Document text
Prep officials alarmed at Caleb's actions MT file photo Zach Taylor They believe the controversial basketball incident could have, and should have, been left to the school districts to handle, not the law By Don Hunt Mail Tribune Officials with the state and national high school sports governing bodies are expressing alarm over a Klamath County prosecutor filing a complaint against a North Medford High basketball player following a head-butting incident in Klamath Falls on Jan. 4. District Attorney Ed Caleb filed a misdemeanor assault citation against Zach Taylor, a starting guard for the Black Tornado, and then negotiated an agreement with Taylor's family that would have kept him out of tonight's rematch against Klamath Union at North Medford High. Caleb dropped the complaint Thursday, freeing up Taylor to play, but his actions may have set nationwide precedent. "I can't, off the top of my head, recall a high school player having charges or citations filed against him by a district attorney," said Bruce Howard, director of publications and communications for the National Federation of State High School Associations. "All I can say is an incident such as this is troubling on two fronts - one, that these kinds of events continue to occur, and two, that in today's society, we're very quick to take legal action to solve a problem that quite possibly could have been handled in a different way." Caleb's actions sparked debate and have been a main topic of conversation on talk radio throughout the state. Caleb has drawn criticism partly because his son, Nick, plays on the Klamath Union team. Taylor collided with KU sophomore Jacob Wynn late in the Jan. 4 game during an out-of-bounds play under the North Medford basket. Wynn fell to the floor but wasn't seriously injured and shot two free throws following a foul on Taylor. After reviewing tape of the play, North Medford officials suspended Taylor for one game. He missed a second game for undisclosed reasons. "North Medford dealt with the problem, and it's my understanding that the Klamath (Union) people were comfortable with the disciplinary action that North Medford took," said Tom Welter, executive director of the Oregon School Activities Association, the governing body of high school sports in Oregon. "In our view that should have been the end of it." Welter said that schools routinely face disciplinary issues - both inside and outside athletics - and that it should be the job of superintendents, principals, athletic directors and coaches to resolve them. "It troubles me that he (Caleb) didn't have enough confidence in his district to resolve the problem," Welter said. "It's disturbing that this went as far as it did." Howard recalled a head-butting incident in Spokane, Wash., in 1996 in which criminal charges were brought against a high school wrestler who struck a referee, knocking him unconscious. The grappler, Chad Hilderbrandt, was convicted of third-degree assault and sentenced to 30 days in jail and 100 hours of community service. But that was a far more serious case, Howard said, noting that Hilderbrandt had a checkered history. "That kid had been convicted of assault three times previously," Howard said. "He had a past." Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.