Spartan country now."

The Spartan is actually a cross between a gorilla and a forester -- dating back to around 1970 when the Gorillas of Weippe joined ranks with the neighboring Pierce High School Foresters to become the Timberline High School Spartans.

The water tower, which is filled from a city well, serves a population of around 400. The gorilla tower, as it became known, took on an immediate landmark persona, with residents saying they used to give directions to visitors with words like, "Just drive up to the gorilla and turn left."

Now the issue has been appearing on city council agendas under the ominous heading of "gorilla" and other business seems almost unnoticed. At the last meeting, for example, virtually everyone left when council members deadlocked over the gorilla. Not a peep is heard when council members go on to pass the annual budget.

"Personally, I feel like I've been intimidated," says Councilor Ronnie Larson, who casts his vote in favor of the gorilla, but adds that he prefers the tower remain blank.

Councilor Millie Morris also goes for the gorilla, explaining that, prior to the issue becoming so controversial, she'd given unofficial assurances to people to bring the gorilla back.

Council President Elwin Hutchins and Councilor Bob Bivens vote thumbs-down for the gorilla, saying its time to move ahead, lest the town continue to die in its past.

"I was a gorilla," confesses Hutchins, "but we've been trying to get the people together ... for the future ..., not step back and put a gorilla on there."

The tie vote catches virtually everyone by surprise. Larson begins to talk like it's passed, only to be reminded by clerk Hartig that the issue is suddenly in Mayor Steadman's hands.

"He's ill, and I'm not going to call him," says Hartig. "So, it's tabled until the next meeting."

Since then, Hartig has been checking into Idaho law. She's wondering if Steadman will be forced to vote, or whether he might abstain. Perhaps the motion is moot because a decision wasn't reached. Or maybe the person who made the motion can withdraw it. In that case, the entire council could vote anew.

Hartig confirms that the "gorilla" is indeed back on the agenda for the council's meeting at 7 p.m. Sept. 12 in city hall.

In the meantime, Johnstun vows to keep her keep-the-gorilla campaign alive.

Some townspeople, says Hartig, make light of the issue. Others are embarrassed. A few are looking past the gorilla debate and fret about further school consolidation. In that case, teenagers who are now Timberline Spartans would be bused south to become Orofino High School Maniacs.

"I doubt anybody would want a Maniac on the tower," says Hartig.

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Weippe leaves gorilla issue hanging 
No action taken on plan to repaint old mascot on water tower 
Published: Lewiston Tribune 2005-09-13 
Page: 6C 
WEIPPE -- The gorilla issue was tabled here Monday night, after members of the Weippe City Council failed to take action on whether to paint a new rendition of the old high school mascot on the town's water tank.

Mayor Norm Steadman and members of the Friends of the Gorilla reached a temporary truce in the continuing saga. 

"In my 38 years I have never seen so much controversy as there has been about that stupid gorilla," said Steadman, "but I guess that's the way it is."

Chris Anderson, spokesman for the gorilla group, agreed to come back with a plan, including a sketch of a proposed gorilla before the council takes any action. 

"You can all vote no tonight," Anderson told council members, "but it's (the debate) is not going to stop."

Steadman said he is tired of the gorilla issue taking up time at meetings when other city issues are much more important.

Maxine Johnstun, who spearheaded much of the gorilla campaign, took issue with Steadman and referred to an opinion poll that showed most people in Weippe wanted the gorilla painted back on the tower.

"I thought you guys are supposed to do what the majority wants," said Johnstun. "Now he (the mayor) has decided it's stupid and he's tired of it."

The gorilla controversy started several months ago when 83-year-old Johnstun pressed the council about the blank water tower. Originally painted in the 1960s with the first gorilla rendition, the tower got a new paint job about three years ago.

But no gorilla was painted on the tower.

The city council last month, in the absence of Steadman, ended up in a 2-2-deadlock vote over whether to paint a new gorilla on the tower. Steadman was ill and declined comment after the tie vote.

In the meantime, Johnstun and several of her friends and family members intensified their campaign for a new gorilla by entering a float in the annual Weippe Rodeo parade that featured a replica of the town water tower adorned with the original gorilla paint scheme.

But many people said they preferred the blank tower. And others say a Timberline Spartan should be on the tower. Timberline High School, home of the Spartans, is located midway between Weippe and Pierce. In the old days, the rivalry between the Weippe High School Gorillas and the Pierce High School Foresters was always intense. And many of those allegiances have been retained among older citizens since Timberline became the product of school consolidation.

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Gorilla warfare makes a monkey out of Weippe 
Tom Henderson
Published: Lewiston Tribune 2005-08-23 
Page: 4A 
City councilors in Weippe remain deeply divided over whether or not to paint a gorilla on the town's water tower.

And you thought the city of Lapwai had problems.

No smirking. This is a serious, serious issue.

The gorilla -- the town's traditional school mascot -- graced the water tower for almost 40 years before falling victim to a fresh coat of paint.

Half the council believes the gorilla must return out of respect to history. No way, says the other half. The gorilla represents the past. The town must look to the future.

Time out. We're talking about a painting of a gorilla on the side of a water tower. Is that any reason to go -- pardon the expression -- bananas? 

Mayor Norm Steadman can end this deadlock, but he's feeling poorly. He promises to make a tie-breaking decision, one way or the other, early next month.

Gorilla or no gorilla? Don't you wish this was your biggest problem?

Please, Norm, end this gorilla warfare. This should be about as tough as choosing a salad dressing. Either way, the republic will endure. Just weigh the arguments.

The gorilla, in some form, hung out on the water tower for generations. It was a landmark. People in danger of getting lost in Weippe (quite a stunt in itself in a town of 500) found their way by turning left or right at the gorilla.

Still, the gorilla is no longer the school mascot. 

Weippe High School combined with neighboring Timberline High School in 1970. "This is Spartan country now," says Bob Hartig, a coach at Timberline.

For now anyway.

However, Timberline may eventually merge with Orofino High School -- home of (no fooling) the Maniacs. What's the town going to do then? Put a maniac on the tower?

Oh, for crying out loud, knock off the monkey business and let traditionalists have the gorilla of their dreams. He goes with the Weippe water tower like King Kong and the Empire State Building.

A gorilla on a water tower might be a little too quaint somewhere else, but c'mon, this is a region where towns like Lewiston and Clarkston paint their initials on the side of the hills.

Quaint is one of the things we do best. -- T.H.

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