Lorin St. John's letter (Jan. 13) was, in most respects, true.

This ongoing fight over the origins of the Richland High School mascot has flamed up every year or so for at least 15 years. It's been extensively researched and documented as to the true origin of the mascot. It was not based upon a bomber airplane, and it was not based upon the atomic bomb.

Its origin was from a "dummy" practice bomb found out on the old practice bombing range where Bombing Range Road in West Richland is now. Some students found it, brought it home, painted it school colors and brought it to basketball games. This occurred before the "Day's Pay" was conceived, and before the atomic bomb.

In the 1990s, a group of faculty members at RHS felt that the symbol of the imagery of a nuclear bomb shouldn't be perpetuated. So they began teaching their students that the "true" origin was the Day's Pay bomber. This revisionist view is still believed by many of those students to this day.

An excellent report on this was prepared by Keith Maupin in February 2001, titled "The Bomber, the Bomb and the Bombers: Myth, History and Traditions." It can be viewed at alumnisandstorm.com/Mascot/MaupinPaper.htm

Aaron Johnson, Richland