Soccer Hooligan?

A small "scandal cloud" has been forming lately within the G.L.S.A. (Greater Longview Soccer Association).

Yesterday, a player (who requested to remain nameless) from the Longview Sidekicks lodged a formal complaint with the G.L.S.A Board of Appeals. This was in regards to the recent U-19 Division II Semi-Finals game, in which the Longview Roust A Bouts won over the Longview Sidekicks 1-7.

The complaint requested that the Longview Roust A Bouts be disqualified for "Conduct Unbecoming of a G.L.S.A. Player". The disgruntled player, who's first name is Bradley, alleged that this inappropriate behavior was of a "sexual" nature.



In a statement included in the appeal, Bradley said,

"As soon as he rubbed up against me, I immediately felt..."it". I quickly became terrified...and felt..trapped. After that moment, I...I just couldn't play right...I...I just felt so...dirty. I think my whole team could feel it. And that's about the time the game went from a competitive 1-3 to an unapproachable 1-7. Ever since that day, I can't even put on a pair of shin pads without feeling...just afraid."

After reading this boy's stirring account, we decided to do a follow-up to see if any action had been taken.

In a reply from the G.L.S.A. President Mike Withrow, The Appeals Committee turned down the case, apparently because they could not find where an allegation "of this nature" conflicted with or even was mentioned in the association's bylaws, and therefore could take no disciplinary or reparatory action.

The Sidekicks countered with the argument that the afore mentioned player violated Bylaw 3.5 Section 4-c (Players Equipment) "A player shall not wear anything or use any equipment, which is dangerous to himself or to another player."

At this time, neither Bradley, nor the Sidekicks have had any further acknowledgement, and no further action has been taken by the G.L.S.A.

The Roust A Bouts player in question, could not be reached for comments.

Local Shopping Cart Decommissioned; None Injured

LONGVIEW— A 50 ft stretch of Hawkins Pkwy was temporarily blocked off Friday morning after a motorist struck a derelict shopping cart that was blown into oncoming traffic. The motorist, Otis Johnson of Gladewater, 56, says he was en route to the local Recycling Center to cash in on his weekly stores of collected soda cans and scrap metal when the runaway cart crossed paths with his '85 Chevrolet Celebrity. Mr. Johnson, who currently holds only 6 moving violations to his 50 year driving tenure, maintains there was no chance of avoiding the cart.



"One minute it wasn't there, the next minute it was," Johnson said. He added he was approaching speeds of up to 45 mph, though eyewitnesses later indicated a much slower speed. The cart rolled under the moving car and was completely destroyed. "I feel pretty bad about that shopping cart. Not too bad about ol' Betsy though, she's been around the block a couple of times." When contacted about the liability of the damage, Mr. Johnson's insurance company, Insure-All, declined to comment.



The shopping cart in question was found to be the property of an adjacent Toys R Us. Store manager Mike Syzlowski formally apologized to Mr. Johnson and issued him a store coupon and a five dollar gift card as a sign of apology and good will.
"We're certainly concerned about the safety of motorists, but feel very unfortunate about the loss of such a good cart. It had been with this store going on twelve years."