Official Arrested
 

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.

If the background check came back clean enough....

I wouldn't think that it is my place to sit as judge and jury of this person. If he passes the state requirements, I would stay out of it. Accusations happen, mistakes happen, perhaps he cleared his name. Perhaps he needed to get some help for a problem. I don't know. I wouldn't get involved in his personal business. I would focus on his performance on the court. If that was fine, I would work with him.

I agree with the previous posts. If the state clears him then as long as he is a good official I wouldn't have a problem working with him.

Character!!!!

In my area this issue would only be dealt with between the IHSA and the official and many the assignors and the official. Other groups really have no say in this issue. Background checks here are for felony convictions and focus mostly on drug convictions and child abuse convictions. And while an official is dealing with legal troubles that involve criminal issues, the individual official has to inform the IHSA about those issues. Usually that means the official licenses would be temporarily suspended until the issue is taken care of. I am sure other factors might apply, but that is what is in black and white.

If my state allowed them to work, why would I have a problem with it? I can separate personal issues with professional ones. You said that this person was a good official by all accounts. That is the main thing I would focus on for a couple of hours.


I would do the same thing if I heard any other very personal comments coming from the stands. Get game management involved and have the people removed. It would not matter to me if they called him this or a racial or gender type comment or talked about his wife or child having a similar problem. Those comments are not appropriate. And just because the media reports something does not mean it is true.

Peace

After the whole Tim Donaghy thing, they all think anybody in stripes is a crook who fixes games for profit. Should I block all potential partners who wear stripes? Sure, it's a silly example. But fans will find all kinds of reasons to denigrate us no matter what our past. If the state/association/assigners have cleared him to work, why should you or I have an issue with his past?

WHAT!!!!! :eek:

How deep do we go on this?

You make the call.

Great comments...

I was also hoping to get some comments from Association Board members and Assigners (JR?) who actually would have more decision making powers concerning issues as this one.

Keep in mind that many are not sitting in the position to make such a decision. No official can make that decision from my state. I know as a board member of a particular division in a sport, all we can do is decide membership in our organization. We cannot decide whether and official has a license or can work HS or any other type of game.

Peace

Maybe, Rut, but assigners and board members can and do make decisions about what types of games, if any, officials get. So it does matter what they think of a particular official's integrity and character.

I am speaking from my perspective. Where you live I am sure is totally different with different set of issues as to how this is dealt with. Board members in local associations have nothing to do directly with whether someone does or does not work. Even if an assignor does not want to hire you, that does not exclude another assignor from hiring you somewhere else. That takes place already despite someone that has a legal issue or even ethical issue to deal with.

Peace

Just another association that will eventually have to defend accusations that its officials are employees, not independent contractors.

If he was good enough to work varsity games before, how could an association keep him from working those games now without, essentially, restraining his trade?

What's the saying?

I wouldn't be concerned with him unless he was found with dead woman or a live boy.

The media has a tendency to JUMP THE GUN...

Here in IL there was a guy who was accuse of raping and killing his own daughter... the media crusified this guy and he was let go because DNA evidence showed it wasn't him.

The media is quick to judge and will put even officials on the front page of the sports section for somthing that is percieved as wrong, but when they find out they are wrong they put in in the retraction section.

How many of you even know where to find the retractions??...

Bearmike,

Mark has a tendency to be very sarcastic in all of his posts. He was likely agreeing with me while making a joke at the same time. It takes some time (for me years) to get his humor. :D

Peace

Trust me JRut...in this case, the board members do have a say.

In your area they have all the say. I am talking about my area and you did ask this question to people outside of your area. I am not speaking for what happens just in your area. I have no idea what happens in your area or in every local association. But a Board member of a local officiating association has no say as to whether someone works or not. Only the IHSA and the IHSA Official's Department have that say as to who can or cannot work games in our state. I guess assignors have a personal say if they work for them, but that is a personal decision.

I am sure that is the case where you live because a lot of associations are the key holders to who works, where they work and how they work. In my state that would open the IHSA up for violating independent contractor law and having responsibilities the IHSA is not equip to handle. That might not be the case where you live and that is why I mentioned what is OK where I live. And to give a good example of this, our Observer's Program the IHSA wants implemented. The IHSA made sure that the Observer's Program was not about post season assignments and just training. If they did make our Observer's Program about who gets or does not get post season assignments that could compromise all officials and their independent contractor classification. Then the IHSA might have to pay Worker's Compensation and have to adhere to other legal ramifications and there would be no IHSA as we know it. I would assume that the rules we are under as it relates to this is the very same thing. The only thing the IHSA can do is license you, after that it is up to the individual schools and conferences to hire you and even then they cannot violate certain laws.

Peace

I am on the board of our 350 person organization. We have clauses in our Constitution/Bylaws regarding criminal conduct. Basically, a Felony change is an immediate suspension pending resolution...guilty or no-contest plea means permanent expulsion. A misdemeanor may carry the same consequences at the discretion of the board.

1. A member shall be automatically expelled upon conviction of or plea of no contest to a felony. While awaiting trial or other disposition of the matter, a member shall not be eligible for assignment of games.
2. A member may be subject to disciplinary action, including expulsion at the discretion of the Executive Board, upon conviction of or plea of no contest to a misdemeanor or other crime, or upon being charged with any crime, pending resolution of such charge.<O:p</O:p

Section 4. Appeal Process. There is no appeal from expulsion for a conviction of a felony; however, disciplinary action taken against a member pursuant to subsection 2 of Section 4 may be appealed by the member.<O:p</O:p

Also, we have the ability under the constitution to discipline someone (up to expulsion) for "conduct detrimental to the best interest of the association".

If the legal issues ended with no charges being filed, the charges dismissed, or not guilty, I'd have to give it some deep thought before I'd oppose his return....based on "best interests of the association". It would still be possible that I'd oppose the return of such a person even if found not guilty or charges dismissed but I've have to be absolutely convinced that they really did commit the crime....remembering that we don't have to have "proof beyond a resonable doubt" nor many of the other restrictions necessary in the arena of criminal law.

How do you know a recent partner that you worked with was not from another state where he had problems previously?

If the State association clears a guy on a background check then why the hell would I care whom I am working with (unless his officiating ability is less than desireable)...

I work with some of the same guys from time to time and I guess I'd say they are friends (at the facility)...we don't hang outside the gym together, save a couple...I have no idea what these guys are like in their personal lives....BUT..they are good guys to work with...

Oregon, right?

Maybe the state SHOULD consider your officials employees and the association employers if you're going to restrain the trade of officials.

A Question
 

What? You're kidding, you can't be serious, Mark is never sarcastic. He's the most serious guy I know.....

He would never do anything like that, would he?

The association can invite or "unvite" whom it pleases, but if that means a person can't get games from the attached assignor, you're right.

The OSAA requires membership in an association to insure training and knowledge, etc., in order to work games. The assignors are generally tied to the association.

Here's a link to the OAOA, a statewide assn. that has taken over a lot of what the OSAA used to do concerning its officials. This is on top of the locals. http://www.oreofficials.org/

How many states require a background check to get a license?
IL, FL yes.
WI no.

Trust me, the WIAA will remove the license of someone who runs into certain trouble with the law.

They will also try to keep girls from playing basketball as well that have become pregnant during the school year. But that is another conversation for another day. ;)

Peace

Quote:

Originally Posted by [COLOR=red RichMSN

Yes, Oregon.

We serve the schools. There are a lot of state laws concerning who is allowed to work in settings with students...including the background checks. Much of what we have just codifies how we're going to handle a situation where a person runs afoul of state/federal laws in between the legally required background checks. Basically, If they couldn't get any job for the school system, we can't send them to work a game in the school system.

Plus, we're not restraining a person's trade. They're more than welcome to take games through other sources....there are several...just not servicing the schools. All organizations have the right to set the rules of membership as long as they're not discriminatory based on the standard elements...and a being a felon is not a protected class.

We've had a few cases that have arisen over the years. We're not talking about freely restricting just anyone. The ones I know about involve drug dealing and statutory rape.