I n d ep en d en t
Issue no.
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1933
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September 2011
Volume 24
Boise, Idaho
Top Stories
Lookin’ chic
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First issue free
The history of the bell
Former Boise women leave lasting legacy with Bell of Excellence Amy Merrill Journalist
Rocking the whites in the Broncos’ new Pro Combat jerseys.
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Parking
Think we have problems? See what other schools deal with.
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Tear gas
Civilians are bombed with tear gas to avoid chaos in Israel.
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Two women. One bell. A lasting mark on Boise State history. This is the story of the Gray Grannies, who were once Blonde Bombshells. This story begins in the ‘50s, when Boise State University was Boise Junior College, before many students today were even born. “Times were a lot different, my dear. We couldn’t wear pants anywhere on campus so we were nothing but young ladies looking for a way out,” Kathie Olson said, laughing. Olson shared a suite in Morrison Hall with Ann Murdock in 1957 and they were known around campus as the Blonde Bombshells. Olson and Murdock were more than just a couple of bombshells though — they also were the ladies responsible for bringing the “bell of excellence” to campus. In those days, the college’s rules were far more stringent than they are today. “We had to be locked up at 10:30 every night in those days so we didn’t get to do much that is fun,” Olson said, describing a more conservative campus environment. However, an early curfew didn’t always keep BJC students out of trouble. There was a fierce rivalry between BJC and the College of Idaho (C of I), located in Caldwell. “I wasn’t very athletic but I know there was a rivalry between the schools,” Olson said. Murdock said she thought of it as more of a campus rivalry or cross valley rivalry. “We always thought we were as good as they were or better,” she said. At the time, the College of Idaho was a four-year school while BJC was a two-year school and the athletic teams never had an opportunity to face each other on the field.
In a letter to The Arbiter written last May, Olson stated the rivalry between the two schools resulted in “friendly thefts that were nevertheless causing increasing friction between the schools and the law.” The targets of the thefts were Boise Junior College’s $400 highway sign with the classic bronco display and the College of Idaho’s 1,200-pound victory bell commonly used to signal touchdowns at home football games. “I have no idea who started it but they sent their guys over to steal our sign so we started to steal their bell,” Murdock explained. “I had no part in anything illegal,” Olson clarified. A 1957 article in the “BJC Roundup,” the weekly school paper at the time, detailed one eventful night of thievery in particular. “Sunday night, four carloads of BJC students drove to the C. of I. campus,” it reported. Students allegedly caused damage to the stadium goal posts and a letter “B” was burned into the C of I field. Of course, retaliation wasn’t far behind and the Boise police were tipped off to roughly 70 C of I students headed to BJC campus for revenge. “They didn’t have their bell half the time and we didn’t have our sign board half the time,” Murdock recalled. Continued exploits of thievery would have most likely resulted in jail time for students, so the Blonde Bomshells decided to write a letter to Union Pacific Railroad requesting a bell hoping that the thefts would cease that if both colleges had a bell. Six days later, a letter arrived addressed to Miss Ann Walstra (now Murdock) and Miss Kathie Links (now Olson). The official Union Pacific heading framed a letter that was short and to the point. “Agreeable to your letter … Union Pacific Railroad Company will furnish ‘no charge’ …
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Photo courtesy Kathie Olson & Ann Murdock
Blonde Bombshells return to bell as the Gray Grannies.
Tomorrow
Daniel Patchin/THE ARBITER
Kathie Olson and Ann Murdock brought a bell to campus to end a bitter rivalry.
Victory Bell Given By Union Pacific Boise Junior College will receive a victory bell in the near future, according to sophomore students Kathie Link and Ann Walstra. The news of the bell came in a letter answering a letter they recently wrote to Union Pacific Railroad headquarters inOmaha, Nebraska, inquiring into the possibility of obtaining an old locomotive
(Right) Old BJC Roundup clippings from fall 1957. a bronze locomotive bell,” the letter stated. “We were thrilled! In those days it didn’t take much to get us excited!” Olson stated. The ladies don’t recall much about seeing the bell arrive except once seeing it on a crate. “Eventually it just showed up by the football field,” Olson said. “The bell was supposed to be a victory bell so they would ring it after, you know, football victories,” Murdock explained. And for a long time, the bell was transported to the football field for games. The Blonde Bombshellsturned-Gray Grannies no longer live in the greater Boise area, but this April, the ladies made a trip to Boise State to walk their old stomping grounds. During their visit, some students helped them find their way around Morrison Hall and to the current location of the bell. “We couldn’t believe we found it again … it’s got a lovely setting now, and nobody could steal it anymore,” Olson commented on the bell’s new home set in stone.
bell. The girls included in their letters clippings from newspapers concerning the C of I bell incidents. The return letter from the Union Pacific Railroad stated that a bronze bell weighing 350 pounds was being shipped expense paid to the college and would arrive within two to four weeks. The bell is complete with yoke and clapper.
Traveling College Fall of 1957 Idaho Bell Takes New Round Trip to Boise CALDWELL – The “case of the missing bell,” thought Friday by official of the College of Idaho and Boise Junior College to be solved, was reopened Saturday when the 1200-pound bell disappeared again from the C of I campus, but was found later in Boise by a group of students of the school and returned once more to its place in Caldwell, according to the Canyon county sheriff ’s office. The big bell, used by College of Idaho students at football games to signal a touchdown for the home team, had been returned to the school Friday evening in a ceremony at Hayman field. The bell had been missing from its mooring in front of the student bleachers since last fall, and was found in Boise by police officers. In exchange for the bell, C of I students had returned a BJC sign board, and officials of the two schools said they hoped this ceremony would end a series of pranks by students that had cost some $150 in damage. Saturday morning, the bell was gone again, the sheriff ’s office said. It had been taken sometime Friday night – before it could be installed again at the C of I football field. The sheriff ’s office said a group of College of Idaho students evidently drove to Boise Saturday and recovered the bell. “Our informant at the college did not say where in Boise they found the bell, but he did say it was back in Caldwell Saturday night and was going to be well-guarded until it is installed again at the stadium,” the sheriff said. Fall 1957
Illustration Bree Jones/THE ARBITER
The physics of skydiving Red Bull gives one lucky student wings Trevor Villagrana
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The tarmac was hot that day, as Red Bull Air Force Champion Miles Daisher suited up for what would be the most anticipated jump of the weekend. With senior physics major Trevor Engman and Boise Weekly reporter Andrew Mentzer geared up alongside, it was sure to be a day of high fives, killer rides and wild dives. The three amigos met at Skydown Sky Diving in Caldwell Friday Aug 26 to psyche each other out, measure velocity and throw back some cold Red Bulls in the interest of science. What started as a chain of emails from Red Bull Representative and senior communication major Trevor Campbell, eventually snowballed into an
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1 3 5 DAVID WUERTH/THE ARBITER
The Arbiter
Daisher (left) and Engman (right) are stoked for extreme science.
event that drew not only attention from The Arbiter but also KIVI. An officiated name-out-ofthe-hat ceremony picked Engman up from relative obscurity and consequently dropped him out of the sky. Tiffany Watkins, an adjunct professor of physics caught wind of the event and saw it as an excellent opportunity for free publicity and also a chance for an eager student to be tossed out of an airplane. “I thought it would be fun for somebody to do,” Watkins said. “It gets our name out there and it lets people know that we’re not a bunch of nerds hanging around and doing math. We can do fun things too.” Watkins, with an expressed interest from Red Bull, sought to use the jump as a chance to gather data in a way that had yet to be seen on campus. Youthful escapades such as these, sponsored by the energy drink aficionados, draw all kinds of positive attention
to Boise State and create a new realm of studies that can be done around the crossover between extreme sports and academia. “I’m always stoked when Red Bull is around,” Engman said. “They’re one of those companies that is always really awesome about getting people involved and getting out there and doing cool things.” This jump acts as a preview for the Perrine Bridge Festival in Twin Falls, a long time favorite of Daisher’s, set to take place Sept. 9 and 10 at the Twin Falls Visitor Center. The festival is a fundraiser for children with special medical needs and features a fun run, kayak races, half-hourly BASE jumping and skydiving exhibitions and fun fare for the whole family. “It’s a festival to celebrate the canyon, the bridge, Twin Falls and life in general,” said Daisher, who will be hosting contests throughout the entire weekend.
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