High school debate team needs help to put on local tournament

Dear editor:

The Mountain Home High School Talkin' Tigers Speech and Debate team will host the Inaugural U-Bus-2-Us Speech and Debate Tournament Friday, Feb. 8, and Saturday, Feb. 9, at Mountain Home Junior and Senior High Schools.

More than 14 High Schools from as far away as Weiser and Pocatello have expressed interest in the Tournament that should attract some 200 high school students.

Friday, students will compete in 11 different speech events and Student Congress at the Junior High while Saturday's competition will include Lincoln/Douglas, Policy and Public Forum Debate at both the Junior High and High School.

This will be the first time in recent times that Mountain Home has hosted an Invitational Speech and Debate Tournament. The name of the tournament refers to the fact that this will be the only time this year that the 65 members of the Mountain Home Speech and Debate Team will not have to travel to a tournament. The team has 10 tournaments in the Boise area where they have to take a bus in Friday afternoon and return late Friday night and be back on the bus again before 6:45 a.m. This tournament gives the local students a chance to "not" spend four hours on a bus, hence the name UBus-2-Us.

However, hosting a tournament will not be an easy task. The expenses of providing food for the judges and tournament directors, the computer software used for the tournament, as well as the cost of trophies, will be close to $850. Some of these costs will be compensated by entry fees, but the Speech and Debate Team is hoping to use the tournament as a fundraiser to keep travel expenses down when they attend other tournaments. Donations can help defray the costs of the tournament.

The Mountain Home Talkin' Tigers are having one the most successful seasons in team history. The team won its first tournament in many, many years on Dec. 1 at Twin Falls and then finished third in the Columbia Speech Tournament Dec. 8. The team is currently ranked second in the National Forensics Leagues Gem of The Mountain Conference that encompasses southwest Idaho.

For more info call 587-2570 or 587-2590 and leave a message for Coach John Petti.

Joyce Wright

MHHS debate parent