7am News, Sports and Obits

Latest WGIL news
Click to play or
Right click and "Save Target As" to download
Click for Galesburg, Illinois Forecast
Home - Cancellations - Community Events - Contact Us - Mornings - News - Obituaries - Pictures - Programs - Special Events Audio - Sports - Weather
Chief Illiniwek Event Called Off Over Legal Threat
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- Plans for a third annual unofficial performance on the University of Illinois campus by the retired Chief Illiniwek mascot have been scrapped after the school threatened legal action.

Roger Huddleston is co-founder of the Honor the Chief Society that planned the event for the weekend of Oct. 23 football game against Indiana. He told The News-Gazette in Champaign the group can't afford a legal fight.

An attorney for the university threatened to sue over potential trademark violations.

The group has held the event the past two years, renting out the Assembly Hall.

Illinois stopped using the mascot in 2007 after NCAA sanctions and years of pressure by American Indians and others who saw it as a demeaning caricature.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
10 15 10 by Newsroom
News management powered by Xpression News

Click here for the WGIL News Archive

Click here for national news

The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.