[kbilla]

Originally Posted by RookieDude

Without getting into specifics(names, places, etc.)...I have heard of a situation in a certain association.

Right to the point...a good Varsity official who was looked upon as a clean-cut law enforcement guy ran into some trouble. He was "blasted" in his local media for domestic issues as well as problems in his department involving possible meth found at his home. I do not know if it was his, his friends or if he was using, selling or none of the above. He was fired from his local law enforcement department.

This official took off last year to fight his legal problems. He has now approached the Board and the Assigning Secretary, of his basketball association, to see if he can get some games this year. He has attended one meeting of the three (the most recent one) and would like to be considered as an official.

The State governing body has been asked to do a background check. The State told the Assigning Secretary that there was nothing in the check that would prevent him from officiating. (I do not know if the State was informed of this individual's local problems.)
I also do not know if there were any confictions or if there was a plea, etc.
I do know his picture was plastered all over his local papers along with numerous stories involving his incidents.

This person has a reputation, as an official... of being on time, a nice guy, good "basketball" judgement, and a good partner.

Question(s): Should this person be allowed to officiate basketball in his local association?

Would you want this person as a partner?

What would you do, if he was your partner...and you heard fans yelling comments such as "meth head" etc. at him during your game?

Any opinions out there?

If the association has cleared him, then I could care less about his personal issues...if he is a good offical then yes I would surely want him as my parnter. Not much you can do about those types of situations, those are things he needs to think about before he decides that he wants to come back. Of course you can always get game management involved if there are individual fans who are getting personal and taking things too far, but unless they are going to clear every gym that you play in then it is probably something that he is going to have to get used to.