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Blind Justice, or just plain blind!
by Bill Gaffey |
| In Western
Pennsylvania: Common Pleas Judge John Zottola convicted
Peter Dukovich, the fan/parent who attacked a basketball referee at
a high school basketball game last year of simple assault, but acquitted him
of three other charges, including assault on a sports official in last
year's Deer Lakes-Hampton basketball game. Hampton fan Peter Dukovich (age
48 and 300 pounds) testified that he unwittingly attacked high school
basketball referee Ron Bell (age 58 and 160 pounds) in a moment of
confusion. Bell's neck was so badly injured in the attack by Dukovich that
he has not worked in almost a year. Dukovich said he did not notice
the black-and-white striped shirt Bell wore or the whistle he was using to
try to bring order to the confusion on the basketball court.
Zottola said Dukovich, 48, had lived an exemplary life until his
confrontation with referee Ron Bell during a Feburary 6, 2004 game. Nothing
would be gained by sending Dukovich to jail for an incident that was out of
character with his history as a good parent and citizen, Zottola said.
This report comes from an article by Milan Simonich in
the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. We feel that Zottola was wrong. |
Common Pleas Judge John Zottola
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Blind Justice
by Daryl E. Horton
She stands there
Weighing my life in both hands
A cloth covers her eyes
While she tries to see the truth between two men
The scale tilts
Leaning to one side
But for who?
Blind eyes can’t see a lie |
Common Pleas Judge John Zottola is an example of the liberal
judges who are ruining our country. Daryl Horton in his poem says "blind
eyes can't see a lie." To imagine that Judge Zottola could believe that
Peter Dukovich could not identify Ron Bell as the basketball official at a game
that he had been watching for an hour, and at a game in which his wife had been
cursing the official, and that Bell was one of only two men wearing a stripped
shirt is a terrible testament to the County Judicial System. How
could you fail to include assault on a sports official? It's judges
like Zottola that make a case for the "recall" process.
From Eastern Pennsylvania: On Dec.
22nd, Monica Starrett (the Head Girl's Basketball Coach at Bloomsburg
University) came out of the stands to loudly confront Danville girls coach Patty
Romeo following the Ironmen’s 50-22 loss to Milton. Starrett also issued a
statement to the sportswriters present, threatening to do whatever possible to
prevent Romeo from coaching the Danville varsity next season. Starrett’s
daughter, Kate Pawlowski, is a freshman point guard for Danville.
In the wake of that incident, the Danville school board banned Starrett from
attending extracurricular activities at the high school. Then on New Year’s Eve,
Bloomsburg announced that it had placed Starrett on immediate administrative
leave, and has since elevated assistant Tammy Millsaps to coach the women’s team
in the interim. This report comes from an article by Matt Corbett in the
Sunbury Daily Item.
Sports in Pennsylvania and across the nation have been tainted by the work of
Judge Zottola and the poor judgment and boorish behavior of Coach Monica
Starrett. It's no wonder that some fans and parents and now a coach have become not just
an embarrassment to their family and community, but even worse a threat to the
sanity of sports.
The threat grows when the problem is not properly addressed!
In California in 2002, Dontravian Evans, 29, received a sentence
of nine months in jail and a felony assault conviction
for punching a
referee at a recreational basketball game in Long Beach. In addition to the jail
sentence, Evans received three years probation and must pay $3,400 to the
victim, referee Kevin Robinson, for medical bills. How bad was the referee to
warrant being attacked? Hey, at the time score was only 2-0, the game had
just started! Congratulations to the California Court for provided a strict penalty. And credit to
Bloomsburg University and the Danville School Board for taking quick punitive
action against Coach Starrett. Shame on Common Pleas Judge John Zottola.
(Credit: Milan Simonich Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Matt Corbett
Sunbury Daily Item, National
Association of Sports Officials, Daryl E. Horton)
See this website:
http://www.naso.org/sportsmanship/badsports.html