ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 24, 1996 TAG: 9609240041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
PARENTS WORRIED ABOUT their children's security while traveling spurred dropping the long-awaited trip.
Saddam Hussein did what the crash of TWA Flight 800 did not do.
The Iraqi leader's recent military activities helped knock William Fleming High School's band out of a trip to Paris during the Christmas holiday.
The band has called off the trip because parents were worried about the potential danger as a result of the military and diplomatic crisis between the United States and Iraq.
"With missiles being fired and the unstable situation, some parents got cold feet," said John Wright, music director at the Roanoke school.
"Even after the TWA crash, most everyone still wanted to go, and we were beginning to get more community support for the trip," Wright said Monday.
Several high schools across the country canceled foreign trips for students after the Paris-bound TWA jetliner exploded in July; 16 members of a French club at a Pennsylvania high school were among those killed. The Fleming parents and students were not ready to call off the trip because of the TWA crash, Wright said, but the Iraqi crisis changed their minds because they feared the band could be a potential target for terrorists.
"Because many band members were pulling out, the numbers got smaller and we didn't have a representative group," Wright said.
Some band members were disappointed, but others were relieved, Wright said.
The students' biggest concern was whether the band could take another trip in place of the Paris festival.
Wright said he is working on a spring trip to an Atlanta Braves baseball game and a Florida band festival, probably in mid-April. The band would perform at a Braves game and travel to the Orlando area for the festival.
Wright said the Fleming band had to make a decision now on the trip and couldn't wait to see if the Iraqi crisis is resolved.
Many band members worked at summer jobs to make money to help pay for the seven-day trip, which would have cost each member $1,519.
William Fleming was the only Virginia band invited to the festival, which also attracts bands from Europe and other parts of the world.
This was to have been the first European trip for the Fleming band, though it has traveled to New York and Florida. The band performed at the World's Fair in New York in 1964.
Wright said Fleming was invited to the Paris festival because of its reputation and record in parade competition. The school was the winner in last spring's Vinton Dogwood Festival competition.
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