Liberty board overturns team’s suspension

LIBERTY — Liberty Town Council is experienced in hearing requests and making decisions on municipal matters such as zoning requests and water issues, but Wednesday night’s emergency called meeting left council members in a none too familiar place. The board struggled with finding a way to hold a group of parents accountable without punishing their children.

At issue: A Liberty Parks and Recreation basketball team was suspended from this coming weekend’s end-of-season tournament because team parents, even after being warned, refused to perform duties expected of parents of all Liberty Parks and Recreation basketball teams.

Liberty Mayor Terry Caviness told the packed house that the purpose of the meeting was to “find a solution to a problem, warning that it would not be possible to make everybody present happy.”

Shane Isley, council liaison to the Liberty Parks and Rec Advisory Board, said that an issue was brought before the Advisory Board at their January meeting that a team was not working concessions and handling gate duties at their home ballgames, which is required in Liberty Parks and Recreation as a way to offset costs so children can play sports without paying any fees.

Isley said that the recommendation was made from the Advisory Board to Parks and Rec Director Martin Rierson that the coach of the team be informed that if the team could not work their duties during their remaining two home games that they would not be allowed in tournament play. Isley said that no advisory board member spoke out against that recommendation.

Council members Gary Davis and Vickie Stevenson spoke out at Wednesday’s meeting, saying they were both in support of the kids and both questioned why such a decision was made with two games left in the season.

Caviness opened the floor for public comments, which lasted over one hour.

Germod Cheek, coach of the 11/12 year old boy’s team which was suspended, addressed the board, giving some background on his relationship with Liberty Parks and Rec. Cheek is a former president of the Parks and Rec Foundation, which was dissolved last year.

“I know when I was in the Foundation, I raised more money in a year then Martin Rierson has since he’s been here,” Cheek said.

Cheek then went on to explain to the council that he is a coach and cannot physically make parents of his players fulfill concessions and gate duties.

Cheek also pointed out that on the town’s form for registering children to participate in the program, there is an area for parents to sign acknowledging they agree to donate their time to work concessions and gate duties, but that there are no repercussions listed if that part of the contract is breeched. Cheek also said that he had players on his team whose parents did not sign that portion of the registration form.

Cheek’s father, Elworth Cheek of Ramseur, spoke on behalf of the children this decision would affect.

“It’s OK to penalize the parents, but don’t penalize the kids. These are the future leaders of your town,” he said. “What kind of message are you sending that you can’t do this and you can’t do that all because your parents goofed up?”

Cheek’s sister Tahesia Carter also spoke on her brother’s behalf, saying the action was a “personal vendetta” against her brother.

“When your head hits the pillow tonight, you better think about what you’re doing to our children,” she challenged council members.

Karen Scotton, advisory board member and basketball coach in the parks and rec program, told council members that everyone there loved the children.

“But the question is did this team do what they were supposed to do and the answer is no they didn’t,” she said. “When we have our coaches meeting, we are told that it is the coach’s responsibility to have concessions taken care of. We sign our name as a coach and we take on that responsibility.

“We (the advisory board) were told that there was a team not holding up their end of the bargain and they had a chance to right their wrong, and if that had been done, then we wouldn’t be here tonight.”

Council members questioned Scotton about the advisory board’s decision and asked if other teams had been in violation of the same penalty.

“We aren’t stopping this team mid-season. We are denying them the right to participate in the tournament,” she said. “And, yes, other teams had problems with people being late or only one person showing up to work instead of two, but nobody had nobody. This team was the only habitual one.”

Advisory board members Millie Sharpe and Dana Garrison also addressed the board, both saying they did not agree with the board’s decision. Neither Sharpe nor Garrison attended the January meeting.

The debate even brought out those with long-ago ties to the Parks and Rec department, dating back 20 and 30 years.

Jake Pence addressed the board, introducing himself as someone who was involved with the program from its founding days, and offered his advice.

“It’s a difficult thing to manage a group of volunteers, but it’s very important for these kids to have the opportunity to be part of something positive,” he said. “We can’t hold the children responsible for the sins of the adults. If you have punitive action to take against the coach or adults or employees, don’t do it at the expense of the kids.”

After the last person wishing to speak had an opportunity, Caviness closed the public comments section and began council debate.

Councilman Tyson Nixon made a motion to reverse the advisory board’s decision.

Councilman Isley stated that he stood firmly by the advisory board’s decision.

“This advisory board was appointed by the town council and the way I see it, it doesn’t matter if we agree with their decision, the advisory board made the decision, not the parks and rec director, and we should stand by it,” Isley said.

Rierson advised the board that Cheek’s team would have been playing in the tournament being held in Coleridge and that Coleridge had already scheduled the tournament games, leaving Cheek’s team out as advised. Rierson stated that he could not guarantee Coleridge officials would re-arrange the schedule.

Council member Stevenson, whom had stated earlier in the meeting the importance of focusing on the children and taking action best for the children, suggested that if Coleridge would not re-schedule the tournament to fit Cheek’s team, that no Liberty team should play.

Some members in the audience applauded that suggestion while others verbally questioned how that suggestion would benefit the children playing on teams that did not default on their responsibilities.

Council voted 3-1 to reverse the advisory board’s decision, with Isley the only council member to stand by the advisory board’s decision.

However, the vote to overturn the decisionn did not guarantee the team would be included in the tournament due to scheduling.

According to Town Manager Roger Davis, as of 5 p.m. Thursday, Coleridge tournament officials denied the team to be added to the tournament, as it would affect all of the other teams already scheduled in the tournament, which begins today.

“I hate it for everybody involved to have gone through all of this,” Davis said. “Hopefully, it will be a time to move ahead with improvements.”

Read this article:
Liberty board overturns team’s suspension