Voices continue to be heard

From The Daily News of Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007 . . .

Letters, letters . . . we get letters. And we get phone calls and voicemails
and e-mails. Whether you are prepared to believe it or not, most have to do
with the KMHA scandal.
And to think this whole thing could have been avoided had the association
done the right thing once upon a time. . . .
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A mother writes:
“My son is in his fourth season of minor hockey in Kamloops, and he has had
fantastic coaches who have always lived up to what I thought a coach should
be. I can only say good things about them.
“Sadly, my little naive bubble was burst recently and now I am very
concerned about his future in hockey. As a minor hockey peon, I mean
parent, I don’t feel that the organization has made a strong enough
statement regarding underage drinking, an illegal activity as far as I know.
“My son is seven right now, so this doesn’t really concern me directly, YET.
I had hoped by putting him in hockey at an early age, he would have good
role models, and learn positive values and behaviours, etc., and have a
reason not to be drinking when he is 15.
“I don’t care whether he is in a house or under a bridge, I don’t want him
drinking. I would have hoped that hockey would make it easier to say No, and
to support his decision. This may not be the case!
“I have heard from lots of people who feel that what has happened is
ridiculous, for a variety of reasons. It is unfortunate that the executive
feels that they can just do whatever they want and disregard the feelings of
the majority, even if it is a silent majority.”
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A reader forwarded this story, from The Associated Press:
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A Clemson University freshman who had been drinking
excessively died of alcohol poisoning at an off-campus fraternity house
(Dec. 9), a coroner said.
Benjamin Garrison Sprague, 18, had a blood-alcohol level that was about five
times the legal threshold for driving, Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis
said. Sprague was found by one of his Sigma Nu fraternity brothers the
morning after a Saturday night party.
A friend last saw Sprague snoring on a futon in the basement about 2 a.m.,
and his body shut down sometime after that, the coroner said.
A laboratory test of fluid from Sprague’s eye showed an alcohol level of
nearly 0.38 per cent, which means his blood-alcohol level may exceeded 0.4
per cent, Addis said.
Alcohol can severely depress the central nervous system in levels above 0.3
per cent. Deep coma and death can occur in levels exceeding 0.4 per cent,
according to the coroner.
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You are free to wonder how close Kamloops came to having that story written
here Oct 21 after the midget AAA North Kamloops Lions partied in the home of
KMHA president Stan Burton and one player ended up being treated for alcohol
poisoning in Royal Inland Hospital.
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A gentleman dropped by with a donation for The Daily News Christmas Cheer
Fund and left a note on my desk:
“It is important that this issue not be left to die a natural death.
“While I appreciate the executive is a volunteer organization and probably
trying to do the best it can, alcohol, sports and youth simply do not mix.
The athletes need to know that there are adults they can turn to who stand
for what is right and who will always take that stand no matter what.
“The Maloskis represent those adults, people our youth can depend on.”
Monica and Ladd Maloski have been reprimanded by the KMHA — Ladd has been
suspended for one year — for, among other things, telling the media about
the party.
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Then there was the phone call from a grandmother who raised four of her own
children. A couple of those children, she said, didn’t get into
“super-organized” sports because of parental behaviour that had been
witnessed.
But this woman talked of another part of her life, one in which she had
given six years of her life to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). That
was after her 23-year-old brother, who was on his way home from work, was
struck and killed by a drunk driver.
It would be a gross understatement to say that this woman is dismayed at how
the KMHA has handled the aftermath of the party that the city’s only midget
AAA hockey team held in the home of the association president.
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And, hey, did you hear about the two local minor hockey players who drew
one-game suspensions after they were caught smoking cigars? Sheesh, guys, if
you’d only been drinking beer and shots. . . .

Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca.