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  Scoggins Bruises Cherokees in Win for Bears
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By STEPHEN HARGIS Staff Writer
CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- The school bus was hitting on all cylinders.

Clint Scoggins, donned in Bradley Central's bright gold uniform, has earned
the right for a bruising nickname, and "school bus" fits. Especially in the
way the 5-10, 225-pound senior hauled McMinn County defenders on his back and his Bradley teammates on his shoulders in a 28-14 Region 3-5A win
Friday night in the Bears' den...end excerpt

... is "Cherokees" an appropriate mascot name
for a Tennessee high school football team?

is the image of a Plains Native American an
appropriate icon representative of the Cherokee?

in light of the recent Happy Valley High School mascot discussion
and their wallhanging of scalps, suggest that the TN Commission of Indian Affairs request that -all- TN high schools with Native names or imagery as their names and/or mascots change their mascot images and names, such as "Indians", "Chiefs", "Warriors",  "Braves",
"Cherokee", "Commanches", "Kiowas", "Redskins",
by the year 2005 (a year to come up with a new
mascot, four years to implement it).
 

(McMinn County is located midway between Knoxville and Chattanooga along the Interstate 75 corridor.
Athens is the county seat, Etowah "is the economic anchor of eastern McMinn County".

McMinn County and its neighbor Bradley County were the primary staging areas for the Southeast Racial Cleansing of 1838. )