Claudine Housen, Staff ReporterWestern Bureau:
Scores of patrons
gathered in the main hall of the Montego Bay Cruise Shipping Terminal to watch the inaugural staging of The Gleaner's Adult Spelling Bee competition yesterday.
With the Spelling Bee already a staple of the Montego Bay Expo, The Gleaner's Western Bureau, decided that it was time for the adults to get a slice of the pie.
At first they were shy, but with a little prodding, they came. One became two and two became four until there were 14 participants in the event. In no time the numbers were knocked down to six, which then became two and the 'real' competition began.
What had started out as a spelling match became a battle of the sexes as the last two spellers vied for the prize of a trip for two, courtesy of Air Jamaica. The men cheered then the women, each rooting for their own, even the children were in on the fun with a few being asked not to prompt the spellers.
The game became more intense when the man Ricardo Smith down four handicaps, realised that the competition had airline tickets as the first prize. He rallied, he counted slowly, he asked the meaning of words, he even asked for origins but this was not enough to earn him the prize as he soon lost his footing to Andrea Miller, when he misspelt the word 'whiff'.
A little disheartened at his loss, Mr. Smith told The Gleaner that he entered the competition to give the males a presence in the contest.
ran out of luck
"The reason I entered the competition was due to the fact that there was a majority of females," he said. "I did not know it was serious until it was down to the crunch time so I tried to take it serious, but I ran out of luck."
Fourth runner-up in the 1997 St. Ann Spelling Bee parish finals, Andrea Miller, was quite pleased with her win.
" I thought, 'Well I did not get my chance then so maybe I get it now,'" said Ms. Miller, adding that she might use her ticket to go to New York.
