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Friday, March 07, 2003 Page: 1B
OPINION
Whose job is it to keep high school athletes from drinking, and from
drinking and driving? Whose job is it to discipline those players if they
screw up?
Saturday night, two GAR boys basketball players, and one student not on the
team, were involved in a one-car automobile accident. Forty Fort police
officer Brian Eovitch said Sunday that seniors Howard Mapp and Nick Sharpe
will be charged with underage drinking, and Mapp will be charged with driving
under the influence.
Both players are starters. Both players are seniors. Both players practiced
with their team this week in preparation for the state playoffs, in which they
will face York Catholic on Saturday.
Asked if the two young men will play this weekend, GAR coach Paul Brown
said, “I guess we’ll see Saturday afternoon.” I take that as a yes, although
I could be wrong.
Wilkes-Barre Area Superintendent Jeff Namey has said the district’s rules
on alcohol consumption apply only to school property or school-sponsored
functions.
Our FanFare line has been buzzing with callers saying the kids should be
banned by the school and the coach. Isn’t anything the responsibility of the
parents anymore?
It comes down to social contracts.
An obligation to act properly
We all have different, separate social contracts, with our kids, our
parents, our boss, our spouse, the cops and the country. They don’t
necessarily overlap.
The police can’t arrest me for being lazy, although my boss can fire me and
my wife can yell at me. Likewise, my boss can’t arrest me for speeding. It’s
not her job.
These kids have contracted with the coach to practice and play basketball.
They have contracted with the school to follow the rules on campus, and on
school-sponsored trips. They have contracted with society to follow the law.
They have contracted with their parents to act right.
The coach shouldn’t even have the opportunity to bench them.
This isn’t about basketball, and it isn’t about the playoffs. This isn’t
even about drinking. The issue is driving under the influence, and riding with
people who do.
None of us is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. What we learn from those
mistakes often determines whether they happen again.
According to witnesses, these kids went careening down Wyoming Avenue at a
high rate of speed and slammed into a light pole and a fire hydrant, and they
were drinking, police said.
If that’s the case, they could have killed themselves. They could have
killed your son or daughter.
I’m not going to have a problem with coach Brown if these kids play ball
tomorrow afternoon.
I’m going to have a problem with Mapp’s and Sharpe’s parents, if the
allegations are true. Discipline for this one would be their responsibility,
along with the criminal justice system.
Lane Filler’s column appears each Friday. Contact him at 829-7127 or
lfiller@leader.net.