Happy Anniversary to Us

Bob and Frankie, 1987, where else but Wall Drug. We had just started dating in this photo, although we'd been friends a few months. Tomorrow is our 18th wedding anniversary.

18 years is a very long time and it boggles my mind that we've been together so long. Where does time go?

coach followup

Underwear/football coach follow-up

First off, I apologize to Iowa. I read the story on an Iowa website, and the incident happened in Cincinnati.

It seems the coach was cleared. I'm pasting the article from http://www.wlwt.com/news/14101184/detail.html.

I'm wondering if there's a typo in their article: "The board said it found that Aucherae quit the team, and though he was told to leave his equipment, McKinney walked away and did not realize that Aucherae only had underwear on under his pants." Under his pants? HUH?

This whole thing just seems very strange to me. I tend to believe the boy, but I'm more anti-public educational institution. And no, I'm NOT anti-public education, I'm probably just more so than the average Joe.

Guess we'll never know what happened for sure, but it's fishy.

Years ago an incident happened in a school in the west that made national news. Some elementary school children were subjected to a strip search by their teachers because another student had a missing ten dollar bill. Instead of holding the suspects and calling the parents, the teachers chose to do a strip search. Appalling, eh? What's scarier is that my sister-in-law taught at that school. When we discussed it (and boy was I pissed) she was angry with me. She said that she had just left the school minutes before the search happened; however, had she been in there, she would have done the same thing. We actually got into a very heated discussion. I told her that she, as a teacher, has absolutely NO right to do such a thing. She was ticked that the parents were suing the school district. She claimed it would only prolong the suffering of the children. I told her the parents were absolutely right and the kids needed to know that their parents supported them and that the teachers overstepped their authority.

That was years ago, way before Thomas came along. But that incident has stayed with me. I'm always a little suspicious of "the big institution." And in this particular case, because it involves football, my suspicions are stronger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



CINCINNATI -- Youth league officials decided Wednesday evening whether a football coach should face punishment for allegedly sending a 10-year-old player home in his underwear.

Aucherae Washington told his mother that Coach Curt McKinney berated him during practice, kicked him off the team, made him remove his equipment and sent him home.

McKinney could have been suspended for one or two weeks or expelled from the league, which would terminate the Midwest Marauders team, if he had been found to have broken league rules, said league vice president Donnitta Thomas.


But late Wednesday, the board decided to take no action against McKinney, and his team will return to the field Saturday.

The board said it found that Aucherae quit the team, and though he was told to leave his equipment, McKinney walked away and did not realize that Aucherae only had underwear on under his pants.

"I do not believe that Coach Curt intentionally sent this kid out in only underwear, I don't believe that," vice president Donnitta Thomas told News 5's Eric Flack.

"They say Aucherae quit. Aucherae said he was kicked off the team. Whatever the case is, sending my son home in underwear, T-shirt and cleats wasn't acceptable," Vickie Hatter said.


Previous Stories:

Is it Thursday already?

My how time flies.

We've had six official days of school.

Thomas continues to do very well. His focus and attention is spot on. Mom couldn't be happier. In fact, he actually has requested that I not hang around as he's doing his work. Woo-hoo. I finally can get up and vacuum, dust, do the dishes, etc.

All I can say is maturity is a wonderful thing.

Aside from his focus, I am very happy with science this year. I broke down and bought a used Life Science text off eBay. We've been reading a section every day and then going to the computer. I have the free United Streaming trial and I bought the homeschool subscription through Homeschool Buyer's Co-op. We're still enjoying the free trial, which is the plus version and contains more than we'll get with the homeschool version, but we're loving every minute of it. I can't imagine homeschooling without it.

After we read in our text, and Thomas asks tons of questions and we usually have some very darned good discussions. We then search the topic we are studying and watch a video. Or two. Or three.

We are both very happy with this. I then make Thomas watch an American History video or two, which he's less thrilled with. He likes ancient history much more.

I'm just giddy with the way the year is starting out.

The only concern I have this year is with math. We used Rod and Staff last year and while Thomas liked but hated it (he hates math, but liked the program well enough) we switched back to Lial's. He's much happier with Lial's, but I'm missing all the repetitive practice from Rod and Staff. As time goes on, I may just switch us. I hate being wishy-washy, but practice is a good thing for him.

Now, the house is picked up, the laundry is done and it's time to put my feet up and watch TV. I was really hoping Survivor would start tonight, but it's not on our TV schedule. Darn.

what is it with Iowa educators???

Not long ago I linked to an article where they put an autistic child in timeout for the day. Today I read about a boy who was at football practice and his coach made him strip to his underwear because he didn't follow the rules.

You can read about it here.

I feel so sorry for that boy and I hope justice is done. That coach needs to be fired.