1734 Oak Tree Road Edison, NJ. Richland is a town whose prosperity rests on an atom bomb factory, a plant for creating plutonium.2 A quote from the Richland Chamber of Commerce Web site: Farming remained the prime industry until World War II when government surveyors arrived and announced that the federal government was assuming ownership of the area. Samantha Frost, an alumna of Richland High, called for the school to adopt a less radioactive mascot in a post on Western Washington University's Odyssey community. She finally spoke up", "Another hoop crown for Richland quintet", "Richland tips Lewis & Clark to take Washington AA title", "Boys basketball: Richland High squad brings back memories of fabled '79 team", "Bombers claim third in state cage tourney", Richland School District honors and awards, "Trump picks retired Marine Gen. James Mattis for secretary of defense", "Ranking 2022 NCAA tournament men's basketball coaches as players, 1-68", "Ruemmler Started Out as Enron Prosecutor", dated 1 January 2011, "White House Counsel", dated 10 October 2014, "Richland grad called-up to the big leagues", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richland_High_School_(Washington)&oldid=1151385024, Mike Edwards (2022-23, Interim), We wouldn't even be talking about if they didn't bomb Pearl Harbor first. Its splashed across the center of the shiny gym floor and printed on T-shirts and infant onesies. Jim Qualheim, student activities director and track coach at the school, said students responded well. Indeed, the troubles associated with the development of nuclear power had helped to spur the rethinking of those attitudes in the years after 1970. As a civilian, would you accept being obliterated for a decision that President Trump made? Or President Clinton? The economic future once more appeared bleak, with problems compounded by the fact that Senator Magnuson had failed to win re-election in 1980 and Senator Jackson died in 1983. The workers building the plant, coming from all around the country, numbered as many as 45,000. Yet despite the failure over twenty-five years to develop a new and compelling mission at Hanford, something always seemed to come along at the right time. The RHS girls' cross-country team won the state championship in 1993 under coach Mike Mills, and also qualified for state in 2005 and 2006. Richland High School has had a strong boys golf program since the late 1960s. According to another journalist, "there are more chinook spawning per mile in the 51 miles of the [Hanford Reach] than anywhere else in the lower 48" (Portland Oregonian, Sept. 28, 1994; Tri-City Herald, Oct. 9, 1994). [The Japanese government was] ready to sacrifice every man woman and child in the invasion.. Those two exams just stripped you of your pride. Clinton, Sanders spar over specifics in Iowa, Yoga used to help kids cope with violence in Chicago, Seeking charges against a Chicago officer, Filipina comfort women seek official apology from Japan. [One introduction to wartime Hanford is S. L. Sanger, Hanford and the Bomb: An Oral History of World War II (Seattle:Living History Press, 1989). I feel my stomach drop like Im on a rollercoaster that only seems to go down. Until the founding of Hanford Falcons in 1972, Richland High was the only high school in the city. I think back to the day I met him; the day I started loving someone more than I have ever loved myself. The Electric Woman by (new pen name) James Scott ~ on Amazon. I hear the last words of the song and I lift my head cautiously. Here's a link about where the nickname came from and the efforts to . Throughout middle school and high school, I played cross country and soccer, leading me to stick with athleisure most days. Step inside any 'ole High School. You reward yourself for studying and consume so much pizza that it actually consumes you. In an article titled The Bomber, The Bomb and the Bombers, Maupin wrote that the school used the mushroom cloud prior to any reference of Days Pay., Tastes do indeed change, Maupin wrote, but facts do not.. It seems to me that would put a little dent in the pride around [the mascot], Pritikin said. A symbol representing that kind of destruction is not a proper mascot for a public high school; also, it is insensitive and demaning towards the civilians that died in Japan from the nuclear bombs that were dropped. I finally understand that heartbreak has a sound. Hanford was the nation's main supplier of fissionable material for bombs as the Cold, War began and the United States decided to rely heavily on its nuclear arsenal. The Richland High School Store allows you to customize Bombers clothing and merch. When I was a child, it was made clear to me that the Atomic Bomb was, at best, a necessary evil. Best of all, you can do it all from the comfort of your own home or wherever you happen to be spending your summer. Much more than Seattle, Richland and Hanford, products of the atom, were creatures of World War Two and the Cold War. The bombs changed humanitys relationship with technology, said Tim Connor, who was born in Hanford in the 1950s. Improving, advancing, encouraging and promoting the interests of athletics, activities and academics If you answered 'yes' to every single one of those presidents, then you are lying to yourself. The gold "R" with a mushroom cloud exploding behind it became the face of RHS, ever since Columbia High (now Richland High) students voted to change their mascot from the Beavers to the Bombers in the fall of 1945. '83 - Richland Bombers Class of 1983This is a Public Group '84 - Richland High School (RHS) Bombers Class of 84This is a Public Group AND. For just as long as Richland students and alumni have shouted that they are proud of the cloud, the R-Cloud has raised eyebrows. [3], Richland's mascot is the "Bomber", officially named for the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress built in Seattle, but also in recognition of the city's contributions as an "Atomic City" in World War Two. Throughout my time in college, especially studying abroad, I found that I loved jeans, baggy sweaters, my Air Force 1s that I have worn down to the point its crazy, small rings, and dresses. 558 Followers, 44 Following, 56 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Richland Bomber Basketball (@rhsbomberbb) Brittany Morgan, National Writer's Society2. WWII was horrific and terrifying and one of the darkest experiences that has ever happened on this earth. Im glad to tell anybody that I was born and raised in Richland, and if indeed the bomb did end the war, then Im so glad it saved a lot of lives, she said. We need to remember it for what it is: A time filled with fear, bloodshed, sorrow and hatred. It is time to change the bomber mascot to one that doesn't glorify violence and hatred. Clare Regelbrugge, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Sign in to comment to your favorite stories, participate in your community and interact with your friends. These existed but they do not make it OK to forget those whom lost their lives. In 1943, families in two entire towns -- White Bluffs and Hanford -- were forced to move nearly overnight to make way for the 586 square mile Hanford Site, a mysterious . The Columbia Basin News (Feb. 28, 1951), in advocating construction of Ice Harbor Dam along the lower Snake, conceded that salmon runs would be injured but considered that a small price to pay: "If the state is to be maintained as a glorified national park, then the desert will remain desert, and the productive potential must be discarded and forgotten. UW Site Map Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, University of Washington. Come join the fun. The secrecy around Hanford, a part of the Manhattan Project, came to light on Aug. 9, 1945, when U.S. forces dropped a thick-bellied, 10,000-pound plutonium-filled bomb called Fat Man on Nagasaki, Japan vaporizing some 60,000 to 80,000 people in an instant and leading to the end of World War II. The music takes control of my vacant body and for a solid three minutes I am nowhere to be found. Poor attempt at coping with finals, but hey, you can't think about that biology exam anymore, you're just numbing your pain. Poster for 1948 Atomic Frontier Days (right). Richland High School is located in Richland, Washington, where the Handford site is located. Light On A Distant Hill - Winner, 2011 WILLA Literary Award - on Amazon. They generally did not regard nuclear wastes as a desirable icon for local towns (although they did see "remediation" of those wastes as an economic opportunity). Cold War symbols pervade the state of Washington. People with hopes, dreams and aspirations were lost in mere moments. Beyond Despair: An Imaginal Odyssey Into the Soul of Hiroshima. Peace activists both local and Japanese, have made suggestions that it might be insensitive to celebrate such an act of destruction: Some students did try to change the high school emblem in the sixties, at the height of Vietnam-era protests. In the 1980s the school became Richland High and adopted a new logo: a bright yellow capital R with a white mushroom cloud billowing up behind it. BEAVERS ATOMS BOMBERS RESEARCH PROJECT, Richland High School: Home of the Bombers, Beyond Despair: An Imaginal Odyssey Into the Soul of Hiroshima, Fallout from Bushs Tactical Nukes on the American West, CNN Host Shockingly Blasts Teachers Union Boss Over School Closure Lies, Fox Newss Existential Crisis After Tucker Carlsons Firing and Audience Flees, with Buck Sexton, ABC News Admits It Censored RFK Jr. Interview For False Claims About Covid-19 Vaccines, Documenting the Greatest Crime in History, New Lyme Disease mRNA Vaccines Being Developed for Humans, How Not to Solve the Boys Wanting to Use the Girls Restroom Conundrum, The Gnostic Parasite I James Lindsay New Discourses, Nations Ditch Dollars Thats The Real Debt Ceiling. If Uncle Sam wanted to build another reactor at Hanford or release more radioactivity into the surrounding environs, it generally saw no reason to consult the nearby population. Richland High senior Nonoka Koga, a Japanese exchange student, was surprised by the school's mushroom cloud logo, which is linked to Hanford's role in producing an atomic bomb dropped on her. Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Richland High School's bomber mascot and mushroom cloud logo in the news again", "Richland High's mushroom cloud logo surprised a Japanese student. More than 40,000 adults returned there to spawn [in 1993]making it the healthiest spawning area on the Columbia." [7][8][9] Previous state titles were in 1972 and 1958;[10][11] and the Bombers made the state semi-finals seven times in eight years in the 1970s, advancing to five finals. Tori Bender wants the. I forget what is and only know what used to be. (Reproduced in "Engineering Report: Hanford Electric Generating Project." We [built] this bomb that ends the war, she said. Yet in late 1945 and 1946 the outlook for Hanford remained uncertain as the United States debated the future of atomic weapons and its own role in world affairs. Peers called them names. In light of the harm done by dams to fisheries along the Columbia, or by radioactive releases from Hanford to nearby ecosystems, there emerged among people in the Pacific Northwest a sense that efforts to industrialize and militarize the Columbia had been somewhat shortsighted, even a little arrogant, in their confidence in the blessings that science and industry could wring from nature. The town of Richland, WA, is where this worship takes place. After more than five decades of harnessing the river by building dams and dredging its bottom, of using it to cool atomic reactors and carry away radioactive wastes, it increasingly seemed like a good idea to try to leave the Columbia alone. This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator. Why do we pretend that the bomb we are so proud of doesn't represent the thousands of people who were killed? While Washington, D.C., still called the truly important shots at Hanford, the people of Washington state began to feel that their voice could be heard, too, in planning Hanford's future. Olingers mother was a resident of Nagasaki when the bomb dropped. Dressing for you and not for others is easier said than done. ", In some circles, this attitude toward use of rivers persisted into the 1980s. The browser or device you are using is out of date. This was part of the Manhattan Project. The football stadium, which is used for both Richland and Hanford High School events, is located immediately adjacent to the grounds of Richland High School, and was named Fran Rish Stadium in his honor in 1986. Those bombs actually saved the Japanese culture, he said. RHS won three state championships in the span of five years between 2000 and 2005. What do you see? Its like the Civil War we killed a lot of our own brothers, she added, pausing, but it ended slavery., To her, the cloud represents destruction but also the sacrifices made by the people in her community to better the rest of the world. The Tri-City economy managed to keep afloat until the 1970s, when construction of three nuclear power plants, under the auspices of the Washington Public Power Supply System (or WPPSS), got under way at Hanford (two others were started in western Washington). It is time to change the Bomber mascot to one that doesn't receive weird looks from people outside of Eastern Washington. @bomberathletics send 13 athletes next level across 7 different sports Richland Bombersand 3 others 2 17 71 Richland BombersRetweeted Bomber Baseball @bomberbball45 May 19, 2019 Special thanks to the seniors of 2019. In 1943 and 1944 the Army and its lead contractor, the DuPont company, built three production reactors and two processing buildings in which plutonium was purified. I also understand that the United States only had limited options when it came to ending WWII: Invade or use the atomic bomb. They called it the R-Cloud. They called it the R-Cloud. Hanford Real Estate. In the past, he had expressed his personal distaste for the R-Cloud after visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. There I grew up among my friends and their parents, workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the birthplace of the plutonium bomb later dropped upon the city of Nagasaki, Japan, an incendiary device which killed 70,000 human beings. To sign up, email glorie@theodysseyonline.com. Again, the Hanford community closed ranks and said the mushroom cloud was a symbol of pride, and that to change it would betray local tradition. We have thousands of custom Richland High School Bombers t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, jerseys, bags, backpacks, and other accessories in stock. COACH'S RESUM Mike Neidhold, 15th season. Like, Lets celebrate the fact that we can destroy and kill with this atomic technology. She sees it as a blight on Richland. Mushroom clouds found their way onto the school crest, class rings and football helmets. Reactor B at Hanford, 1943-44 (right). The plant generated an ever-increasing amount of plutonium as well as high levels of radioactive and chemical wastes, some of which were "stored" on the Hanford site and some of which were released to the atmosphere, the Columbia River, and surrounding lands. [A good summary of the politics behind the construction of dams on the lower Snake is Keith C. Petersen, "Battle for Ice Harbor: Fish, Navigation, and the Lower Snake River, 1948-1962," Pacific Northwest Quarterly 86 (Fall 1995): 178-88. Join our team and let's create something amazing together! This page is not available in other languages. I would not peacefully accept myself being blown up because my government made a call to not surrender. Hes not willing to see this symbol dismissed without a fight. Hagley Museum and Library.). The town of Richland has stubbornly stuck to their pride in this symbol. ), The creation of a plutonium factory left an enormous footprint on south-central Washington. Photo courtesy of But she does not hear the same song as me. #16045). Theres no free lunch., To Pierard, a vehement defender of the cloud, the logo remains a symbol of life, not death. Additional development of the river, of hydroelectric power, and of regional farm resources was essential if the Northwest was to contribute as much as it should to American mobilization for the Cold War. Basketball . Most departed by August of 1945, yet the population in the vicinity was substantially higher than it had been before the war. No doubt encouraged by the presence of Hanford, Tri-City interests argued for dams on the grounds of military preparedness. For example, at Miami University, I see a lot of girls in sororities wearing similar outfits throughout the day. The time has come for Richland High School to change the Bomber name. Until bombs were dropped on Japan, virtually nobody knew what Hanford was for, and many Washingtonians grew quite suspicious of the secret site. The people in surrounding towns relied upon their new connections in Washington, D.C., especially Senators Jackson and Magnuson, to ensure that federal funds continued to flow toward Hanford, despite the shutdown of eight production reactors. These heady days were numbered. As the region has diversified since its past as a federally owned Atomic City where 90% of the population was either employed by or a dependent of Hanford, the school has since received criticism for its depiction of a mushroom cloud as an unofficial logo for the school, believing that the logo and the mascot to be a shameful reminder of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[5]. . The title of an article previously cited here refers to the following quote: When workers did have qualms, they deferred to those they called The Men Who Know Best, the people in Congress and the Pentagon who gave the directives to make the weapons they fueled. To Trisha Pritikin, who grew up in Richland but moved away years ago,the R-Cloud has only negative connotations. Late in 1942 the Army selected the area to become part of the Manhattan Project, the crash campaign to build atomic bombs. At first, I felt pressured to wear the same, their matching sets, bike shorts, crop tops, and more. Residents of the Tri-Cities were not really certain that they could depend upon Hanford until 1947, when the federal government (now working through the newly created, civilian Atomic Energy Commission, or AEC) announced plans to expand Hanford by building more reactors there and accelerating the pace of production. Its industrial and agricultural settlement is imperative" (Dec. 14, 1950). But theres no symbol more prominent in Richland than the high schools R-Cloud, which hangs floor-to-ceiling on the side of the cafeteria. They worried in particular about the local economy, not the health risks presented by Hanford wastes. Ill note that the sentiment, which is what I think matters, is neatly summed up in the article: Plane or Bomb? But she continues to sway from one direction to the next, while I cannot seem to remember how to move. Pre-Bomber Years (1910 to 1945) 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 BOMBERS 1946 1947 1948 1949 ALL BOMBERS' CALENDAR Shirley Olinger sees sides to the Bomber debate that few others can. The bombs the mascot are referring to are Fat Boy and Little Man, which were dropped on Japan in the beginning of. (732)548-0013/0015. The shift began in 1993, when the schools installed a mural in the courtyard depicting a B-17 from 1944 called Days Pay. The bomber was named by workers from Hanford who rallied together to donate one days wages to purchase a B-17 for the war effort. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Seattle learned to call itself "jet city," among other "aerospacey" things, as Boeing's increasing production defined the local economy. We are taking pride in the death of the newly weds who dreamt of starting a family together. The paradoxical result was that the presence of the plutonium plantwhich dispensed a considerable amount of radioactivity to the cold, clear water prevented the damming of more than 50 miles of the river. Richland Bombers Brief w/Logo $35.00. Really what difference does is make? 5 talking about this. But even the most ardent supporters have started to bend. The federal government took the lead in developing the site for the purpose of producing plutonium to use in nuclear weapons during and after World War II. Richland High School's baseball team has been highly successful, winning four state titles in eleven years (1999, 2005, 2007, 2009), and another in 2018. Soon, local children were drinking tainted milk, fish from the Columbia River were contaminated, and the Oregon Health Division deemed it the most radioactive river in the world from World War II to the 1970s. Thousands of people who were unknowingly exposed have filed claims, but very few have seen any compensation. People who may not have agreed with their government. And throughout the 1980s it had generally resisted suggestions that it make clean-up of its own wastes a high priority. Standards have been set for centuries regarding expectations surrounding dress, especially for women. Fish and Wildlife Service, and that an 86,000-acre national wildlife refuge be created abutting the northern and eastern banks of the Hanford Reach. Richland Bombers.com Links to EVERYTHING Richland Bomber related. Not at all.. The Corps had trouble "selling that dam" because by the later 1980s and the 1990s American civilization, including most people in the Pacific Northwest, no longer had the same attitudes toward technology and the environment that they had held during World War Two and the height of the Cold War. Us. According to one estimate from the early 1960s, 80% of the 28,500 jobs in the Tri-Cities were "indirectly or directly dependent on Hanford activities." (Courtesy Tri-Cities Herald). Local museums and faculty at the high school repeated this narrative. ], Richland city seal in 1958 (left). Richland Chamber of Commerce WELCOME TO RICHLAND. If full-scale industrial development is desired, it must be realized that civilization and the primitive are not compatible and some sacrifice of natural resources must be expected. Infinite rows of lockers that stretch from floor to ceiling, mundane patterns on the tile floors, colorful posters declaring pep rallies and blood drives, freshmeat dressed to a tee and seniors slopping on sweatpants that may or may not have been washed in a month. Turn it on in Settings to view this website. Townspeople referred to their community as Atomic City, A-City, or the Atomic City of the West (Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was the Atomic City of the East), and the city logo contained an image of the atom. Richland High School Bombers logo (below). Since the mid-1960s, Hanford had been seeking a mission that would replace plutonium production as its reason for existence. Richland High has an enrollment of roughly 2,000; its WIAA classification is 4A, for the state's largest schools. Especially now that the George W. Bush administration has decided to create kinder, gentler nukes, that the squeamish public presumably wont object to being used against non-nuclear armed foes like Iraq. (Logo courtesy Richland High School). Looking for a way to spend your summer doing something creative and fulfilling? The video then features a statement by a Japanese exchange student attending Richland. Those awful seven hours of studying paid off, definitely aced that exam. However, I will not celebrate the deaths of the innocent. My whole family got wiped out, she said. It is estimated that 200,000 Japanese people died when the atomic bombs exploded, and thousands more died later from radiation exposure. Hanford was home to the Manhattan Project's B Reactor, the first full-scale plutonium production reactor in the world. Other nearby towns, including Pasco and Kennewick, had also expanded considerably beyond their 1940 size. Teachers questioned their patriotism. Richland High School has all of those qualities and maybe even has some better qualities that make it stand out from the crowd. Richland High School Bombers logo (below). But in Richland, there is an interesting story about the high school's nickname and how people's opinions about it have changed over the years. Here in Clark County, weve got our fair share of interesting high school mascots (i.e. We killed them. Its a great story., But many alumni were outraged by what they saw as an attempt to revise history to be more palatable by modern standards. While building Hanford the Army and DuPont had also laid out the town of Richland to house the families of Hanford's operations employees during and after the war; the planned community had a population of around 15,000 at war's end. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy, Fruit of the Loom Men's 5oz Cotton T-Shirt, JERZEES Unisex 50/50 NuBlend 8oz Crewneck Sweatshirt, JERZEES Unisex 8oz NuBlend Hooded Sweatshirt, Fanthread Women's Origin Crew Sweatshirt, Fanthread Men's Origin Hooded Sweatshirt, Fanthread Men's Color Block Hooded Sweatshirt. Outside the. Richland Bomber Football April 29, 2023 Respect All Fear None Next Game: Friday, September 1, 2023 Richland Bombers Neil F. Lampson Stadium, Kennewick 7:00PM Southridge Suns Stadium Directions Last Five Meetings News/Media History v. Suns Bomber Football In the News bomberfootball.org: 2023 Spring Calendar 2023 Season News Tuesday, May 23, 2023 The gold "R" with a mushroom cloud exploding behind it became the face of RHS ever since Columbia High (now Richland High) students voted to change their mascot from the Beavers to the Bombers in the fall of 1945. (The bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 was fueled by uranium produced at Oak Ridge.) Indeed, Tri-City optimists glowingly envisioned the building of a "nuclear industrial park" with up to fifty different reactors producing plutonium and kilowatts as well as serving the cause of scientific research. The Commodores announced Tuesday they'll be replacing their iconic "Star V" logo in favor of something ripped from a failing company's NFT announcement: We've launched a refreshed visual identity. . Richland Bombers Limitless 1/4 Zip Hoodie $68.00. 18 team in our countdown: 2021 IN REVIEW 8-3 in 4A/3A MCC (third place); lost to Lake Stevens in Class 4A first round. The plutonium built is a huge part of Richland history. So, here is an account for how your finals week may have went or will be going as your final days left in school come to an end. Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy. Jeanie Walsh Williamson ('63) ~ aka Barbra Williamson, "Desert Fathers, Uranium Daughters" available at Amazon.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Fullmer, A Michael Peterson 2014 Promotional Viceo, "Drink, Swear, Steal, and Lie" on YouTube, http://www.eurekalert.org/features/doe/2002-07/dnnl-bnt073102.php, http://www.whitworth.edu/Academic/Department/Physics/DepartmentSpotlight/MillerBatelle.htm, Sally O'Neal ('79) ~ Travel & Outdoor Writer, Weekly Column at Sportsman's Guide magazine, "Hiking in the Central Cascades" available at Amazon.com, "Hiking in the North Cascades" available at Amazon.com, "Bicycling Eastern WA & OR" available at Amazon.com, Roger Jaime ('82), aka MR 80s CC Poison "The Bomber", Tari Free ('83) - Disc Jockey in Seattle, http://tman.kube93.com/pages/jock_tarifree.html, The Tragic Clowns - An Analysis of the Short Lives of John Belushi, Lenny Bruce, and Chris Farley, Stories of Hope and Courage - My Experiences with Alzheimer's Disease, http://www.misstricities.org/pastmisstc.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_New_York, makes the cover of TIME magazine (9/24/94), in the December, 1989, issue of National Geographic, Miss Tri-Cities and Miss Washington, 2002.
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