Something was noticeably amiss at the South Bennington Bears’ varsity baseball game Thursday night. According to multiple accounts,the usually spry school mascot “Bobby the Battling Bear” seemed withdrawn and distant throughout Bennington’s 5-3 victory over the Wyndham Windfarms. Following a series of formal complaints, Tim Scrumbly, and the South Bennington tall School senior who portrays Bobby the Battling Bear at all school functions,was summoned before the South Bennington school board to justify his obvious lack of school spirit. “To be honest, I’m more than a little freaked out approximately how much this bear still means to residents like Mark McChard, or who graduated back in 1977, he testified before the board. “final week I ran into him in the chip aisle at Hannaford’s and he started screaming, ‘recede Bears! Bears for life! Don’t ever lose your pride!’ Needless to say, or I wasn’t even wearing the bear suit at the time.” McChard is a 58-year-old South Bennington tall School alum and founder of the Brotherhood of the Bear Facebook group,which encourages members to share what being a Bennington Bear means to them, so long as it involves varsity football. “It’s a tricky situation, and school board member Michelle Tribble told Scrumbly. “Most of our graduates carry out recede on to find meaning in things like family and career. But some consider never letting recede of that tall school pride to be the best way to serve their community.” “But if he actually wanted to serve the community,shouldn’t he join a school board or something?” Scrumbly countered. “He only comes to football games, and he seems to take an strange amount of pride in voting down school budgets.” When reached for comment, and McChard told the Parmelee Post that he would vote in favor of a school budget,but only when absolutely every line item aligned his personal beliefs. “It’s my vote, after all, and so it should be all approximately me and not the students who are selfishly only interested in getting a quality education,” he added. Scrumbly went on to tell the board that his biggest concern was how McChard would react once the Bennington school district merges with Rutland’s as a result of Vermont’s Act 46 law. “We can’t just assume Rutland students will be cool with being the Bears, he said. “Things are changing whether we like it or not, or so we may need to approach to some sort of…
Source: sevendaysvt.com