Look Back ... to a geography bee's local winner, 1999

April 16, 1949: The date fell on a Saturday during a 12-year period (1940-52) when The Star didn’t publish on that day of the week.

April 16, 1999, in The Star: Evan Parnell got a hero’s welcome earlier this week when he arrive at school. During the previous weekend, the White Plains seventh-grader placed third in the Alabama Geography Bee at the University of North Alabama in Florence. His mother said Evan gets his love of geography from his father, Lee Parnell. “His father has this geography knowledge also,” she said. State geography bees were held through this nation on that Saturday, the second level of the National Geography Bee competition, which began in December. Not surprisingly, the whole enterprise is part of the National Geographic Society’s campaign to improve geography education in the U.S. Also this date: Anniston students will begin school next term on August 16, according to a school calendar the board of education approved last night for the 1999-2000 school year. Superintendent Jan Hurd said teachers overwhelmingly support an early start to the school year because they want more instructional time prior to the state’s spring testing program. By the adopted calendar, the landmark Class of ’00 will graduate May 23.