[just another ref]

Everybody I have talked to about this matter all seem to kind of treat this guy like a crazy relative.

"We know he ain't right. We know none of this is your fault. But just ignore him and work around him as best you can."

I just feel like if I tried to have him ejected from the gym for anything short of coming onto the court screaming during the game, it would make more trouble for me.

Some of the principals around here have taken the path of least resistance on this matter. "We need the game worse than we need you as an official and possibly no game or an incident at the game. Nothing personal, but we'll have somebody else here for this one." Hard to blame them here. But it is still difficult to let a guy like this dictate anything to anyone, especially something that it is in no way his place to do so.

True colors do have a way of coming out. Last year, before the tournament at the school where the game was this week, the coach called mr. principal to discuss, "Look, chief, I don't know if j. a. r. will be here or not, but if he is, he will be calling games, so just let me know if y'all are not coming." Mr. principal told him no problem, it was all in the past. I called at the tournament, including some of their games, without incident. The following Monday, another local jr. high was at mr. principal's place, and he said, "Oh, by the way, if (you know who) is officiating your tournament next week, we are not coming."