St. John's High likely to find new parade route for 2004

Everybody loves a parade, unless they're stuck behind one during rush hour. That was the main concern about St. John's High School having its homecoming parade at 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. After some worried that the parade wouldn't get its necessary permits, the school received permission Thursday to go ahead with the parade at 4 p.m. Oct. 17. School officials already are looking at alternative routes for next year. Last year's parade, which drew community members, students from schools all over the county and St. John's alumni, also brought more than 100 complaints to Edgar Farris, a Charleston special events committee member and police lieutenant. The parade runs from Haut Gap Middle School down Main Road to St. John's High. Though it takes about an hour from start to finish, the effect on traffic along Bohicket and Main roads is much larger. "We're talking several hours of having traffic congested before it works its way back to normal flow," Farris said. Teachers from the school petitioned the city's special events committee Wednesday to let the parade continue for one more year at its usual time and route. School officials said they did not know about last year's complaints until last week. "Had we known about a year ago about the complaints, we could have planned for this," Principal Bill McElroy said. Farris acknowledged that while the special events committee discussed the complaints after last year's parade and discussed sending a letter to the school, such a letter was never sent. Teacher Eulonda Mitchell said parade planners would discuss alternate routes for next year since the time can't be changed without making it too early for some to attend or so late that it conflicts with the football game. She advised those in the community or heading beyond Johns Island to Wadmalaw, Kiawah or Seabrook islands to find another route home Oct. 17. McElroy said canceling the parade was never an option. "It's too important to the island," he said.

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