NEWS

FELONS COACHING IN ORTING?

By: Katherine Randle August 20, 2008

I wanted to share with everyone the below emails that were being sent around town on August 19, 2008. Thank you to everyone who is forwarding this information to get it around town!

Letter from the Mayor of Orting

Attention Football Parents:

I regret to inform you that some background checks on some coaches and helpers were not completed prior to the beginning of practices. It was reported to staff that the coach for the Cougar/Green flag football team is a convicted felon. He has no record of sexual abuse of children. He was terminated as a coach on Sun., Aug. 17, 2008 and a new coach will replace him.

We took this situation very seriously, and the issue took top priority. Today, I personally oversaw a complete re-run of background checks for all coaches in our football program and they all came back cleared. The new Cougar/Green replacement coach and assistants will have background checks completed before their first session tomorrow.

We have set up new procedures on how coaches are selected and have disciplined the two employees in the Parks and Rec Department. In the future I assure each of you that no person will step on the field as coach or assistant until the background check has been completed.

I sincerely apologize and am sorry for the suffering this caused. I wish there was something I could do to make it all go away.

Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your understanding. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me any time.

Best regards,

Cheryl Temple
Mayor, City of Orting
360-893-2219, x125

Email From A Concerned Parent

I wanted to make you aware of a terrible situation that has occurred within our Parks and Rec Department. I signed my son up to play flag football, only to find out shortly after the first practice that his coach was a CONVICTED FELON, yes a convicted felon. This last few days have been a mess. Did I mention his wife is one too? All this has happened because they city or Orting (and I am quoting the mayor) " didn't think it was important" to run background checks on the coaches and volunteers. As if the safety of our kids wasn't the worst thing that was at risk ( if you saw this gentleman's wrap sheet, your stomach would turn. He has numerous previous and current offenses as well as has done recent time in PRISON) This gentleman was given all of our personal information. Names, address, insurance and our boys birth certificates ( did I mention one of the convictions was for identity theft and forgery?). The lack of concern and responsiveness that was given to us by the parks dept and the city of orting is appalling ( although her letter below sings a different tune).

The reason I am sharing this information with all of you, is because we have all formed friendships over the years and part of that is due to all of our commitment to protecting and raising our kids in a safe environment. For those of you that participated in the baseball program from the parks in the spring, those coaches also had not had background checks completed.

As for myself and my family, our faith in not only the parks department but the city as well has been completely destroyed.

Just remember...." It takes a village to raise a child" It also apparently takes a strong network of friends to keep them safe... Thank you to the mom who cared enough to come forward with this information, so that the rest of our children would not be at risk.

Letter from another Concerned Parent

I am also one of the parent's whose personal information (including my son's birth certificate) that was released to a CONVICTED FELON without a background check. I have been in contact with the Mayor and the Staff of the Parks and Rec dept. I can say they have done nothing to convince me that this has been handled at all. If one of our concerned parents had not stepped forward, I doubt background checks would ever have been run on any of the coaches. When I spoke to the Mayor a few minutes ago, she admitted to me that background checks had not been a priority because they took the program over from OAA and they (OAA) had been rather lackadaisical (her word) in their checks so they never really improved on the process. HELLO?!#$@ The City didn't think background checks were necessary or important? How many programs has the city put on in the last year? I recall seeing overnight trips, day trips...........were background checks don e then?

FYI- The City Parks and Rec DOES NOT run the soccer program. For anyone who wants to have their child in a program where their safety and welfare remains #1-the soccer program is the way to go.

That being said, my son will not be playing flag football. As much as he was looking forward to it, I cannot support a program that is so disorganized that FELONS are allowed to coach.

Letter to the Community from Orting Soccer Club

I noticed my email in this group email and felt the need to respond-

I represent the Orting Soccer Club, we are a non-profit 501c3 organization that is run solely by volunteers. We are governed by numerous agencies that help to make sure that all of our kids are safe. I would like to thank you for making it clear that the OSC has an extremely modern system for background checks. The way the ‘system tree’ works for youth soccer is like this:

1. FIFA (this is the world governing organization)
2. US Club Soccer (these would be the MLS and USL Leagues)
3. US Youth Soccer
4. Washington State Youth Soccer (which is broken down into districts)
5. District 3 (which is broken into associations)
6. Mount Rainier Soccer Association (made up of the Orting Soccer Club, Mount Rainer Soccer Club, Sumner Soccer Club and Cascade Foothills Soccer Club)
7. Orting Soccer Club
8. Parents
9. Children

For those of you that have coached with us in the past; we require you to fill out the RMA request on-line which sends it to the State Patrol for approval. All of our volunteers are done the same way. Soccer clubs in the state of Washington are required to have this done for all coaches. As far as I know Soccer is the only sport that is governed from a world level down to the local clubs. The soccer program will never become part of the City of Orting due to the way the Washington State Youth Soccer Association is formed. This is not meant to knock the City just the reality that if cities failed to exist, soccer would go on.

I personally take youth sports extremely serious and try to make sure that all members with-in our club remember that this is about the kids first. We try to screen all coaches and volunteers only after they have passed the background check, sometimes we still do not allow them to coach. In other words just because you pass the background check a person may not be fit to coach youth sports!

If anyone has any questions regarding the Soccer Club or its governing agencies feel free to contact me,

Rick Olson


From The Editor

Please visit the Orting News Blog at http://ortingnews.wordpress.com/ to post your opinions, concerns, and response.