Friday, June 19, a stormy night, was the night for the American Cancer Society's signature fundraising activity, Relay for Life. The 24-hour event is annually conducted at City Park but this year, it was moved to the gymnasium at St. Anthony School because of the weather.

Streator Township High School's school board wants to set the record straight about that night. And the school's new superintendent, Kevin Myers, wants to clear up the misconceptions about what happened.

Myers said he had been hearing talk throughout the community that organizers from Relay for Life asked the high school about using its facility instead of the park due to the weather.

"I've heard all kinds of things from we outright told them that they could not use our facility," he said at last night's monthly board meeting. "I want to say right now that this and other things people are saying are not true. They are all misconceptions and no one should believe any of it. We did what we could for them at that time."

School Board President Dr. Earl Woeltje, concurred. "I've also heard comments from a few of my patients about Relay for Life and why it wasn't moved to our school."

Myers said he had missed an opportunity to help the community but he didn't officially became the high school's new superintendent until Wednesday, July 1.

"So for approximately two weeks the school had no superintendent. I have since talked to ... one of the co-chairs from Relay for Life about what happened because I was concerned about all the talk I've been hearing."

Myers explained Cheryl Canale had gone to the school office and talked with some of the staff members about using the school's facilities for their event.

"She talked to our office staff about that and working out a reimbursement plan for maintenance fees," he said. "As she was leaving the office, she ran into David Holmes (the high school dean), who suggested she attend the board meeting that night to request the use of our facility. Well, there simply wasn't any time for her to do that, so that's the reason they held their event at the other school."

Myers said that Canale has told him that "all of our office staff was very courteous, professional and very helpful. Our staff did everything they could and they did everything right, considering we had no superintendent to make a decision or figure out a way to help them out during their event."

Myers and Relay for Life planners are meeting this week to talk about what to do in the future when the weather makes it impossible to have Relay for Life in the park.

"We must have an emergency plan in place," Myers said, "and we would very much like to be considered their emergency place. We would be very happy to have that partnership with Relay for Life."