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Rogue River Little League accounts come up short By DANI DODGE ROGUE RIVER - Police are investigating the disappearance of $10,000 from the Rogue River Little League's bank account. Rogue River Police Chief Ken Lewis said it appears money and supplies were taken throughout the 2001 season. But it's a hard case to crack because there is little financial documentation. "There was a tremendous lack of accountability ... there were all kinds of people out there selling all kinds of things for Little League and no stringent system to make sure that money was accounted for," Lewis said. "One thing that is clear, is that for the 2001 season, the Rogue River Little League was out of control." The Rogue River Little League is an all-volunteer organization with about 20 teams and about 250 kids involved each year. There are 15 board members who run the organization that in a typical year takes in $40,000 worth of sales and sponsorships. In addition to buying items such as shirts and candy to resell, the league has to pay for uniforms, baseballs, bats for the players and umpires for the games. Board member Stacy Thetford said she started noticing financial problems with a March candy fund-raiser. Although the sales should have netted $16,000, only $11,700 was deposited. But it was hard to tell where the money went. "The reports turned in are really muddly," Thetford said. There were reports that boxes of frozen hamburger were missing from the snack bar. Questions were raised at the league meetings, and the tone of the meetings got nasty. At one point in late April or early May, police were called to sit in on a meeting to keep the peace. The group was thrown out of the Rogue River Community Center because of yelling and swearing. Thetford said she asked for an audit, but was told it was too expensive. (League president Grant Werlinger denies that Thetford asked for a general audit.) Usually the snack bar sales net a $4,000 profit. In 2001, even though the league spent $2,000 more on supplies, the snack bar had lost $450 by the end of the year, said Terry Fimbres, who joined the board this year. "Our Pepsi bill was $2,000 for last season," Fimbres said. "Just the profit on Pepsi alone should have been considerable." Werlinger said profits were lost because the concession stand wasn't open as many hours as in the past. He also said that the board voted that anyone working in the snack bar got to have a hot dog and soda as well as meals for their family members. "I said you can't make money giving away stuff free, but they said majority rules," Werlinger said. By the end of the league's fiscal year in October, the $10,000 savings account the board was socking away to buy property for Little League fields was gone. "Sometimes the finances are really loose but never this bad," said Thetford, who has been a board member since 1997. "I think people wanted to say, 'Let's have fun, play ball and look the other way.' " Although Thetford and Fimbres believe most of the losses are from theft, Werlinger insisted the majority of the losses were simple mismanagement and overspending. For example, the treasurer paid a bill for shirts for all the parents of kids who made it to All-Stars. "As far as someone stealing money, there's a couple people that made off with some money, but it's a few hundred here and there," Werlinger said. "There were personal conflicts between Stacy and other people and some people thought they could take advantage of the situation." He said he only became president part way into the season. "I'm a coach. I coach baseball," Werlinger said. "Nobody else wanted to be president. I didn't really want to be president - there's people calling here all the time complaining about their kids playing the outfield." When a year-end audit was performed, the loss was discovered. Werlinger said it's about $5,000, but others, including the police chief, estimate it at between $8,000 and $10,000. In order to recoup money from their insurance company, they had to report the loss to police, board members said. The insurance company has not yet said whether it will pay the claim. Chief Lewis opened the case this week. "When I looked at financial documents and when other people called and volunteered information, it was clear enough to me some level of crime had been committed in the 2001 season," Lewis said. Lewis said he doesn't believe players were involved in the thefts. "I don't have a sense that kids were involved in this," Lewis said. "They were too busy playing baseball. "But we had some adults acting more like kids than adults." Board members say that they are hoping for a good 2002 season. There are a number of new board members and accounting practices are tightening up. There are new locks on the concession stand. "Hopefully we'll bring in enough sponsors and registration that we'll cover our expenses," Thetford said. "But hopefully kids will be happy with T-shirts - we won't have the money to buy fancy uniforms." Rogue River Little League sign-ups start at 9 a.m. today in the Rogue River Middle School Library. Rogue River police are asking anyone with information on the missing funds to call police at 541-582-4931 or make an anonymous report through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-333-8328. Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.