A website is marketing clothing for Wausau West high school alumni with an image of an Indian mascot, despite the fact that the school doesn’t have an Indian mascot and did not approve the image.
Paul DeMain, the CEO of Indian Country Communications and a Wausau West graduate, pointed to the website when making the claim that the school had changed its mascot during a recent appearance on a Wisconsin Public radio talk show.
“Wausau West High School took a step backwards in the last year or so when they adopted a Native American as their mascot,” he said.
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The site is for a company called Alumni Class, which is selling Wausau West shirts and hats with a grinning image of an Indian. But both the image and the clothing are unauthorized, according to School Board President Lance Trollop.
“It’s a website that is marketing to alumni, and it appears to guess at the mascot and colors of the high schools that are out there … and with Wausau West it got both the colors and the mascot wrong,” said Trollop.
The Wausau West mascot is a Roman warrior.
Trollop says the board has not discussed whether to take action.
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