A Fort Smith lawyer who was leading the fight to return the Rebel mascot name to Southside High School has abandoned the effort.
Joey McCutchen said two Fort Smith School Board members contacted him to say they wouldn't vote for the Rebel mascot in the future. Both had voted for it last fall, when the School Board tied 3-3 on the issue with one board member absent, McCutchen said.
Even if two pro-Rebel board members are elected in September to replace two outgoing members, McCutchen said he doesn't have the votes for the return of the Rebels.
"My bottom line is we don't have the votes," he said. "In effect, that ends the issue."
The Fort Smith School Board decided in June to remove the Rebel as Southside's mascot and "Dixie" as the fight song because of concern the Confederate symbols were offensive to some who equated them with racism. A committee eventually chose Mavericks as the school's new mascot.
Two School Board members who voted for the mascot change were defeated in the September school election, and the issue continues to divide the community.
The School Board voted in October on whether to return the Rebel mascot but not "Dixie," said McCutchen.
"We asked for a compromise to just keep the Rebel name, which is not racist," he said. "Our founding fathers were called rebels by the British."
McCutchen said Wade Gilkey called him Thursday and Bill Hanesworth notified him Friday that they would no longer support the Rebel cause. Both men were elected to the School Board in September, and both voted for the compromise proposed in October.
After that vote, Hanesworth said it was time to move on.
"If this mascot thing is out there and out there and out there, it deflects you from dealing with things you need to be dealing with," Hanesworth said Friday.
Hanesworth said the Fort Smith School District has bigger issues to deal with.
"The mascot is still the centerpiece of the upcoming School Board election, and our community is now more divided over this issue than a year ago," he said.
McCutcheon posted a message on his Facebook page saying he was "suspending" the fight, but it's not a lost cause, he said.
The mascot debate will likely be an issue that candidates for the School Board will need to address. If the city wants to return the Rebels, voters should elect candidates who support that, McCutchen said.
McCutchen is still fighting on another front.
He filed an appeal Friday of a Sebastian County Circuit Court decision regarding the June meeting in which the School Board did away with the Rebel mascot. McCutchen said the meeting was held in violation of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
"The Rebel issue was never on the agenda," he said. "The only notice they gave out was that they were having a closed meeting to evaluate the superintendent. Therefore, they knew nobody would be there. So they decided to have a committee of the whole meeting that same day."
The appeal was filed with the Arkansas Court of Appeals.
Longtime Fort Smith Athletic Director Jim Rowland announced his resignation at a School Board meeting Monday after criticizing McCutchen for causing a "poisonous atmosphere" in the school system.
"We have seen one individual, motivated by questionable motives, including a thirst for power and publicity, use the mascot issue to incite a small number of followers to turn a whole community against its school representatives," said Rowland, who has been with the school system for 53 years.
McCutchen said Rowland's comments were "unfortunate."
"I love Coach Rowland," McCutchen said. "Other than my father, I've never been closer to any other man than Coach Rowland. ... If I wanted power and publicity, there would be much easier ways to achieve that."
Also on Monday, the School Board voted to delay until next year a planned school tax election in part to gain voters' support and counter those who opposed the move last year to change the Southside High School mascot.
Board President Deanie Mehl said the main reason for the delay was to redirect attention to hiring a new school superintendent to succeed Benny Gooden, who announced last month he will retire June 30 after 30 years in the position.
"Our attention has to be focused on finding the best superintendent for our district," Mehl said.
State Desk on 05/28/2016