The Vietnam War had come home by 1969 with the latest battlefield casualties and antiwar protests seen night after night in living rooms throughout America. Ramsey High School students were actively in engaged in the national debate over America's involvement in the war -- for them, the war was real. In the 60s all young men were required to register for the selective service system when they turned 18, and being drafted and sent to Vietnam loomed as a real possibility.

The Student Council planned Moratorium Day on October 15, encouraging students to wear black armbands and asking for voluntary discussion of the war in English and Social Studies classes. A voluntary lyceum on the war scheduled for 7th hour attracted 400 students. Ramsey students also participated in a Moratorium march for peace at the University of Minnesota.

In addition to covering antiwar events at Ramsey and the U of M, the school newspaper produced a two-page report on the war and the draft. Coverage included perspectives from students who opposed and supported the war, a former Ramsey student council president who was now a draft resistor, and selective service officials.

The Nov. 3 issue also featured an interview with Count Dracula (student Mark Johnson), who starred as the vampire in the fall school play, and covered the football team's tough loss to Irondale in a game Ramsey had led until the last two minutes. "It was a real heartbreaker," Coach Lars Overskei said.