MONTAGUE — Voters in Monday’s annual town election said a hotly debated Turners Falls High School mascot referendum was what brought them to the polls.
The results of the election are tabulated by hand and were not available at press time. However, Town Clerk Deb Bourbeau and several polling station wardens anecdotally said the turnout was huge for a town election.
Bourbeau said she was pleased with the turnout, and polling locations had a steady stream of voters all day.
“It should be like this every year,” Bourbeau said.
She said there had been no issues with residents and campaigners abiding by the 150 foot “influence free zone” where voters cannot wear apparel related to the election, which in this case also applies to clothing related to Turners Falls Indians, the school’s former mascot.
Full numbers from the vote will be available today. Check back at recorder.com for updates.
At Hillcrest, precincts three and four were buzzing around 6 p.m. About 15 voters were in the polling place, and the warden reported a good turnout for the day.
Jennifer Gray, a Montague resident and parent of a Great Falls middle school student, said the mascot question brought her out on Monday. She said she supports the Indian and so does her child. Gray said she doesn’t think there’s ill intent in the mascot and getting rid of it would erase the history.
“I don’t think there’s anything racial about it,” she said. “There’s a lot of history there.”
Corrine Sysun, another Hillcrest voter, agreed. She graduated from Frontier, where about 20 years ago the mascot was changed from the Redskins to the Red Hawks. Sysun said people from outside the area came in and forced the vote, something she feels is also happening in Turners Falls right now.
She said the towns need to embrace their pasts, not be ashamed of it.
“I feel like if we get rid of it, we’re losing our history,” she said.
Beyond the referendum, voters in both towns will have School Committee ballots for the Gill-Montague Regional School Committee. Three seats, one in Gill and two in Montague, will be decided on Monday. Shawn Hubert is running against incumbent Sandy Brown in the Gill race. Cassie Damkoehler is running against incumbents Michael Langknecht and April Reipold in the Montague race, where voters can select two of the three.
The referendum, and the debate around keeping the school’s mascot, has enveloped the town. Lawn signs line many roads around Montague and nearby towns supporting efforts by a group of citizens trying to get the School Committee to restore the mascot.
The committee voted to stop using the Indian nickname and logos in February, about a week after the Montague selectboard voted to add Monday’s referendum it to the ballot.
Since, it is a nonbinding referendum, it has no bearing on the School Committee’s decision. The committee is now creating a process to select a new mascot.
Those who advocated for changing the mascot also had some yard signs and were holding signs on Avenue A, calling for voters to boycott the question. David Detmold, one of the more public advocates for changing the mascot, previously called for the boycott and said it is inappropriate to vote on Civil Rights issues.
The referendum was brought forward by “Save the TF Indians logo,” a group of residents in favor of keeping the former logo.
The group also worked to get the same question on the ballot in Gill and Erving, and was successful in Erving, where it brought forward a petition of 10 percent of the voters, so the question automatically went on the ballot.
Erving voted on the question last week, overwhelmingly in favor of restoring the school’s mascot. Erving is not a member town of the district, but many children in the district attend GMRSD schools for grades 7 through 12.
In Gill, like in Montague, the group asked the selectboard to add the question to the ballot, but the selectboard voted against doing so, since at that point, the School Committee had already made its decision, and the board did not want to second guess or question that.
Reach Miranda Davis at 413-772-0261, ext. 280 or mdavis@recorder.com.