Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Appeal Set Thursday

By JOHN MILLER

It's a game of hurry up and wait for the Gurdon Go-Devils as the Gurdon School District appeals the Oct. 3, forfeit to Dierks.

The hurry up is a scheduled hearing before a judge in Little Rock Thursday at 10 a.m. The wait could be for the decision to be made.

Bill Wright, the district's attorney, who is handling the case pro-bono, said there are times the judge will render a decision immediately after the hearing, while other times a wait is involved until the judge makes up his mind.

According to Wright, the situation is still in the administrative appeal process and no formal lawsuit has been filed as yet.

He said the first steps must be through the administrative appeal process before a suit is filed. So far, Gurdon has gone through two levels of appeal.

The first level, Wright said, was the initial appeal was to the Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) director, who denied Gurdon's claim and forced the team to forfeit the game 2-0.

The next step, he said, was to appeal before the AAA executive council, which has also been done. At that hearing, Gurdon presented its case, saying the head official was out of state and couldn't be reached regardless. The official, though, said he had not looked at the contract when it was signed and thought the game was to be played on Oct. 31.

The official, Ed Owens, also wrote Gurdon a letter apologizing for his not being there and taking full responsibility for no officials showing up. However, the AAA council ruled Gurdon had to forfeit the game because the district did not get in touch with the officials to make sure a crew would be on hand for the game.

The next level, Wright said, is to have the matter heard before a retired judge, who will rule and does have the power to overturn the AAA decisions.

However, he said, the AAA is under the impression if the judge rules against the association, it has the right to consider the issue yet again.

Wright said under AAA guidelines there are no written rules stating a district must get in touch with officials before a game, even though it is a good practice.

He said Gurdon complied with AAA regulations and had a signed contract with an officiating crew to be on hand for the Gurdon-Dierks contest on Oct. 3.

According to Wright, the AAA council latched onto the fact the official didn't read the contract and had reportedly told Gurdon head coach and athletic director John Pace he thought the game was to be played Oct. 31.

The situation, Wright said, could possibly go beyond the regular season as no date has been set for the judge to hear the case.

Gurdon, he said, had an excellent chance to go undefeated before this occurred. The last time the Devils had an undefeated season was in 1964.

"I think we have a chance to prevail," Wright said. "I agreed to do this for Gurdon for nothing. This is an opportunity for the students to have an undefeated season and is a matter of pride.

"They're having their work taken away by people who basically support the decision of an administrator without considering how it will affect the students."

In the meantime, the Devils continue to fight on the gridiron for a top spot in the playoffs while the administrators fight on the legal playing field to have the initial decision overturned and the possibility of a perfect regular season.