Archer County Advocate (Holliday, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 29, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 27, 2005 Page: 7 of 20
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Thursday, October 27, 2005 7
Gulley Don’t The Texas
Lawmakers Have Anything
Else Better To Do?
Well its ole Bubba Sharp here
again fer another week of mess huh?
I was readin a story in the Houston
Chronicle and thought maybe my
readers would like to see what the
state house is up to. Normally I
would spend some time comin up
with some fer you but ole Bubba
has surgery this past week and can
barely sit up to get this here Coolum
done. Any hoo read this and an be
amazed.
House to cheerleaders: hoo-
ray, but no hip-hips
Bill that bans dirty dancing,
but doesn’t define it, nears passage
SPIRIT OF THE LAW
Highlights of the cheerleader
legislation:
• What it does: Prohibits
school dance teams, drill teams and
cheerleaders from performing “in a
manner that is overtly sexually sug-
gestive” at public school events.
• What it doesn’t do: Specifi-
cally define the prohibited behav-
ior or set any penalty for violations.
• What supporters say: Pep
routines have pushed the bound-
aries of decency and exploit per-
formers.
• What foes say: The bill is a
toothless and meaningless effort to
legislate morality.
• What’s next: If it survives
one more House vote, the bill goes
to the state Senate.
AUSTIN - House members
got into the spirit of toning down
suggestive cheerleading Tuesday,
rallying behind a bill that could
leave Texas cheerleaders shakin’ a
little less booty next year.
By a 65-56 vote, the House
gave preliminary approval to a bill
sponsored by Rep. A1 Edwards, D-
Houston, curbing “sexually sug-
gestive” routines by cheerleaders,
drill teams or other public school
performance groups.
The bill doesn’t define the
behavior it is trying to prevent or
specify punishment.
Edwards, who in past ses-
sions has battled raunchy pop lyr-
ics and advocated cutting off drug
dealers’ fingers, pledged that
Tuesday’s vote was just the open-
ing volley in his effort to curb gy-
rating teenage booty-shakers.
“I’ve seen it with my own
eyes,” Edwards said. “I’ve had
people talk to me about it at foot-
ball games. There was just a feeling
that people were waiting for some-
thing to be done about it.”
Edwards likened the per-
ceived salaciousness of
cheerleading routines to risque tele-
vision programs and Internet por-
nography sites. He also suggested
that inappropriate cheerleading rou-
tines contribute to a social atmo-
sphere that encourages teen preg-
nancy, poor scholastic perfor-
mance, criminality and the spread
of sexually transmitted diseases.
“Why allow young girls 12,
By Bubba Sharp
13,18 to be exploited like that?” he
said.
Edwards’ bill initially called
for curtailing funding to offending
schools. The punitive aspect of the
bill later was dropped in exchange
for a milder provision that school
district officials take “appropriate
action” in such situations.
Critics of the measure main-
tain that it has no teeth, no sanc-
tions and no effect.
“This is a ridiculous bill. I
don’t know how it got to the floor,”
said Rep. Senffonia Thompson, D-
Houston. “We don’t have any busi-
ness mandating anything. We are
spending time on ‘2-3-4, we can’t
shake it anymore.’ It’s an embar-
rassment.”
Rep. Carter Casteel, R-New
Braunfels, agreed legislators should
not be legislating morality or tell-
ing people what to do, but she voted
for the bill.
“Sometimes as adults, we
should say there are proper ways
to behave. It’s time we send a mes-
sage and say we are going to ex-
pect certain behavior,” she said.
No Senate sponsor yet
The bill does not have a spon-
sor in the Senate yet, said Edwards,
whose legislation has garnered him
national attention, including ap-
pearances on NBC’s Today show
and Fox’s O’Reilly Factor.
Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Aus-
tin, who opposed the bill, said much
of the attention has been in the form
of jokes at Texas’ expense.
Several legislators argued
that the issue should be dealt with
at the local level, without state in-
volvement.
The bill also generated
strongly divergent views in the
cheerleading community.
“I think we have bigger prob-
lems in the world than to worry
about how kids look dancing on the
floor,” said Kellie Meaux, an em-
ployee at Southwest Cheer Acad-
emy in Stafford. “They should be
more worried about those getting
killed in Iraq than my kids shaking
their booty. They’re not being pro-
vocative or promoting sex. These
kids are having fun.”
Meaux, whose two daugh-
ters were middle and high school
cheerleaders and performed com-
petitively outside school, said
school-related cheerleading exhibi-
tions generally are wholesome en-
tertainment. “In my opinion, speak-
ing as a mom, I think middle school
and high school cheerleading is
basically just there for the school
spirit. If he (Edwards) wants to make
a point, he shouldn’t be attacking
these children, he should hit the
competitive-cheerleading scene.”
Some ‘push envelope’
Such contests, privately
sponsored events not connected
with schools, are beyond the
Legislature’s jurisdiction, Edwards
noted. And, he argued, some of
those events are better regulated
than similar performances in public
schools. “You can’t win a national
cheerleading contest if you put
those sexual gyrations in it,” he
said.
Judges in such competitions
penalize teams that “do something
vulgar or sexually suggestive,” said
Martha Selman, marketing director
for the Garland-based National
Cheerleaders Association, which
sponsors the annual national con-
tests for high school and non-
school-affiliated “all stars” in Dal-
las.
But, she admitted, the all-star
teams “tend to push the envelope.”
“The challenge is, you have
a lot of kids who cross over, who
participate in both fields. When
they go back to school, that’s what
they bring to the table,” she said.
“We want all all-star and high
school performances to be appro-
priate for family viewing. I think the
solution is better education and
training for the coaches, so that
they highlight their teams’
athleticism and not have to rely only
on choreographed dance moves. I
think that sometimes coaches get
caught up in MTV and VH1 —
that’s entertainment and not
cheerleading.”
Terri Jaggers, who has
coached cheerleaders in area pub-
lic schools and at her Northwest
All-Star Gymnastics on Bingle, ap-
plauded Edwards.
“It disturbs me,” she said.
“There has been a progressive de-
terioration in morals — dancing
and moving. I’ve watched it in the
selection of music and choreogra-
phy.”
Outfits also criticized
At Jaggers’ gymnasium,
cheerleaders wear athletic slacks
and conservative tops. But else-
where, including schools, the cos-
tumes can be as provocative as the
routines.
“At most schools, they’re
wearing tops that stop just above
the navel — the all-stars are
higher,” she said. “All the skirts
have slits, some up the side, some
not so prominent, some that are
little panels that come up when
they jump, tumble and move. Some-
times, they have high school logos
on their briefs, and part of the show
is lifting their skirts to show the
logo.”
Jaggers, mother to five
adopted children and almost
two dozen foster children,
suggested the problem arises
from commercially or college-
trained coaches who teach
provocative routines to ado-
lescent girls. “MTV and mu-
sic video are a huge attraction
in dance for young people,”
she said. “The days of ballet
and tap are over.” By
KRISTEN MACK and
ALLAN TURNER
Copyright 2005 Hous-
ton Chronicle
These here is some
good writers huh? Well Ole
Bubba promises to do better
next week after I’s had some
time to heal up.
This weeks polls:
1. Should we pull out
oflraq?
2. Should they pass a
law about cheerleading?
3. Should we leave
God out of our pledges?
Email me:
news@archeradvocate.com
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Cooper, James H. Archer County Advocate (Holliday, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 29, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 27, 2005, newspaper, October 27, 2005; Holliday, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth993693/m1/7/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Archer Public Library.