6 7In- Depth In- Depth11.22.2017 11.22.2017Layout by: Evie Schwab

Guns: weapons of mass destruction Americans are devastated by two mass shootings in two months

As a result of the recent Las Vegas and Texas shootings, gun control is back in the spotlight.

According to politico.com, a recent poll shows that the majority of voters are in favor of stricter gun control, but most of those believe Congress won’t act to strengthen the gun laws in place.

However, a survey of FHS students revealed that 59.3 percent of the 59 students that responded think gun laws do NOT need to be more strict, with 40.7 percent feeling that gun control should be strengthened.

“It should be strengthened to a certain extent… at least strengthened when it comes to the point of selling guns. And obviously kids under the age of 18 shouldn’t be messing with guns anyways without adult supervision,” Jessica Robinson ‘18 said.

On the other hand, Thomas Kroeker ‘19 believes that strengthening gun laws is unnecessary because gun laws should be black and white.

“It shouldn’t be strengthened because that means there will be more laws on regulation on something so simple. They aren’t going to let someone carry a gun if it isn’t safe, so why mess

it up for the rest of us?” Kroeker said.The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms

and Explosives (ATF) last updated the Federal Firearms Regulations in 2005. Since then, there have been 17 mass shootings in the United States.

Only 16.7 percent of the students that responded to the survey said that this information changed their opinions on gun control.

“I think a lot of bad things have come about it, and it will really push people for gun

control, but I don’t think that’s gonna be the right choice,” Jolie Scott ‘18 said in response to the Las Vegas shooting. “Because one way or another, if he

was determined to do what he did it would’ve happened with or without gun control.”

Senior Trent Grizzle felt similarly to Scott. He believes that the problem isn’t the gun laws, it’s the people with the guns.

“More laws on guns isn’t going to save any lives because when do “bad guys” abide by the rules? Murdering someone is already against the law, robbing somebody is already against the law, yet people still do it,” Grizzle said.

Guns will always be around in some way or another and the voters are the ones that decide to what extent. The American people can only hope that tragedies like these don’t happen and come together as nation if they do.

Evie SchwabEditor-in-Chief

On November 5 during a church service in rural Texas, a shooter fired on the congregation killing 26 people and wounding even more.

People of all ages were killed in this incident. An unborn baby was killed along with eight other children and adults up to the age of 77.

“I feel like church should be a safe place to go,” Rielee Achtemeier ‘19 said. “It’s really sad that now people will be afraid to go there.”

Many people have had the same thoughts of fear after hearing about the shooting in Texas. Raelyn Morava ‘18 was also afraid when she heard about the shooting, but for a more personal reason.

“I was nervous because at the time my dad was in Texas working and I was at work,” Morava said. “I asked my boss for a break and I called my dad to make sure he was okay before I found out anything else about the shooting.”

Authorities confirmed that the shooter was 26-year-old Devin Kelley, an ex U.S. Navy soldier with a violent history.

According to time.com, the shooter was “discharged (from the

Shooting in Texas shocks the countryDelainey StewartReporter

Gun control returns to the spotlight after shootings

“More laws on guns isn’t going to save any lives because when do “bad guys” abide by the rules? ” -Trent Grizzle ‘18

United States Navy) in 2012 for allegedly assaulting his wife and child.”

After the incident, Texas police found the shooter dead and the cause of his death is still not clear. A local who heard about the shooting chased the gunman.

According to CNN, “A man who lives next door to the church grabbed his own rifle and engaged the suspect, officials said. The gunman dropped his “Ruger AR assault-type rifle” and fled. The neighbor chased after the gunman, police said.”

Since the shooting, many politicians, celebrities and other people have showed their support on social media.

In one tweet from Ted Cruz, he wrote “Keeping all harmed in Sutherland Springs in our prayers and grateful for our brave first responders on the scene.”

The tragedy of this shooting has brought Americans closer together in support of those involved and continues to show the strength of the American people.

Students debate their second amendment right

310.27.2017 Opinion/EditorialLayout by: Kenna Troxel

The Blazer believes that running up the score at football is unsportsmanlike.

Don’t get us wrong, winning football games is great and our team has worked hard to get where they are now and all the accollades that accompany it. However, it is not necessary to win by 50+ points every game.

Backups and JV players should be put in whenever necessary in order to give them experience playing in varsity games. Keeping varsity in until the end of third quarter isn’t necessary when there are opportunities to get more players experience in scoring and/or preventing the other team from scoring. Wanting to give varsity the playing time they deserve is understandable, but not when the competition isn’t even competition.

Leaving in the varsity players when we are winning by half

a dozen touchdowns also increases the risk of one of our star players getting injured by a disgruntled opponent. It’s going to be a problem when the players that have to replace the stars haven’t had enough game time.

While yes, it’s exciting to set records, win without letting the other team score, and to have an undefeated season, we think that it’s important to be respectful to our opponents who may or may not have show us the same respect. Running up the score to blow them out of the water is incredibly disrespectful and kind of selfish.

Let’s continue to win games and cheer on the Jeffs under the Friday night lights, but let’s understand that purposely running up the score and leaving in the star players that aren’t needed is not a positive reflection of our school and our team and the consequences aren’t worth it. Win games, but be humble.

Sportsmanship outweighs championshipsEditorial

Underrated golf deserves recognition

My final season of high school girls’ golf just wrapped up. In my four years of golf, we’ve

been recognized once. This year alone four girls have set multiple

personal bests, have medaled at multiple meets, and have placed as a team at multiple meets. In the last four years, the only time we have been recognized for our accomplishments was when I qualified individually for State.

I think I can speak for all of the girls’ golfers, past and present, when I say golf is the most underrated and underappreciated sport. Crowds of fans don’t show up to cheer us on at golf meets. We don’t get an outpouring of praise for jobs well done on social media. We didn’t even get a slide on the brand-new LED sign that our families helped pay for until over halfway through our season, and the slide was for a tournament we didn’t even play in.

One thing that sort of changed this year is that we were scheduled for a parents’ night--for the first time in four years. They were supposed to announce us during halftime of the football game, the keywords in that sentence being ‘supposed to’.

We waited patiently with our families down on the track in the pouring rain while cross country was announced, but our turn never came. After standing there for about 10 minutes after, we accepted that we wouldn’t be walking down that track, so we gave up and left.

We don’t know exactly why we didn’t get announced or whose fault it was, and our athletic director kindly offered us a redo before a volleyball

Columns/EditorialsColumns are the opinion of the individual writer, not the staff of The Blazer. Editorials are the opinion of the editorial staff.

THe Blazer Staff

Sports Editor: Destini Warnke

School News Editor:Hannah Knigge

General News Editor: Jaelle Johnson

Assistant Editor: Joy Ondrak

Editor-in-Chief: Evie Schwab

Photo Editors: Caitlin Nimmich & Kenna Troxel& Jaelle Johnson

Delainey StewartBusiness Manager:

Reporters:

Paige Livingston

Mikasa Lierman

Josephine Blatny

Nichole Harris

Tayler Shellhase

Emily Burkley

AdvertisersThe faculty and students of Fairbury High School and District #8 shall not be liable for damages caused by typographical errors in advertisements beyond the amount of paid space occupied by the portion of the advertisement in which the error ocurred. Corrections will be made in the form of credit, which will be given at the current rate.Athletes of the MonthThe Athletes of the Month will be selected based on: academics, performance on and off the court, and attitude /personality in any ongoing Fairbury High School sport.Senior SpotlightThe Senior Spotlight will be chosen randomly each month, or selected by the Editor-in-Chief.

It is the policy of Fairbury Public Schools and its Career and Technical Education programs not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, disability or age in its activities and programs, including employment policies and practices.

By: Tayler Shellhase

game, but we politely declined because it felt like an act of pity and we figured no one would care anyway.

This experience made me more upset though because of my parents. They never got a chance to be recognized for everything they put into my golf career. They bought endless amounts of golf balls and attire and snacks for meets. They came to almost every one of my meets over the last four years and walked all 18 holes with me for most of them. They gave up entire work days to see me play a sport that no one else cares about.

On behalf of this year’s golf team, we would like to thank Coach Kristi Peterson for her generous shoutout to the team during their State Cross Country pep rally. We really appreciated the gesture and the kindness of the cross country team.

It’s sad how little golf is appreciated and actually recognized as a successful Fairbury High School sport. While us seniors and past golfers missed out, we hope that returning and future girls receive the attention and support that they deserve.

10 10.27.2017Entertainment Layout by: Delainey Stewart

Bonham theatre shows inaugural movie, “Spider-Man: Homecoming”

The first movie shown at the Bonham Theatre, “Spider-Man: Homecoming” did not disappoint. It was released June 28, 2017 and is rated PG-13 for some action violence, language, and brief suggestive comments. Directed by Jon Watts “Spider-Man: Homecoming” has brought $333,125,680 in box office.

Centering around a teenaged Peter Parker, under the disguise of a Stark internship, takes on the role of web-

slinging Spiderman. His adviser is Ironman/Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr.

Peter’s, played by Tom Holland, first couple missions are mostly just focused in his own neighborhood. Burglaries, pick-pocketing and break in-are all part of his daily routine. At the same time, Peter also has to be a normal teenager, go to school, and keep his superhero identity a secret from all of his loved ones.

As crazy as his schedule may seem to most, Peter feels he’s ready to take his superhero game to the next level and fight some serious bad guys. His opportunity comes when the Vulture (a new villain played by Michael Keaton) starts a black

Spiderman HomecomingRotten Tomatoes: 92%

IMDb: 7.7/10

Release Date: June 28, 2017

market weapons operation.Against Stark’s advice to continue

work as Spider-Man on the down-low, Peter begins to fight the Vulture and his accomplices. He puts himself and his loved ones in some pretty dangerous situations.

To find out if Peter can rise to the challenge you’ll have to watch the movie for yourself.

I really enjoyed this movie and I’m not even a huge fan of superhero movies.

It has a lot of laughs and tons of action scenes. This was a great movie for the first showing at the Bonham. If you like superhero movies, comedy, or combat this would be a good movie for you. For all those reasons, I give “Spider-Man Homecoming” four out of five spiders.

6 7In- Depth In- Depth10.27.2017 10.27.2017Layout by: Evie Schwab

Jeffs undefeated for first time in generationsAlums and family members remember previous years

Father, son both part of great teamsDelainey StewartReporter

Jeffs past and present leave legacies of undefeated seasonsEvie SchwabEditor-in-Chief

It has been a long time since the football team has had success like they are having this year. The last time Fairbury had an undefeated team was in 1973. There is a special connection between the football team in ‘73 and this years’ football team. Father and son Bill and Joe Melcher have both been part of a team that went undefeated in regular season.

Bill Melcher ‘75 was a junior when the ‘73 football team went undefeated in their regular season. They lost their winning streak during the first round of playoffs. Blair won the game 23-13.

“I don’t remember a lot about the games,” Bill said. “I can just remember the team that we had and it was pretty similar to this year’s team.”

Joe Melcher ‘20 is a sophomore this year and has been starting varsity as center. This years team went undefeated with no problems during the regular season and are ranked #2 for State playoffs.

“It’s a great season and it’s great to be along for the experience and it’s cool that I can do what my father could do 44 years ago,” Joe said. “I’m fortunate to be a sophomore and starting on a team this good.”

With both Bill and Joe’s teams having such successful seasons, it is something special that they can share with their family for years to come.

“It’s a great feeling that we can compare ourselves to when Fairbury was at their height back then,” Joe said. “Now we have a chance to win Fairbury’s first playoff game in school history.”

Along with sharing this story with their family, it will always be a special bond that Bill and Joe have

together.“It’s just kinda

a special deal,” Bill said. “It just kinda

makes a father proud.”Even though both of these successful

teams were many years apart, there are special connections between the teams and they will always be remembered for years to come.

Bill ‘74, Joe ‘20 and his mom Cindy ‘79 walk onto the blacktop for Joe’s sophomore year football parents’ night. Both Bill and Joe were starters on teams that had undefeated regular seasons. Photo by: Nichole Harris

With State football playoffs underway, the community is looking back at past football seasons amid some confusion about the last teams to play undefeated seasons.

The earliest known undefeated team was that of 1927. Only 18 players strong, the Jeffs finished their season with a winning record of 9-0. They wrapped up their season with a fantastic victory over Hebron, their long-time Thanksgiving Day rivals, winning 87-0.

Another team under initial debate was that of 1971. The varsity team ended their season 8-1, but they were named Class B State Champions because their only loss was 20-12 to Class A Beatrice.

“The 1971 game, we were state champs by the papers. At that time they didn’t have playoffs or anything like that,” Ken Kujath ‘74 said.

According to Kujath, whose twin brother Kim was als on on the team, the Jeffs had lot of good junior and seniors on the team that was beaten by Beatrice.

“Later on we played Auburn and they were the number one team. We beat them and that’s how we got to be number one that year. After playing Auburn and Beatrice I actually thought Auburn was a better team.”

Kujath, who was also a principal at Fairbury, was also a member of the 1973 team that went undefeated in their regular season, but fell short to Blair in the first

game of the Twin Rivers Conference playoffs. They ended their season 9-1.

“We were undefeated going into the last game, the conference playoff, against Blair. We went up there and we didn’t play very well; we really had a better team. We got up there and it was pouring down rain and it went their way. It was a game we should have won,” Kujath said.

Tony Likens ‘76 was a sophomore in 1973 and played mostly reserves, but he still remembers the successes of the varsity team and the tough loss against Blair.

“I remember we lost it and felt like crap all the way home. It was really a long drive home. We had a bunch of really athletic guys, kinda like the team we have this year, guys that play well

together. A bunch of really good athletes,” Likens said.

Regardless of the debate over the last undefeated team, they were all undefeated in their own aspects. The 1927 team had a completely undefeated record. The 1971 team didn’t lose a game to Class B competition and earned a State title. The 1973 team had an undefeated record in regular season, but lost in playoff action.

Finally, the Jeffs of 2017 have had an undefeated season and will be added to the list of successful FHS football teams. Both Likens and Kujath remember their high school football days fondly and compare the talent of their teams to the current players.

“I want to wish the football team much success in playoffs. I watched them once this year and believe they will do well as they go forward. Go Jeffs!” Kujath said.

“I want to wish the football team much success in playoffs. I watched them once this year and believe they will do well as they go forward. Go Jeffs!” Kujath said.