:: When the new Southside High School opens at the end of the month, it will be the first high school in the city built without an Olympic-sized swimming pool in 46 years, after the school district was finally able to override the requirements of Elanor Jean Hapsworth’s will.
:: Number of days (so far) this summer in which the temperature has reached 90 degrees or more: 23
:: Ecdysiast clubs out near the airport with aviation-themed names: The Landing Strip, Propellerz, The Cargo Hold, Lindy’s, Flyboys, The Landing Strip Too
:: More than 500 units of blood were transfused in the Nilsson-Presbyterian South Hospital emergency room during the month of July. Below is a percentage breakdown, listed by causes provided in accident/police reports:
32.5% Car/truck accidents
22.8% Miscellaneous/Not specified
14.4% Gunshot, stab, and/or assault wounds
10.7% ATV/motorcycle accidents
9.9% Aneurysm/hemorrhage
4.3% Firework mishaps
3.1% Injuries from falls (2.8% falls from objects, 0.3% crushed by falling objects)
1.6% Household/landscaping/construction equipment accident
0.5% Domestic animal attacks
0.2% Wild animal attacks
:: New events for Citywide Field Day XV, to be held at various elementary schools across the city during the second week in September: Four-square (individual and pairs), tennis-ball fling, spitting, and lava monster (exhibition)
:: Discontinued Field Day events: Pie eating, smear the queer, competitive see-saw, Marco Polo (may return pending review of last year’s near-drowning of two-time first-place ribbonee MacKenzie Sanders)
:: Official theme for Field Day XV: Positively Positive! (winning entry from third-graders at Whitehall Elementary)
:: Theme runners-up:First Is Best (Janos Elementary fifth-graders), Playing with Friends (Sternview Elementary second-graders), and Miley Cyrus Action Ninjas (fourth-fifth split at the Niamiah Holman Magnet School for Arts & Letters)
– Craig Gaines, Ray Ingraham, RJ White