Morden Mohawks to become Thunder

Trustees of the Western School Division voted narrowly in favour of changing the name of the school teams at Morden Collegiate.

The vote was 3-2 at a packed school-division meeting. As a result, the Morden Mohawks will become the Morden Thunder at the start of the 2005/06 school year. Students voted on the new name earlier this year, choosing from among Hawks, Moose, Monarchs, Jets and Thunder.

Trustee Connie Lautenschlager voted in favour of the change. She says the community must look to the future on the issue, which she says won't go away.

"The world is changing around us. We have to prepare our children to deal with those sorts of things," she says

"Two of my children graduated as Mohawks. One will not. All three believe we should have kept the name. But as a parent I also have to make the tough decisions when I'm raising my kids. I believe in the same way that I have to make that decision as a trustee to do the right thing."

Fellow trustee Brian Hildebrand disagrees; Hildebrand voted against changing the name.

"I grew up here. I went to school here. The name initially was, I believe, chosen to respect the name, you know, and I don't think that's changed," he says.

Hildebrand believes the 2006 elections for school trustees should be fought over the issue.

"That is the opinion of a lot of people in the community, that the election should be fought on this. They would like their trustees to represent the people who elected them."

An unofficial poll presented at Monday night's meeting showed the majority of Morden residents wanted to retain the old name.