Hallsville

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Originally posted by The Beast:

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Hallsville Baseball Player Ineligible
The UIL on Tuesday ruled one Hallsville baseball player was ineligible, but the team would "not" have to forfeit any district games. This means Hallsville is reinstated back into the Class 4-A playoffs, and will represent 13-4A along with Texas High, Sulphur Springs, and Marshall. Details to come on KTBB Sports Talk later today at 4:00.

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First, let me start off by saying GOOD LUCK to Hallsville in the baseball playoffs. I think their AD is a class act and he has represented himself well over the past couple of weeks.

I work for Longview ISD and I do not hide behind any screen names like everyone else on here. I use my real name, so nothing to hide.

I have been reading all of the posts on here concerning Hallsville and Longview and now that this situation is over, I thought I needed to come on here and explain some of the information since I have been fortunate to sit it on all of the meetings. I also feel people need to know why the paperwork was filed around the first week of May.

Two schools evidently sent a letter to the UIL but would not attach their name to the letter. They told people it was sent and be looking for an investigation into Hallsville having two ineligible players. Time goes by and on Friday, April 24, Coach Malone received a phone call from a lady asking a series of questions about eligibility rules and about one of the players in question especially. He did not say in the letter that it was the mom. He said, "believed to be the mom". He did not know, but with the questions she was asking, he thought it may be. She shared information that made Coach Malone talk to Pat Collins and our superintendent, Dr. James Wilcox. Coach Collins was in Rochester, Minnesota at the time because his daughter was undergoing a liver transplant. He returned on April 29 if I am not mistaken. We learned right after he returned that the two schools would not admit they sent the letter and said if anyone was going to officially report them, Longview was going to have to do it. This, combined with the phone call Malone received prompted Dr. Wilcox and Coach Collins to move forward with sending the information to the District Executive Committee. This was done around May 4. A hearing was scheduled for last Friday, I guess that would be May 8 or so. That is why it was sent in so late.

During the public meetings regarding this situation there are some things shared that are public information, so I will post on here to save you time and money of going to get the information!

Mr. Stringer was ruled eligible because the committee felt he made a "bonafide" move by purchasing a house in Hallsville, even though he still owns the home in Longview. The UIL has a criteria of 5 things you have to meet in order to not be considered a Dual Residency. They are such things as "no utilities whatsover can be in your name" "Voter registration cards have to be changed" "Drivers License have to be changed" "No furniture in the old house at all". Things like that. All of the conditions were not met, but the committee felt like they did at least try and they did purchase a house in Hallsville. THe district committee asked the UIL if they had any wiggle room in this and their response was "Yes, the district does, but if it gets to the state, the state committee will not have any wiggle room at all".

Mr. Leftwich moved from Mount Pleasant and sold his house there in May of 2008. They supposedly bought a lot in Hallsville and according to Hallsville, you can go to school there if you own a lot. They also said in the meeting they were renting a house on Lake Cherokee (not in the district!). They said on the PAP form they owned the house on Lake Cherokee. They lived there and said they planned to build a house in Hallsville. Later on, they said they could not afford to build a house (Mr. Leftwich is a homebuilder), and they did not own the lot anymore. So, in January of 2009, they rented an apartment in Hallsville, but kept the house on Lake Cherokee as well. Remember, they said they owned the house, then they said they rented the house. Then today in Austin it came out they do not own, nor do they rent the house, but a friend is allowing them to live there for free. Mr. Leftwich says they now use it as an office. According to Lake Cherokee by-laws you cannot run a business from any property, nor can you rent any property. So, that is another issue in itself.

The district committee ruled that Mr. Leftwich was ineligible. Longview NEVER made a motion to have them forfeit any games. We simply asked for him to be ineligible.

The hearing in Austin this morning, which I went to with Coach Collins, was about Section 27B3. This is dealing with the district doing due diligence. Hallsville ISD had to prove they did everything possible to make sure the Leftwich Family was living in the district. They proved that they did and Coach Plunk did his work. They (Hallsville ISD) just learned that the family was not paying any rent in Lake Cherokee and they also learned last week that the family uses the house on Lake Cherokee for an office. This information, according to the Hallsville ISD, was shared with them after the fact. The UIL committee felt like the district did all they could and the family had not been up front with them.

Remember, Longview strictly asked for the player to be ruled ineligible. This still stands and that is all Longview asked for. The forfeiture of games was never something Longview brought up.

As Coach Collins stated earlier today, "This was a win-win situation. The kid who was not living in district is ineligible still and the innocent Hallsville kids, parents and coaches are able to participate in the playoffs".

I do not believe, as Coach Mitchell stated on Smoaky today, that they were cleared of everything. They just ruled that Coach Plunk did a very good job of checking everything. Remember, the player is still ineligible, so Longview received what they asked for.

There are a lot of rumors flying around on here and in the community and I wanted to clear some up. That is my job for the district - communications.

Coach Collins, nor Coach Malone should be blasted, as they have been. Now that you know the whole story, maybe that will not be the case.

I hope this answered some questions. I wish there was a better and maybe more professional way to communicate this, but I am a former coach and I come to this message board every day. I figured this was the best way to answer some questions from our (LISD) stand point.

Good luck to Hallsville (The Kilgore coach is one of my best friends though!) I wish Coach Plunk all of the best. I feel he is a class act.

quote:

Originally posted by The Beast:
Here's the story from Smoaky.com.

quote:

First, let me start off by saying GOOD LUCK to Hallsville in the baseball playoffs. I think their AD is a class act and he has represented himself well over the past couple of weeks.

I work for Longview ISD and I do not hide behind any screen names like everyone else on here. I use my real name, so nothing to hide.

I have been reading all of the posts on here concerning Hallsville and Longview and now that this situation is over, I thought I needed to come on here and explain some of the information since I have been fortunate to sit it on all of the meetings. I also feel people need to know why the paperwork was filed around the first week of May.

Two schools evidently sent a letter to the UIL but would not attach their name to the letter. They told people it was sent and be looking for an investigation into Hallsville having two ineligible players. Time goes by and on Friday, April 24, Coach Malone received a phone call from a lady asking a series of questions about eligibility rules and about one of the players in question especially. He did not say in the letter that it was the mom. He said, "believed to be the mom". He did not know, but with the questions she was asking, he thought it may be. She shared information that made Coach Malone talk to Pat Collins and our superintendent, Dr. James Wilcox. Coach Collins was in Rochester, Minnesota at the time because his daughter was undergoing a liver transplant. He returned on April 29 if I am not mistaken. We learned right after he returned that the two schools would not admit they sent the letter and said if anyone was going to officially report them, Longview was going to have to do it. This, combined with the phone call Malone received prompted Dr. Wilcox and Coach Collins to move forward with sending the information to the District Executive Committee. This was done around May 4. A hearing was scheduled for last Friday, I guess that would be May 8 or so. That is why it was sent in so late.

During the public meetings regarding this situation there are some things shared that are public information, so I will post on here to save you time and money of going to get the information!

Mr. Stringer was ruled eligible because the committee felt he made a "bonafide" move by purchasing a house in Hallsville, even though he still owns the home in Longview. The UIL has a criteria of 5 things you have to meet in order to not be considered a Dual Residency. They are such things as "no utilities whatsover can be in your name" "Voter registration cards have to be changed" "Drivers License have to be changed" "No furniture in the old house at all". Things like that. All of the conditions were not met, but the committee felt like they did at least try and they did purchase a house in Hallsville. THe district committee asked the UIL if they had any wiggle room in this and their response was "Yes, the district does, but if it gets to the state, the state committee will not have any wiggle room at all".

Mr. Leftwich moved from Mount Pleasant and sold his house there in May of 2008. They supposedly bought a lot in Hallsville and according to Hallsville, you can go to school there if you own a lot. They also said in the meeting they were renting a house on Lake Cherokee (not in the district!). They said on the PAP form they owned the house on Lake Cherokee. They lived there and said they planned to build a house in Hallsville. Later on, they said they could not afford to build a house (Mr. Leftwich is a homebuilder), and they did not own the lot anymore. So, in January of 2009, they rented an apartment in Hallsville, but kept the house on Lake Cherokee as well. Remember, they said they owned the house, then they said they rented the house. Then today in Austin it came out they do not own, nor do they rent the house, but a friend is allowing them to live there for free. Mr. Leftwich says they now use it as an office. According to Lake Cherokee by-laws you cannot run a business from any property, nor can you rent any property. So, that is another issue in itself.

The district committee ruled that Mr. Leftwich was ineligible. Longview NEVER made a motion to have them forfeit any games. We simply asked for him to be ineligible.

The hearing in Austin this morning, which I went to with Coach Collins, was about Section 27B3. This is dealing with the district doing due diligence. Hallsville ISD had to prove they did everything possible to make sure the Leftwich Family was living in the district. They proved that they did and Coach Plunk did his work. They (Hallsville ISD) just learned that the family was not paying any rent in Lake Cherokee and they also learned last week that the family uses the house on Lake Cherokee for an office. This information, according to the Hallsville ISD, was shared with them after the fact. The UIL committee felt like the district did all they could and the family had not been up front with them.

Remember, Longview strictly asked for the player to be ruled ineligible. This still stands and that is all Longview asked for. The forfeiture of games was never something Longview brought up.

As Coach Collins stated earlier today, "This was a win-win situation. The kid who was not living in district is ineligible still and the innocent Hallsville kids, parents and coaches are able to participate in the playoffs".

I do not believe, as Coach Mitchell stated on Smoaky today, that they were cleared of everything. They just ruled that Coach Plunk did a very good job of checking everything. Remember, the player is still ineligible, so Longview received what they asked for.

There are a lot of rumors flying around on here and in the community and I wanted to clear some up. That is my job for the district - communications.

Coach Collins, nor Coach Malone should be blasted, as they have been. Now that you know the whole story, maybe that will not be the case.

I hope this answered some questions. I wish there was a better and maybe more professional way to communicate this, but I am a former coach and I come to this message board every day. I figured this was the best way to answer some questions from our (LISD) stand point.

Good luck to Hallsville (The Kilgore coach is one of my best friends though!) I wish Coach Plunk all of the best. I feel he is a class act.