Richfield High School - Aurean Yearbook (Richfield, MN)

Page 27 text:

A. Warm Welcome Captivity Vs. Freedom As the year 1980 came to a close and 1981 opened, all Americans were waiting and watching for the return of the hostages. The 444 days our hostages had spent in captivity were difficult. Yet, they survived. They fought terror and despair, and in the end the nation's prayers were answered. All across the country people rejoiced at the safe return of our hostages from the terrorism in Iran. On November 4, 1979, 62 Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Teheran were taken hostage by 400 Iranian students. These 62 Americans were members of the Embassy staff, guards, and security. Three other Americans were able to take refuge in the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The students demanded the return of the Shah, who was in New York for an emergency Cancer treatment, and the Ayatollah Khomeini and his Revolutionary Council took over control. Several methods of retaliation were tried by the American government in the form of economic policies, but finally a rescue mission was attempted. On April 24, 1980 an elite American Commando Team left for Teheran. However, the mission failed after the malfunctioning of three helicopters and the deaths of 8 Americans. Negotiations continued for a substantial period of time. The Iranians demanded 24 billion dollars for the release of the hostages. However, Carter offered only a 5.5 billion dollar down payment of their assets before the hostages’ return. Finally, an agreement was reached on the 442nd day, January 18, 1981, by Iran the U.S. through the work of President Carter and Warren Christopher, and the Algerian mediators. On January 20, 1981 the hostages were freed (shortly after the inauguration of President Reagan) and flew to Algeria, West Germany, and then finally back to the U.S. The entire country celebrated and payed its respect by giving a sincere welcome with hundreds of thousands of yellow ribbons. A Warm Wclcome 23

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Band Carnival October Fest On the evening of October 2, the RMS cafeteria bustled with commotion. Band students and their parents led by the Pansch family, ran game and food booths. Baloons. T-shirts, fruit, and lawn bags were on sale at the entrance. Pop. pizza, snowcones, hotdogs, and popcorn were available for snacking. Of all the games (cake walk, animal walk, can can, dart baloon. kool pool, lollipop tree, wheel of fortune, shoot the chute, spin art, teddy bear toss, raffle, pumpkin weight guess. M M and candy corn guess), the sponge loss proved to attract the most attention. Among the good sports were Mr. Collison. Mr. Kroger, Mr. Larson, Mr. Jucngling, and, of course, the band's dedicated director, Mr. Miles Lundahl. The fund raiser increased the band's budget by approximately SI,500. 1. Fascination in the mute (Lisa Sullivan). 2. Mr. Kroger gets his just reward. 3. Monica Lindstrom and Kathy Clausen search for a customer (Steve). 4. Some Animals! (Sheila Roach and Karla Melin). 5. Mom gets in on the action. 6. Laurie Rathbun clowns around. 7. So this is life at the Big House! Band Carnival 25