New Sheffield Chief/Lexington Coaches

To the Sheffield City Council: 

I had hopes of attending last night's meeting at City Hall to discuss the hiring of a new Chief of Police for Sheffield. However, working out of town prevented my participation. Had I been able to attend, I would have stated the following:

As a former LEO and current tax-paying citizen of Sheffield, I expect the new Chief to be a leader for his/her officers. Sheffield's citizens deserve a Chief of Police that will inspire and provide guidance. Not make excuses.

The Police Department needs a Chief that will hold his/her officers accountable for aggressive patrolling of our neighborhoods, downtown businesses, as well as traffic. I rarely see any such efforts made  towards any of those.

Lastly, the City needs to hire a Chief with the intention of allowing him/her to do their damn job, without being hamstrung, second-guessed, or otherwise constrained.

Respectfully,

*****

*****

In response to the recent Junior Varsity basketball tryouts at Lexington High School, we would like for the community to be enlightened on how these so called tryouts were conducted and the teams established. In the beginning there were meetings with the sixth grade boys and girls to announce when tryouts would be held - Monday and Wednesday for the girls, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday for the boys, however the boys were told on Tuesday that there would not be tryouts on Friday. Although two days at ninety minutes a day may not seem like enough time to thoroughly see what each child has to offer to a team, it did not take one team long to decide that the only players they wanted were the current sixth grade TVBA team players. Is that why Friday tryouts were suddenly dropped? The coaches seen no need in wasting another day trying out when it was apparent that they wanted the TVBA team players only.

Is it a prerequisite that the child must have played on a TVBA team to be considered to play for the Lexington Bears? If so, why was this not stated at the meeting to announce tryouts? These children were robbed of being able to prove themselves at a level playing field, and we aren’t talking about average children that have dribbled a basketball a few times. Some of the kids that were cut have played on different youth leagues basketball teams since the age of five, several that were star players of their teams. Some that have been coached by a hired private coach just to ensure they were good enough to make the team. Some that tried desperately to get information to join a TVBA team, but were brushed off by these so called coaches that never wanted to give them a chance.

This happens all too often in the world, people are selected more often because of who they are, not for what they can contribute. These kids that were cut because of not being TVBA players were set up for disappointment in the beginning because the coaches knew that they would not select them. Perhaps the coaches thought that it would go unnoticed, but it most definitely has not. It is time for a change. These kids are at a time in their lives where they are learning from and watching their role models, in this case what should be coaches of a sport that they love. These coaches have failed them.  These coaches have cheated them. These coaches have crushed dreams of kids that have worked years to get to this point. All for what? These coaches should be ashamed of how these kids were treated and hopefully this will make them think twice when the next “tryouts” are held.

Concerned Citizens of Lexington, Alabama

*****

Ideally, sports in public schools should be open to everyone. Yet we live in a win-win culture. For every parent who wants his/her child to participate as a player or cheerleader, you have two who want to win at all costs. 

Our advice is for parents to encourage their children in areas of most talent. Would you rather your child be a champion chess player or a third-string footballer? Unfortunately in this state, many would prefer the latter.