Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 4, 1993 TAG: 9312040116
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
To see the parade, or to see the girls play - that is the question today for Floyd.
On one side, the town's annual Christmas parade will kick off at 1 p.m. It's festive! It's loud! It's - an Event!
On the other, Floyd County High School's girls basketball team - the 28-1 Buffaloes - battle the Buffalo Gap Bisons today at the Salem Civic Center. It's for the Group A girls' basketball state championship.
Game time: 1 p.m.
Families are torn. Police are watching. Officials have staked positions.
Where to look for leadership at such a gut-wrenching moment? Ask the mayor . . .
He's going to the game. What?! The mayor always rides in the parade, doesn't he?
"It's terrible," said Mayor Skip Bishop, regret in his voice. "I hate to have to make decisions on where to go when I have to be both places."
But Bishop also plays roles as a teacher and baseball coach at the high school, and acts as the basketball team's timekeeper at home games. And by George, if the Buffaloes, who lost in last year's semifinals, have gotten this far, he figures, "I'm gonna be down there to see them.
"A lot of people are going to be in the same boat," he said. He thinks townspeople will lean toward going to the game, But, "their loyalties are going to be split.
"It'll affect more than just me, quite a bit more," he goes on. And anyway, "as mayor I'm just a small part of the parade."
Hmmm . . .
"It's a tough decision," said Karen Thompson, vice president of the Floyd County Merchants and Businessmen's Association. But, "his priorities are right. If I was in his shoes, I'd be doing what he's doing."
The merchants association sponsors the procession of floats, fire trucks, cars and clowns.
The Sheriff anticipates people will follow the team. "It'll make it easier for us," crowd-control wise at the parade, Tom Higgins said.
Commonwealth's Attorney Gino Williams is skipping town, thereby avoiding decision. But given the choice, "I'd rather be at the ball game," he said. The championship is potentially a one-time event: "That's where [Floyd folks] ought to go."
For the record, Buffaloes' Coach Alan Cantrell wishes there was some solution to the dilemma.
However, "It's a problem that we're happy to have," he said, pulling himself away from a team lunch at his home Friday, hours before leading the girls against Thomas Walker High School, which the Buffaloes defeated 89 to 40.
The girls took part in last year's parade, but "if we're fortunate enough to win the championship, they'll take that over the parade any day."
But what about the others in town and county who must decide where their hearts lie - with their team, or with their annual celebration of the biggest holiday of the year?
What about rescheduling?
"Too much trouble to change this parade," is Heather Belcher's answer. She coordinated the event: writing letters, arranging advertising and permits, getting two TV weather men to ride as marshals, setting the date three months ago.
There's no way to have the parade later in the day, either, to accommodate the players. "It starts getting cold here around 4 o'clock," she explained.
Belcher's a 17-year-old senior at the high school, and president of the Health Occupation Students of America Club, which was given responsibility for organizing the event.
"It's the first year teenagers have been allowed to do it," she said. What a way to start.
Organizing the parade's been tough, more than she counted on, she said. "I wouldn't recommend it to any other 17-year-old."
Like the mayor, she's heard comments from peers trying to decide where to go. A few of the basketball players are even in the club, or were supposed to ride on floats. She's rooting for them.
"They are my friends, but I don't want them to be upset at me because we couldn't change the parade," she said. "We just decided that we're going to keep it."
"It's a problem to try to please everybody," said Vernon Baker, the association's president. "There's so much involved. We're certainly behind our girls, and we look forward to them going all the way."
For some, deciding what to do today comes with no difficulty.
"I don't think there's any decision to be made," said one Floyd woman.
But perhaps that quote's a bit biased. It comes from Gayle Cantrell, the coach's wife.
by CNB