High school effort to boost team with banner ended in bumpy bit of traffic control

Date published: 4/27/2008

IPARKED CARS this week for a local group holding a big annual event, and things came off without a hitch.

But it made me think of another time directing traffic when things didn't end nearly as well.

It was during high school, and it happened because our school's basketball team found itself in the regional playoffs.

A run like that is exciting in a small town like Warsaw, and some of us on the Rappahannock High School team decided we wanted to whip up even more support.

We considered all kinds of things.

A parade?

Naw, too much organizing.

A whole-town pep rally?

Too hard to pull together.

A "Show Your Colors" day at school?

Nobody had that much red and gray.

Finally, somebody suggested putting up a banner.

Bingo. We were sold.

It was more than a little silly that several of us players were taking part in something to cheer ourselves on.

But we were so excited we would have sewed a banner out of sweat socks if that's what it took.

We went out, got material donated, strung ropes to the sides and hung a wide banner over the town's main street.

Because the donated material was denim, courtesy of the Levi's plant in town, the red paint we used for our letters could show up on only one side of our banner, the inside of the jeans material.

Making it even more difficult to read were the patches we cut out so wind could pass through.

I don't remember exactly what the banner said. The handful of us who made it came up with something profound like "Go Raiders. Whomp Up on Those Other Guys."

We got help from some grown-ups to hoist it into place. I'm pretty sure no one messed with permits or VDOT or even deputies to route traffic around the installation.

I know the last part was true because as some adults used a truck and ladder to put the banner in place, several of us high-schoolers were employed to route traffic around the work.

We didn't really think our routing through. One of us began sending traffic through one side of a bank parking lot, while another sent it through from the other side.

It was only after two of those cars collided that we realized our error.

By then, the banner was up and we hot-footed it to class.

We left in our wake a pair of poor motorists to explain that they hadn't been done in by bad weather or sunlight in their eyes, but by overzealous teens so excited about boosting their own banner that they caused 10 minutes of parking-lot mayhem.

Rob Hedelt: 540/374-5415
Email: rhedelt@freelancestar.com

Date published: 4/27/2008