Column

From The Daily News of Friday, Nov. 2. . . .

OK.

Enough is enough.

Hello, B.C. Hockey. Is anyone home?

Hey, Hockey Canada. Are you paying attention?

Because it's time someone from outside Kamloops city limits -- preferably from way, way, way outside -- got involved in the cleaning up of the ugly mess that was created right here in River City on Oct. 20.

Geez, the stench is getting to be too much. The effluent from a lagoon has got nothing on the steamy stink rising from this mess.

It was, of course, on Oct. 20 when a player from the midget AAA North Kamloops Lions got incredibly, amazingly drunk. Had he passed out, had one of his billets not picked him up and cared for him, ultimately calling an ambulance which transported him to hospital, this teenager easily could have died. Had he passed out and vomited -- and he vomited an untold number of times that night -- he may well have suffocated.

By now you are aware that the player in question got drunk -- absolutely stinko, positively el blotto -- in the home of the president of the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association, whose 17-year-old son plays on the same team.

Various other team members were in attendance and there have been allegations of hazing.

All you need to know about what has transpired since is that the president was the president on Oct. 20 and he remains the president today. It seems safe to assume that he has the support of the KMHA executive, including Jason Perris, the first vice-president whose investigation did not -- DID NOT -- include a question-and-answer session with the billet who went to the home of the president and picked up the player.

Of course, it wasn't through the good graces of the KMHA that we found out about this incident. Rather it was through the billets of the player, who were afraid that if no one spoke up this situation would get swept under the carpet.

Gee. You think?

If you have been following this mess, you know that Perris issued a statement on Oct. 23, stating that his investigation hadn't uncovered any wrongdoing by anyone associated with the KMHA.

"This incident was not sanctioned or an endorsed team event," read the statement, in part. "Therefore KMHA will accept no responsibility for the events of that night and no disciplinary action will be taken by KMHA."

Except that the latter part of that statement -- the part about "no disciplinary action will be taken by KMHA" -- seems to have been amended.

Because the KMHA, acting more like a gang of thugs than a responsible group of adults responsible for more than 1,000 young people, seems to have decided that it just may want to teach a lesson to a whistleblower, and any others who may think of following that lead now or later.

So it has invited the billets of the player in question to a meeting of the KMHA discipline committee. Yeah, some invitation.

"The Kamloops Minor Hockey Board has expressed concern in your behaviour as a member of our society involving an incident that occurred on Oct. 20, 2007" reads the invitation, which wasn't printed by a calligrapher using gold ink and thermoplating. "The KMHA Board has asked that the Discipline Committee review your conduct as members and make recommendations to the Board of any action of discipline if necessary. . . . The Committee is inviting you both to attend our meeting to represent yourself."

Seriously.

Here's hoping that the couple in question attends that meeting . . . with legal representation. Here's hoping that local lawyers line up with offers to accompany this couple.

If this entire situation wasn't so serious -- some people seem to have forgotten that this began because a young man might have died of alcohol poisoning after getting drunk in the home of the KMHA president -- this would be laughable. If this was a spaghetti western, the accused would be asking for that last cigarette about now.

Almost 11 years ago, when former WHL coach Graham James was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to 31/2 years in a federal penitentiary, minor hockey associations from across this great land of ours -- with Hockey Canada leading the charge -- went to great lengths to distance themselves. At the same time, much was said and written about what would be done to try and ensure that such despicable acts never again would happen.

Minor hockey was going to clean up its act. There wouldn't be any more hazing or initiations. Now that accusations of same have been made right here in our back yard, where is B.C. Hockey? Where is Hockey Canada?

Was this, or was this not, a team party at which players were forced to drink alcohol? Were teenagers drinking and driving as they came and went from the home of the KMHA president? There are myriad questions, the answers to which can only be covered by someone independent of the KMHA. Someone from B.C. Hockey or Hockey Canada needs to find out what happened on the night of Oct. 20.

Perhaps someone from B.C. Hockey or Hockey Canada should attend the meeting to which the KMHA discipline committee has invited the billets.

That meeting is scheduled for the Thompson Hotel and Conference Centre, which is at 650 Victoria Ave., in downtown Kamloops. It's on Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 6 p.m.

Were I the parent of a player in the KMHA, I would be paying particularly close attention to what has transpired and what will transpire.

Because there but for the grace of a high power goes you.