By MICHAEL STRAND

Salina Journal

Haley Wenthe and Jessica Sheahon have had close experiences with breast cancer: Wenthe's mother died from it five years ago, and Sheahon's mom completed chemotherapy not long ago.

So when they were looking for a community project, the two seniors at Salina Central High School settled on raising $10,000 during October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Their plan was to divide the money between the Tammy Walker Cancer Center and Hospice of Salina.

What they found out is that breasts can be a sensitive topic and that not everyone agrees where the line between edgy and indecent lies.

The two already had sold bracelets, beads, temporary tattoos and other items at school, but their big splash was to be the roughly 900 T-shirts in two different designs they'd had printed and planned to begin selling at this past Friday's football game at Salina Stadium.

They've had wonderful support from the school's administration, with vice principal Reuben Montoy -- himself a cancer survivor and former spokesman for the Relay for Life -- offering to shave his head if the pair met their goal, and the school arranged to set up a sales table at the stadium next to the 'Stang Shop, where the booster club sells various Mustang merchandise.

So when an administrator a few hours before the game was looking at the two T-shirt designs, Wenthe didn't quite believe it when one of the designs was vetoed.

"We know the boundaries -- we're good girls," Wenthe said. "When she said 'You're not going to sell that,' it was like it was a question," expressing more amusement than anything else.

Except that assistant principal Linn Exline meant it as a statement -- that the T-shirts, which bear the phrase "Save 2nd Base" and sport a pair of baseballs covering the wearers' breasts do, in fact, cross a boundary -- and weren't to be sold at the football game or any other time on school property.

She wasn't joking

When the girls showed up at the game, Montoy was concerned about the "2nd Base" shirts, and when told by the girls that Exline had been joking, he asked the girls to wait on selling or displaying them until Exline arrived and could clear things up.

Longtime Central booster Melissa Hodges was staffing the 'Stang Shop and overheard what was going on with the girls and Montoy.

"I thought, what's the problem with us selling them?" she said. "That's when things got a little nuts -- we had upset students, upset parents, we had a lot of people who wanted to buy the T-shirt."

"Mr. Montoy came up and said the students weren't to be selling them, and I said they weren't, that adults were," Hodges said. "He said to make sure anybody who bought them knew they couldn't wear them on USD 305 property, which we did."

In case you're wondering, Wenthe and Sheahon say they've had to explain it to others, too: "2nd Base" refers to making out that involves touching girls' breasts. The idea isn't original; it's the trademark of the Pennsylvannia-based Kelly Rooney Foundation, named for a mother who died from breast cancer last year.

Not trying to be dirty

"We're not trying to be dirty about it, but to have some humor, instead of a T-shirt saying how many people died from breast cancer last year," Wenthe said. "We thought if you want to educate students, you have to do it in a way that reaches them."

"As a school administrator, I could see how they could take it that way," Sheahon said of the school's interpretation of the shirts' meaning.

"I do understand where they're coming from," Wenthe said. "But we're doing it for something better."

Regardless of the intention -- or the fact that it's for a good cause -- Central's administrators say the "2nd Base" shirts violate the district's dress code, which bans, among other things, clothing with an "implied indecent meaning."

"We believe the bottom line is the message is not appropriate for school," Central principal Stan Vaughn said Wednesday, and that allowing them to be sold at school events would appear to be endorsing the shirts.

The other, approved, design says "Mustangs For a Cure." Wenthe calls it the "prude shirt," but Sheahon acknowledges the 2nd Base shirt "is not for everyone," and that even some of her friends told her they didn't feel comfortable wearing them.

The point wasn't to be sexual, Wenthe said, but rather to find a novel way of drawing attention to breast cancer and a light-hearted way to start a conversation about a pretty heavy topic.

The ban's a good thing

Of course, especially for teenagers, an edgy slogan is nothing compared to a ban.

"It's become a buy-them-because-you-can't-wear-them thing," Wenthe said.

"I thought the student body's response would be 'Oh, that's too bad,' but they've really gotten behind us."

"Banning the shirts is almost the best thing that could have happened," Sheahon said. "People are more aware of what's going on."

A few teachers, they say, have purchased the $10 T-shirts "but not to wear to school," Wenthe said.

And though some students have pushed for a day of open defiance and wearing the shirts en masse, and some seniors are talking about wearing them under their gowns at graduation, Wenthe and Sheahon aren't openly encouraging that.

Still work together

While the issue has caused some friction, both the girls and Central's administrators say they plan to continue to work together on their fundraising plans.

In a meeting with the students earlier this week, Exline said she stressed "that we certainly support their efforts -- but not that one shirt," and Montoy said he plans to "continue to support the other activities the students are doing."

"They've set a lofty goal, and they're working hard," Exline added.

"From day one, the administration has been very supportive," Wenthe said. "Just not with this one shirt."

Hodges said she think the administration was wrong, and "I think it undermines an excellent effort by two great girls who are working hard to raise money for a local charity."

Vaughn thinks that criticism is unfair, considering the support the school has given to the girls' effort overall.

Hodges said it was possible the booster club would continue to sell the 2nd Base shirts at its own stand.

"If it was up to me, if we have to turn them inside out, or put them in a brown paper bag to do so, we will sell them," she said. "But I don't want to back the booster club into a corner."

Vaughn said that wouldn't be allowed, either.

"The booster club is an extension of the school, and that's how we're going to approach it," he said.

You can buy online

But late Wednesday, Salina Journal Editor and Publisher Tom Bell offered a solution; the Journal would set up a way on its Web site for people to order the T-shirts online, forwarding the orders to Wenthe and Sheahon.

Bell said this shouldn't be considered an endorsement of the 2nd Base shirts being appropriate to wear or be sold at school but "just providing an outlet to raise money for a good cause."

Hodges found out about the online sales plan just before a Wednesday night booster meeting, where the T-shirt sales were to have been a topic.

"It really defused the situation," she said.

n Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by e-mail at mstrand@salina.com.