Unlucky 13 trips up spellers at Bee
By Sam Atkins
Published in News on August 25, 2004 1:56 PM
A buzz made its way through Goldsboro Country Club on Tuesday as 10 teams vied to be crowned the new Corporate Spelling Bee champion.
Cheers and sighs of relief and disappointment came from the teams as they attempted to spell easy, intermediate and difficult words.
It all came down to "triskaidekaphobia," which means fear of the number 13.
The two teams left in the competition were "Beez of Oz," sponsored by Wayco Ham Co., Cheapjunk Inc. and Deacon Jones; and "The Queen Bees," sponsored by Tands Inc./Bojangles.
They attempted to spell the word, but were both unsuccessful. However, "Beez of Oz" was able to buy the word to stay in the game and was named the winner. It will keep the trophy until next year's event.
The third-annual Corporate Spelling Bee was sponsored by the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce and Wayne Charitable Partnership Inc.
The event helped raise money for education -- particularly for teacher mini-grants, teacher recruitment and the Junior Leadership Wayne County Program. This year's goal was to raise $10,000. Chamber officials do not have an accurate count of how much was raised, but they believe they achieved their goal. They should know the amount Thursday.
Other participating teams were: "Arthur" and His Honey Bees, sponsored by Cooper-Standard Automotive; "Zoom Zoom," sponsored by Frema Motors; "Fabulous Fremont STARS," sponsored by General Electric; "Pal Hal's Credit Angels," sponsored by Goldsboro Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, Inc.; "The Daily Buzz," sponsored by the Goldsboro News-Argus; "Brainy Bees," sponsored by Goldsboro Pediatrics; "Wee Warriors," sponsored by Wachovia Bank of North Carolina; and "Smart Start Stingers," sponsored by Wilber's Barbecue.
The competition consisted of the teams working together to spell the words. There were three rounds, and the first round was easy words. The teams had 20 seconds to spell each word and show it to the "Bee Keepers," also known as judges.
The second round was intermediate words, and the teams had 25 seconds. The third round was difficult words, and each team had 30 seconds.
John Peacock of The Spence-Peacock Group was the "emBee" and pronounced the word, gave the definition and used the word in a sentence. If the team could not spell the word correctly, it could buy the word from the judges using "honey money" tickets.
The judges were Dr. Ed Wilson, Jr. with Wayne Community College; Tamre Newton with Family Advocate Outreach; Marilyn Roseborough with Seymour Johnson Air Force Base's Family Support Center; Dwight Mayo with Wayne Community College; Elsie Hall with Central Michigan University; Ollie Foster with the base's Family Support Center; Linda McLendon with BeautiControl Cosmetics; and Robin DeMark with the base's Public Affairs Office.
Olivia Pierce with Wayne County Public Schools was "Vanna Bee" and she placed the words on an overhead projector for all to see. Dr. Kenneth E. Benton with Academics Plus, Inc. was the "King Bee," or chairman, of the event. The "Killer Bee" was L.J. Stanley with Insurance for All and he popped the teams' balloons when they were officially out of the contest.
Awards were given for the first team out, best team spirit, best costume and the best table decor. The first team out was "Wee Warriors." The Frank Tillman Spirit Award went to "Arthur and His Honey Bees." The best costume award went to "Beez of Oz" and the best table decor went to "The Daily Buzz."