By Daily Press staff
For the eighth straight year, Santa Monica Elks have won the district ritual competition.
Six of the seven Santa Monica Elks officers took first place in the contest. Exalted ruler Ray Beers, leading knight Mona Young Lopez, loyal knight R. A. Pickett, lecturing knight Frank Frazier, esquire Ken Miller and chaplain Hank Allen all scored more than 90 points in their performance. The overall team score was 92.6. Any score over 90 is considered excellent. For the competition, the exalted ruler must memorize more than 5,000 words and the leading knight must memorize more than 3,000 words. Every body motion, hand motion and eye motion must be synchronized with the words and with the other officers. Each officer starts out with 100 points. If they miss a word, or make an incorrect gesture, points are lost.
The team will compete on the state level in May.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 30, 2005. Read the original PDF.