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Hammonton Blog -> Hammonton Democrats Blog -> Town seeks input from public on coach background checks
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Town seeks input from public on coach background checks
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Mayor & Council are setting aside a portion of the 12/17 council meeting for public comment on the proposal to conduct background checks on the approximately 350 coachs involved in the town's youth athletic programs.
Click here to see story from the Hammonton News.
The current proposal contains an exemption for offenses of marijuana possesion of less than 50 grams. Local resident John Rodio feels this exemption should be dropped from the proposal. He feels that no matter if it is 1 gram or 51 grams, a drug offense is a drug offense and it should eliminate that person from eligibility to coach. Town solicitor Brian Howell understands John's objection but also feels that the way the current laws are written, if we were to enact a proposal like the one John suggests, we would open the Town up to possible lawsuits that would cost the Town a great deal of money in defending and possible additional costs if we were to lose the litigation.
While we all may agree in theory with the basis behind John Rodio's thought process, there is more to consider and we must protect the town and the kids with any proposal.
Councilman Vitalo feels that we need to get a wokable proposal in place now and we can then look at fine tuning the legislation in the coming months.
There is also the consideration of the cost of these background checks. These people all volunteer their time to coach our children. Should we add a financial burden to these people or should the Town find a way to fund the backgound checks. It has been reported that the checks could cost anywhere from $50 to $75 per person.
What do you think?

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Anonymous

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I support John Rodio, what type of example do we show our kids if we say a little drugs is ok.The mayor and council should have the guts to listen to John. I also heard that some of our Mayor and council asked John not to come forth at the council meeting to speak about this. So much for their open government policy. You Go John ...DRUGS ARE EVIL- EVEN IN SMALL AMOUNTS.If it's a legal problem am  sure that we can figure it out, we always do.GO JOHN.

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Anonymous

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That's right John.  Show Hammonton First that this is something the public has full support over. NO DRUG OFFENDERS near our kids.

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Anonymous

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Wow, we have a couple of perfect human beings here.
Would your response change if the offense was when the individual was 19 years old, is now 45 and has been a pillar of the community, very involved in community activities and no record of any kind since the teenage indescretion?

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Anonymous

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Complete intolerance is a dangerous thing. Why stop here. If someone has a couple of beers once in a while, are we teaching our kids that drinking is OK, can't afford that lesson so this guy can't coach. If we overhear someone curse, are we teaching our kids that kind of language is ok, that guy can't coach. If the coach got detention in school, well another bad example...he's gone. And God forbid he disagrees with the current government, he not only can't coach, he has to move out of town!

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Anonymous

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OH PLEASE JOHN IS A FIRSTER. HE IS THE MAYOR'S COOK.

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Anonymous

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I think it is great that the Mayor is asking for public input on this ordinance. It would require background checks for the safety of our children. The current State law requires an exemption for a few offenses.

John Rodio has a valid point that there are some merits of zero tolerance. However, others might also have a valid point that it is going to far and using the State law's background checks are more fair.

The important thing is that everyone gets to give their inputs for the best law to keep our children safe.

I am glad to see there is progress on this issue.

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Anonymous

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Anonymous wrote:

Wow, we have a couple of perfect human beings here.
Would your response change if the offense was when the individual was 19 years old, is now 45 and has been a pillar of the community, very involved in community activities and no record of any kind since the teenage indescretion?


I wonder if alcohol, DWI offenses and people who have been known to habitually bring alcohol onto school property, during children's functions, getting drunk and acting like fools, would be covered under this zero tolerance policy?



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Anonymous

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Who are you attacking now?

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