Copperas Cove titleholders make final public appearance

By LYNETTE SOWELL 
Cove Leader-Press 

On March 19, six of the 2021 titleholders turned out for their last scheduled public appearance – the Go Red For Heart Health recycling show, the project of Teen Miss Five Hills Angelica Torres, as part of Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful’s Spring Eco Fling, held at Copperas Cove City Park. Five of the royalty showed off original clothing items made from items which would normally be thrown away. Torres’ platform of service was heart health. In her prior reign as Young Miss Five Hills, Torres raised funds for the American Heart Association. 

On the evening of March 17, the Copperas Cove Five Hills Scholarship Pageant program announced on social media that the 9th annual Five Hills Scholarship pageant for 2022 had been canceled. 
Set for Saturday, March 26, the event had approximately 65 registered, who were to have competed for titles, tiaras, scholarship money, and prizes. Just for entering, contestants were to receive a gift bag worth at least $250 in swag and gifts from local businesses. 
The post read: 
“The 9th Annual Miss Five Hills Scholarship Pageant has been cancelled for March 26.  Thank you to the 120+ titleholders and their families who over the last nine years have made an indelible impact on our community, serving selflessly our City of Copperas Cove, the City Built for Family Living! The memories, friendships, and incredible experiences made over the last several years will be cherished. Thank you to our many business partners who also made this program possible with support financially and with goods and services. The Miss Five Hills Scholarship Program truly belonged to the community! Thanks for the wonderful memories! #MoreThanABeautyPageant.” 

The reason for the cancellation was spelled out in the comments, where a photo of a press release, dated March 17, stated that Sledd had submitted a letter of resignation to city officials earlier last week, and thus the 2022 pageant would not be held.
In that resignation letter, Sledd cited “the ongoing city council discussion to remove the program from under the city’s umbrella” and “criticism for enforcement of program rules posted on the city website.” 
It was stated that the City of Copperas Cove Finance Department will return all sponsor monies contributed toward this year’s program and all contestant entry fees will be returned.   

However, aAlthough Wendy Sledd is not at the helm of the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant program any longer, the City of Copperas Cove, the city council, as well as the Five Hills Scholarship Pageant program board, will reportedly still be in discussions regarding making the pageant and its program an ordinanced activity of the city.

The pageant board will also, at some point, lookat finding another director for the program and its multiple events, which brought in thousands of dollars annually for the city and for nonprofit organizations, as well as supported several of the city’s programs. 

Since November of last year, when the city council and city administration began discussing how to store the Five Hills program’s float, which is owned by the city, discussions also began in January regarding if the city would still keep the program under its umbrella, or cut ties with the program altogether. Sledd and dozens of current and former titlehodlers, their families, as well as local business owners, appealed to the council to keep the program under the city and to consider it as an onrdinanced activity. 
Last week prior to submitting her resignation, Sledd had submitted all requested records for the city to have an audit conducted of the program, something the council had called for as part of the process to explore creating the ordinance. 

The program, now in its ninth year, has contributed more than 50,000 hours of community service to the City of Copperas Cove and awarded nearly $450,000 in college scholarships and prizes to it contestants and winners. Additional achievements of the program include the purchase of sensory playground equipment for South Park, securing a $50,000 corporate sponsorship to build a dog park in Copperas Cove, founding and maintaining the city’s and school district’s Free Little Libraries, Blessings in a Backpack Program to provide weekend meals for students in-need, and more.