Bill Fenwick wrote:
 
>universities as a whole
>-- often do their darnedest to keep events that tend to cast a bad light
>on the
>school's "good name" out of the press, and one can't really blame them for
>trying to do so.
>
>More importantly, let's not lose sight of the fact that the players involved
>have been charged but not even arraigned yet, let alone convicted.
> Disciplinary actions at this point, IMHO, would be premature
 
OK, "innocent until proven guilty", I'll grant everyone.  But one wonders:
 
What if those involved were NOT "student athletes" -- how many days after
the incident do you think would have elapsed before a story and their names
made the police blotter in Fosters Daily Democrat (the local rag which
covers the New Hampshire squad) ?   "A few weeks" ?? I think not.
 
What kind of Keystone Cops police force or prosecutor's office needs "a few
weeks" to complete a preliminary investigation and decide whether to drop
the charges, or move along to file formal complaints, against five persons
involved in an "altercation" or "trespassing" ?   Were the three hockey
players, and two football players, there or not ?  Gee, is that so hard to
determine ?
 
What kind of treatment is it by local law enforcement and University
officials to leave the "student-athletes" hanging in the wind for a couple
of weeks while they decide what to do ?  It's either incompetence, or
special treatment to the "student-athletes".  "A few weeks" would never
transpire if the alleged perpetrators under investigation were
out-of-staters enrolled in the Arts & Sciences college...
 
Nathan Eric Hampton wrote:
 
> this is a personal matter which the hockey players have to deal with
>and their ability to deal with it would be greatly damaged by meddling public
>concern.
 
Personal matter ?  It ceases to be so when local police are called in; oh,
excuse me, EXCEPT in Durham, New Hampshire when the call involves three
"Wildcats", then it's private.
 
Maine campus police and the athletic administration were much less
protective of its own players in the recent racial threatening incident.
They were suspended from the team, pending the outcome of an investigation.
It was reported in the paper the day after the incident.
 
>Are you saying you want these players subject to the same
>tar-and-feathering >that Walsh was?
 
No one should be treated that way.  I did not like the way Walsh and his
players have been treated -- still are treated -- on this list, and those
that call "cheat" at games.  Why are you posters so protective of these
three New Hampshire players while others earlier said the Maine players
deserved their suspension ?  In this latest case, some local person(s) had
problems big enough to call in the local police.
 
And don't try the "proportionality" argument like the USCHO thread, that
"trespassing" is different than a verbal racial threat.   I certainly hope
that those of you making that argument are supporting the President and
calling your Senators to say he should not be removed from office. Crime is
crime in the eyes of the NC$$ when it came to the case of the University of
Maine, no proportionality there.  How many times do I have to point out
more serious infractions in basketball and 1-A football which yield less
punishment than meted out to Maine ?
 
This weekend, Maine fans have every reason to yell "cheat" at Coach Umile.
Burying a police matter...come on. Decide.
 
The only "benefit of the doubt" I'd give Umile is that I don't think he
initiated the NC$$ probe of Maine.
 
 
 
 
 
Dan Doucette
 
***  Isn't it fitting someone named Garth Snow is playing  ***
***            for a hockey team in Canada   ???           ***
 
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