Moreover, placement of Hanford along the mid-Columbia had prevented construction of Ben Franklin Dam (named for Benton and Franklin counties), proposed for a site just upstream from Richland. Hanfords toxic reach didnt stop at the sites barbed-wire fences: radioactive emissions released into the air fell on fields where livestock grazed. More than 40,000 adults returned there to spawn [in 1993]making it the healthiest spawning area on the Columbia." (Special Collections, University of Washington, Nell Lewis MacGregor papers, box 1. Contamination from Hanford may at times have created the most radioactive stream in North America, but the Hanford Reach also became one of the last great spawning beds for salmon in the United States. The high school is decorated with an absurdly large BOMBERS plastered on the side of the gym that can be seen from the opposite side of the Yakima River; atomic clouds litter the buildings; an over-sized, gaudy R-Cloud lays on the center of both gymnasiums. All along at Hanford, they had been contributing to the war effort,producing plutonium that would make up the core of Fat Man. Like, Lets celebrate the fact that we can destroy and kill with this atomic technology. She sees it as a blight on Richland. Sean Ring: Truth Teller, Freedom Fighter and Why You Should Follow Him. Richland Chamber of Commerce WELCOME TO RICHLAND. 1734 Oak Tree Road Edison, NJ. And around the state, and the nation, there is a growing sentiment for schools with Native American mascots (Chiefs, Braves, Indians) to change their mascots. I certainly dont run around carrying a picket sign saying, Down with the cloud! Qualheim said. We have thousands of custom Richland High School Bombers t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, jerseys, bags, backpacks, and other accessories in stock. Throughout middle school and high school, I played cross country and soccer, leading me to stick with athleisure most days. Best of all, you can do it all from the comfort of your own home or wherever you happen to be spending your summer. Under his direction, the soccer program built the first dedicated high school soccer stadium in the state. 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 some circles, this attitude toward use of rivers persisted into the 1980s. Johnson. (Reproduced in Grossman, "Hanford," PNQ 85:1, p.8. Lets Not Talk About the Bad Things, Once again, I am reminded of Stanley Kubricks great film, Dr. Strangelove, and especially its subtitle, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The good doctor would feel quite at home in Richland. Of course, the pride Richland has in the bomb may have its price, as there may be consequences for a town which has worked with radioactive poisons since 1944.3 I direct attention to the following article: My relationship to the bomb as image begins with my birth in Richland, Washington, in 1950, home of the Richland High School Bombers, where pretty cheerleaders still wear the logo of a mushroom cloud across their bosoms. 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). How do you pass that up? We should never forget the past. Step inside any 'ole High School. 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. (Courtesy Tri-Cities Herald). Richland High has an enrollment of roughly 2,000; its WIAA classification is 4A, for the state's largest schools. Confident that nuclear power plants were the wave of the future, they lobbied the federal government to authorize construction of a ninth reactor at Hanford, one that could produce both plutonium for nuclear weapons and kilowatts for the BPA power grid. Clare Regelbrugge, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Sign in to comment to your favorite stories, participate in your community and interact with your friends. Shirley Olinger sees sides to the Bomber debate that few others can. 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. Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy. Your favorite beach reads and binge-worthy Netflix shows. [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. What about President Obama? But in Richland, there is an interesting story about the high schools nickname and how peoples opinions about it have changed over the years. Radhi, SUNY Stony Brook3. 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 bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 was fueled by uranium produced at Oak Ridge.) Some 90 percent of students and 75 percent of the staff voted to retain it. 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. Hanford's economy kept going during the mid-1980s, spurred by President Reagan's defense build-up and by proposals to make storage of nuclear wastes from other sites an important part of the future. And I realize thats all I have left. I wonder how strong a feeling can actually get before it is too much to bear. Thus during the 1980s and 1990s there appeared a forceful opposition to proposals for dredging or damming more of the Columbia. Worried that technological obsolescence or improved international relations could destroy their one-dimensional economy, residents of the Tri-Cities began pressing the AEC and Congress to diversify Hanford. Late in 1942 the Army selected the area to become part of the Manhattan Project, the crash campaign to build atomic bombs. RICHLAND BOMBER BOOSTERS INC RICHLAND, WA 99352-6651 | Tax-exempt since Aug. 2000. @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. Indeed, the troubles associated with the development of nuclear power had helped to spur the rethinking of those attitudes in the years after 1970. Sorry, your comment was not saved due to a technical problem. The Hanford Reach thus became the last "free-flowing" stretch of the Columbia in Washington state upstream from Bonneville Dam. 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. By the late 1990s, of course, the atom seemed less appealing than before. 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. What do you see? Richland High School is a public secondary school in the northwest United States, . Connor went on to become an investigative journalist and activist, working to shut down plutonium production at Hanford, which is now considered the most contaminated nuclear site in the country. She even spins. I sit; prisoner to my own body. 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. (By the 1990s, the idea of "free-flowing" had to be relative. To sign up, email glorie@theodysseyonline.com. #16045). Please update your browser. But these opportunities had closed by 1987, by which time plutonium production had ceased and decisions had been made not to import nuclear wastes from out of state. The town of Richland has stubbornly stuck to their pride in this symbol. Olingers mother was a resident of Nagasaki when the bomb dropped. Here's an inside look at the Richland Bombers of the 4A/3A Mid-Columbia Conference - the No. Your favorite summer hobby and how you got into it. 2016 Al Jazeera America, LLC. "The West is the last economic frontier. The Atom Bomb was the ultimate menace behind such films as The Terminator, Wargames, Dr. Strangelove, Planet of the Apes, and The Day After. Mushroom clouds found their way onto the school crest, class rings and football helmets. They worried in particular about the local economy, not the health risks presented by Hanford wastes. RHS won three state championships in the span of five years between 2000 and 2005. Backpacking across Europe? I feel my stomach drop like Im on a rollercoaster that only seems to go down. The bombers is a direct symbol of the thousands of lives lost and it is a disgrace and embarrassment to celebrate it. Pacific Northwest Quarterly 86:4 [Fall 1995], p.178. You reward yourself for studying and consume so much pizza that it actually consumes you. Photo credited to Burns & Roe). 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. Why do we pretend that the bomb we are so proud of doesn't represent the thousands of people who were killed? This is a response to "Ways to Follow Clothing Trends in 2021.. With many college semesters coming to a close, students find themselves procrastinating. 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. 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. Both the boys' and girls' team were state champions in 2003. But Ive found that these are the clothes that I feel most confident and like myself in. Coordinators (base scheme): Offense - Josh Jelinek (spread). Hanford and the Bomb: An Oral History of World War II, Legend and Legacy: Fifty Years of Defense Production at the Hanford Site, n the Home Front: The Cold War Legacy of the Hanford Nuclear Site, River of Life, Channel of Death: Fish and Dams on the Lower Snake, Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, University of Washington. What matters is that the US dropped an atomic bomb, the only time a nuclear bomb has been used in the history of the world, killing innocent people in order to save others. As the Tri-Cities looked to the future, they gave new attention to the Columbia River. CLUB 40, aka ALL Bomber alumni - for 21 years of age and older. 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. Screaming is absolutely inevitable. In 2019, "Archie" a B-17 Ball Turret Gunner was named the first-ever character mascot at Richland High School. Photo courtesy of Richland found pride in the victory and this pride leaked into Richland culture just like the toxic sludge leaked. The atomic age had yielded, perhaps, to the environmental era in the Pacific Northwest. I would like to preface this article by saying that I dont think Ive ever been known for my style, so take that as you will. Here in Clark County, weve got our fair share of interesting high school mascots (i.e. However, in the 1950s the people residing in the vicinity of Hanford began pushing to have their voices heard, too. Nuclear weapons had helped the U.S. bring an end to World War Two and stand firm against the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but they had also exacted a very high environmental cost with which Americans became more preoccupied. 5 talking about this. Always expecting to be on the cutting edge of nuclear technology, Tri-City residents were consistently disappointed by the twists and turns that the atomic age took. In high school, I worked in a casual restaurant that served soup so I wasnt dressing to impress there either. Light On A Distant Hill - Winner, 2011 WILLA Literary Award - on Amazon. Ill note that the sentiment, which is what I think matters, is neatly summed up in the article: Plane or Bomb? Forget about political correctness, forget about the snowflakes who cry that we are horrible people. Tears fall from my face the same way petals fall from wilted flowers. Students wear t-shirts with bombs and atomic clouds, using hashtags like #ProudoftheCloud and #GoBombers. Richland High School is located in Richland, Washington, where the Handford site is located. However, we are having a little trouble selling that dam. Some Tri-City boosters, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, urged that the Hanford Reach be dredged in order to permit barge traffic all the way upstream to Wenatchee, and promoted the building of Ben Franklin Dam in order to facilitate more irrigation, more generation of hydroelectricity, and more slack-water recreation. Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol. So, it should not surprise anyone that people somewhere worship this thing, which gibbers madly in the collective unconscious like H.P. 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. In 1944, the first reactor began operation at the Hanford Project. 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 top five things on your summer bucket list this year. Map of the Hanford Engineer Works, 1943-1945 (left). Those two exams just stripped you of your pride. The highly controversial mascot has always caused a buzz amongst not only the Richland community, but statewide. 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. Being primarily an industrial plant throughout its career, it had never amassed the resources to become a major center for scientific innovation. The Atom Bomb cannot distinguish its worshipers from its opponents, and does not care about their worship. The nation needed "to develop every natural resource at its command," the Columbia Basin News opined. The Electric Woman by (new pen name) James Scott ~ on Amazon. But she does not hear the same song as me. I will treat the situation with respect and dignity and look at the consequences of the atomic bomb. At times I tried to keep up with the trends but most of the time I found that I was always late to them. Camp Hanford's population peaked at 51,000, and spanned not quite two years until its abandonment in February 1945. 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. Mushroom cloud logos are proudly displayed throughout the school and the student body used to shout "nuke 'em" at sporting events. The Richland High School Store allows you to customize Bombers clothing and merch. Or President Bush? Senator Henry M. Jackson (D, WA) introduced a bill to this effect in 1956, and ten years later the dual-purpose N Reactor was completed at Hanford. The Rail Queen by B.J. The Manhattan Project brought scientists, engineers and those to support them to the Tri-Cities. Were all Bombers and proud of our connection to the atomic bomb, and also proud of Days Pay. RICHLAND, Wash. The workers inside Hanfords nuclear reactors in the early 1940s knew their jobs were important, even if many of them didnt know why. I forget what is and only know what used to be. Many people claim that 'the bombers' is referable to the Day's Pay plane. It has known security flaws and a limited feature set. Yet for many observers more distant from Hanford, the wastes were an all too enduring symbol of the history of Hanford and the Tri-Cities in the half-century after 1942. The 1999 state champion team, led by future United States World Cup and gold medal-winning goalkeeper Hope Solo, was undefeated and ranked fourth in the nation. 2023 Sportswear Inc. All Rights Reserved. No shade to them, everyone has their own style that they like and feel confident in. But Im not proud of the death and destruction brought by the bomb. (Logo courtesy Richland High School). Whether the name of the team came from the Nagasaki Bomb or from another source seems to be open to debate, see discussion here: BEAVERS ATOMS BOMBERS RESEARCH PROJECT. Beginning in 1943, the site was used to produce plutonium for the bomb that brought an end to World War II. The lyrics seem to parade in one ear and out the other. We killed them. it's an individual. 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. Cold War symbols pervade the state of Washington. Its been so long since I have felt big enough to take up and control my five foot seven figure. It is time to change the Bomber mascot to one that doesn't receive weird looks from people outside of Eastern Washington. This became particularly important between 1964 and 1971, when the AEC shut down the first eight reactors built and operated at Hanford. Most residents of the region (and maybe even of the Tri-Cities) likely supported the 1992 recommendations of the National Park Service that the Hanford Reach be designated a "federal wild-and-scenic river," to be managed by the U.S. I would not peacefully accept myself being blown up because my government made a call to not surrender. Outside the. This photograph is the artist's conception of what it would look like. Pre-Bomber Years (1910 to 1945) 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 BOMBERS 1946 1947 1948 1949 ALL BOMBERS' CALENDAR 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). 64 were here. 558 Followers, 44 Following, 56 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Richland Bomber Basketball (@rhsbomberbb) In 1989, according to one journalist, "as many as 90 percent of the approximately 530,000 fall chinook salmon harvested from the Columbia had been spawned in the Hanford Reach. For just as long as Richland students and alumni have shouted that they are proud of the cloud, the R-Cloud has raised eyebrows. Hagley Museum and Library.). Join our team and let's create something amazing together! It seemed as if the region's economic future was assured. I am deeply embarrassed that I ever sported bomber gear, and I am guilty of using hashtags that turn a blind eye to destruction. At first, I felt pressured to wear the same, their matching sets, bike shorts, crop tops, and more. RHS has a very strong girls and boys soccer program. Proud of the Cloud, written on a mushroom cloud symbol, is what it says on Bomber Boosters memorabilia, which can be purchased online at: RHS Bomber Boosters Memorabilia. Somewhere it got lost in translation that we can be proud we won the war and be proud of the horrors we caused. Its splashed across the center of the shiny gym floor and printed on T-shirts and infant onesies. Hes not willing to see this symbol dismissed without a fight. Covington.[6]. The facilities of were extensively renovated in 1964, and remodeled again in stages between 1995 and 2006. The rays of music may salsa on her skin, but they dig deep into mine. The Space Needle and Pacific Science Center attest to the future-minded, high-tech, aerospace-oriented thinking around Puget Sound. As a writer for Odyssey, youll have the opportunity to share your voice with our community of readers from all over the world. Some people look at [the R-Cloud] as a peace symbol. The RHS mascot glorifies violence and ignores the tragedy our contributions caused. Richland Bombers sports and activities fan page 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. Want to spend your summer being creative and making some money on the side? Studying for seven hours straight, slightly brain dead and disoriented. You've been studying all day and still don't understand the majority of the terms. They uncover everything about him that I promised myself I would forget. If you are gonna take my R-Cloud away from me, he said, rolling back his black sweatshirt to reveal a green and gold R-Cloud tattooed onto his right shoulder, youre gonna rip it off my cold, dead arm.. Their skin was dripping from their bodies.. It is estimated that 200,000 Japanese people died when the atomic bombs exploded, and thousands more died later from radiation exposure. [The Japanese government was] ready to sacrifice every man woman and child in the invasion.. Thats what I see, he said. 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), The shift in topic was near-automatic, like a switch shunting a train onto a different track. We should never forget the past. MAXPREPS; CBSSPORTS.COM; 247SPORTS; B. Petersen also wrote River of Life, Channel of Death: Fish and Dams on the Lower Snake (Lewiston, ID: Confluence Press, 1995).] The city has restaurants, bowling alleys, stores and coffee stands sporting terms like atomic, bomber and bunker. Oh no, he chuckled. From a young age, girls are introduced to a culture where they are expected to dress to impress specifically the men around them. In later 1944 the first reactor started producing plutonium, and in 1945 Hanford began shipping its product to Los Alamos, New Mexico, whence the material was deployed as the fuel for the world's first atomic detonation (the Trinity test at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945) and the second atomic bomb dropped on Japan (at Nagasaki) on August 9, 1945. Yet the economy of Hanford and the Tri-Cities (if not the environmental quality) again seemed secure, fifty years after the atomic age, and forty-five years after the Cold War, had arrived in Washington. During the annual Seafair festival (which commemorated not space but Seattle's maritime heritage), the city hosted the Navy's squadron of Blue Angel performing jets as well as a variety of naval vessels. Scott - Winner, 2015 Beverly Hills Book Awards - on Amazon. Youll never be out of style. 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. Tori Bender wants the. So why do we pretend that there weren't thousands of people like you and me who didn't want to die but didn't have a choice? Teachers questioned their patriotism. 2022-23 . I understand that. Everyone feels the desire for belonging and to fit in with the people around them. The Richland High School Store allows you to customize Bombers clothing and merch. "You can't overstate the demoralizing aspect of taking away high technology activities and asking us to become paper-pushers and janitors," one engineer explained. 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. The school is now part of the Richland School District. Hanford Real Estate. There I grew up among my friends and their parents, workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the birthplace of the . We wouldn't even be talking about if they didn't bomb Pearl Harbor first.