Letters

Featured Letter: What ever happened to the awards?

To the editor:

My sister Constance (Connie) Hobson, a RHS 1977 graduate, was a star athlete in several women’s sports at Riverhead High School. She received numerous trophies, plaques, and awards that were housed in the trophy case at RHS by the gymnasium. As of this inquiry, no one in the district knows where these awards are located. A few years ago, I contacted Joe Ogeka, who promised me that he would look into the matter. I never received a definitive answer. I contacted other school officials and received numerous mind-boggling answers such as “All the awards are stored somewhere due to allotted space.” Not a problem; I understand. I was later told that most of them were given away or thrown away, so where are they stored? Why were they thrown away? No one knows!

Did they disappear like a sock in a dryer or loose change in a sofa? It seems like the truth to the matter is that no one knows where they are. I pray that this is not the case.

My sister Connie and others who achieved numerous awards that put women’s athletics in Riverhead on the map deserve much more than an “I don’t know.” She gave her best for Riverhead High School; is this the way the school district shows its gratitude? Wouldn’t it and shouldn’t it have been more fitting to try to contact these athletes to give the trophies and awards back to them, since they earned them?

My sister isn’t hard to contact and neither are the other past athletes who are still Riverhead residents. This is not only deplorable; it’s unethical to stash or throw away someone’s achievements. The past accomplishments are to be recognized and built upon — not stashed, bashed and trashed!

Carnal Hobson, Chesapeake, Va.