LACK OF QUESTIONS SCUTTLES TOURNEY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 8, 1993                   TAG: 9304080191
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: FORT CHISWELL                                LENGTH: Medium
LACK OF QUESTIONS SCUTTLES TOURNEY
Representatives of schools participating in the Mountain Academic Competition Conference have decided to stick to an earlier vote to cancel this year's tournament, the program's chairman said Wednesday.
"I don't think there's a single principal who really didn't want to have the tournament," said Fort Chiswell High School Principal Joseph H. Bean, this year's chairman. "But we just didn't feel we had the nucleus of questions that we would need to make up a quality tournament."
He said he had contacted principals or their representatives at all 18 tournament schools this week to further consider and re-evaluate a March 23 majority vote to cancel the tournament. A total of 640 questions would have had to be composed in English, math, science, social studies and all-around topics.
Bean issued a statement saying the cancellation would end the 1993 academic tournament season, but preparations are under way to make sure the 1994 season is a good one.
This year's teams found themselves getting repeats of questions from earlier matches, giving an advantage to a team that had heard the question previously. Wayne Booth, who had been hired to generate questions for the competitions, resigned without having prepared tournament questions.
Calvin Rorrer of the vocational department at Floyd County High School provided a copy of minutes from the March 23 meeting showing that earlier information on how principals from two schools had voted was wrong.
Floyd County had voted to try to have the tournament. Blacksburg High School had voted to cancel. Earlier information had the votes reversed.
Joining the majority voting to cancel were representatives of Auburn, Bland, Carroll County, Christiansburg, Craig County, Giles, Grayson County, Pulaski County and Radford high schools. Others voting against cancellation were Galax, George Wythe, Narrows, Rocky Gap and Shawsville high schools. Bean and Secretary-Treasurer Gary Houseman, Rural Retreat High School principal, abstained because they are tournament officials.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB