Pizza Party Peep Show

Maine’s "Seacoastonline.com" news source reported that a volunteer flag football coach for the Exeter Parks and Recreation Department has gotten the boot for displaying a pornographic image on his cell phone to a group of 12 year olds.

Christopher Miller may have thought he was being one cool grown up during an end of year pizza party when he showed the youth in his charge a cell phone photo described as “inappropriate” by Police Chief Richard Kane. But instead of “cool”, Miller came off as a “creep” leading to several kids informing their parents who, in turn, contacted the Parks and Recreation Department.

The Exeter Police Department was subsequently notified which led to Mr. Miller’s arrest. He was charged with a class B misdemeanor and fined $1,200. Although the sentence doesn’t carry jail time, it does ensure he won’t be doing any volunteer work with young kids anytime soon.

Police Captain Chris Fenerty applauded the quick action of the Parks and Recreation Department saying that “They did a real nice job. As soon as they found out, they immediately notified us.”

Mike Favereau, who serves as the Parks and Recreation Director, said “I’ve been in the business for more than 30 years and I’ve never had something like this happen. You pick up the paper and hear about it happening in other communities. You just never know.”

The Exeter Parks and Recreation Department has a policy of conducting a nationwide background check on volunteer coaches and performs annual checks from the point after which they sign on with the department. Although Miller had no prior record, the incident has been enough for the Parks and Recreation Department to look for ways to bolster its existing screening process for volunteer coaches.

In wake of the incident, a coaches meeting was conducted for a discussion on responsibilities coaches have when interacting with kids. There are also plans now to involve the police department in the coaches training program. The department is also considering altering the policies which allow coaches to hold celebrations and events that are not town sanctioned.

Fortunately, this situation was caught right where it needed to be. The Exeter Parks and Recreation Department seems to already be taking the necessary steps to make certain another impromptu (and wholly inappropriate) pizza party peep show never occurs again.

Hospice Volunteer Refuses to Submit to Background Check

A man in Middlesex, Connecticut will most likely lose his position as a volunteer at a local hospice because he refuses to submit to a background check. Donald McGinnis has been volunteering at the hospice every Christmas for 18 years.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid have implemented a new law requiring background checks for all volunteers. The law does not make allowances or exceptions for those people who have been volunteering longer than others.

McGinnis believes that the law has "crossed the line" and he should not be checked because he has nothing to hide & was in the military for six years.

Because the hospice relies completely on funding from the government, it has no choice but to comply with the law. Maura McQueeney, executive director of home care for the hospice was quoted as saying, “Unfortunately, the federal government doesn’t look at our employees that way,” she said. “They look at our program and for 100 percent compliance. So we would love to be able to plead his case for them, it’s hard wired now. It’s a federal regulation, and there is some merit to it, that we’re seeing patients at their most vulnerable and they’re allowing us to care for them.”

In my opinion, it's sad that someone who has done so much good for so long won't look at the bigger picture and the long-term benefit of background checks. If McGinnis truly has nothing to hide than what's the worry? He may know that nothing will come back, but can he say the same for all of the volunteers he has worked with (or will work with)?

School Volunteer Convicted of Child Abuse

Penny West served as a volunteer every day at an elementary school in Tucson, Arizona, despite being found guilty of child abuse under circumstances likely to cause death in early August

Tucson Unified School District volunteers are not subjected to fingerprinting or background checks. Rather, they must disclose their criminal histories, and then the decision whether or not to allow a person with a criminal history to volunteer is left up to the principal of the school.

West and her husband, Randall West, will be sentenced on September 22nd. Both face prison time. The jury found that West acted with criminal negligence when she did not seek medical attention for the 16-month old foster child in her care. Pathologists determined that the little girl, Emily, died of blunt-force trauma to her head. West claims that Emily fell backward and hit her head, which the defense doctors said was plausible. The state's doctors contended the injury was a result of being severely shaken or that Emily was struck with something in the head.

The principal of the school where West volunteered, Chad Knippen, agreed to be a character witness on behalf of Penny West, but was never actually called to do so at the trial. He explained that West has been helping the school for years with filing, copying and putting bulletin boards together. She did not work directly with the students.

Tight budgets are a large reason why schools utilize volunteers to assist them with many tasks. However, if schools become more reliant on volunteers, they also need to rely on background checks to protect children.

Volunteer Coach with Criminal Record Arrested Again

Antwan Burnell, a former player and volunteer for the North Charleston High School basketball team in South Carolina, was arrested this past weekend for driving under the influence and drug possession.

Because the school system implemented a new policy requiring background checks on volunteers, even without this arrest Burnell would have been banned from volunteering based on his multiple previous drug charges and the prison time he served for crack-cocaine possession.

Burnell played on the basketball team and helped them to a state championship in 1997. However, after graduation, he was arrested multiple times for drug possession and had a charge of aggravated assault. During the 2006-2007 school year, Burnell worked as a volunteer statistician for the basketball team.

School officials have stated that Burnell will not be allowed near the students at the high school and his previous record would have prevented him from coming back as a volunteer as they have begun the background check process.

Volunteers to Help with Traffic Citations

In Midwest City, Oklahoma, city leaders are discussing strengthening a program that allows volunteers to issue parking citations. The program has already been in place, but now the city is proposing to allow volunteers the authority to ticket cars with expired license plates.

Volunteers for the program must pass a background check and complete a 16-hour class. They are then issued citation books and granted the authority to ticket drivers who violate ordinances such as parking in a handicap space or having expired plates. They work at their leisure and while they do not have a badge or uniform, they are issued an identification card.

A key measure to this program makes it illegal for anyone to interefere, assault or obstruct a parking enforcement officer. People who are found guilty of the above face up to a $750 fine and 60 days in jail.

The Chief of Police, Brandon Clabes, hopes this will help get people off the streets that are driving illegally.

Volunteer Firefighter With Criminal Record Arrested Again

Byron Fritz, 39, recently left his position as a volunteer firefighter in Augusta County, Virginia after two years. The reason? He was recently arrested after trying to sell law enforcement supplies to a Sheriff.

Sheriff Randy Fisher immediately became suspicious of Fritz and his business, and conducted a background check on Fritz. It revealed that in 1994, he was arrested for impersonating a police officer. In 1997, a court issued an order that he could not possess law enforcement items such as badges, patches or even white vehicles resembling those driven by law enforcement.

Shortly after the background check was completed, the sheriff's office raided Fritz's business, seizing dozens of police badges, handcuffs, stun guns, and pepper spray.

Up until the arrest and seizure occurred, Fritz was a volunteer firefighter despite his criminal record. The Augusta County Fire Department is investigating how he was allowed to become a volunteer firefighter. Chief Mike Fisher was quoted as saying, "A lot of those charges against Mr. Fritz were old charges. I mean, in 2006 when he submitted his application, the last time that was charged was over eight years ago, and any probation or anything like that would be well over by then."

We were able to pull up Fritz's prior record dating back to 1993, which included charges of failure to appear, probation violations, possession of a concealed weapon and driving on a suspended license.

Chief Myers has said that many fire departments across the country are desperate for volunteers and he understands how someone, such as Fritz, could "fall through the cracks."

Mother Sues Mormon Church Over Abuse Case

A mother from Lawrence, Massachusetts is suing the Mormon church for negligence after her son was sexually abused by a volunteer who was a former sex offender. The mother says the church should be held responsible, as they did not perform a background check on the volunteer.

The offender in question is Kevin Curlew and he served a year in a Maine prison about 22 years ago. Curlew volunteered at the church, acting as a baby-sitter and was convicted of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, as well as two counts of assault and battery. He was sentenced to 9-10 years in jail with 512 days credit.

The lawsuit was filed in May and is against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (referred to as the Mormon church or LDS), its branch in the town of Methuen, Massachusetts, two male members of the local church and Kevin Curlew.

The mother attended women's meetings while babysitters would look after her son. Curlew volunteered as a church baby-sitter and was allowed to baby-sit alone, contrary to the rules and regulations of church policy, which requires two adults to be present when watching children. Curlew molested the 9-year old boy several times in the church bathroom during 2004.

The lawsuit states that even after a Bishop and another member of the church learned of the abuse, the men told the mother that Curlew would receive counseling and insisted that the issue remain within the church. The complaint goes on to state that Curlew was allowed to continue working as a volunteer after the report of abuse was filed.

The attorney for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Harold W. Potter, Jr., admitted the boy was abused but said the church would not accept responsibility. Potter was quoted as saying, "I don't think you could find a church in the United States that does [criminal background] checks on its members."

I'm curious to know if this attorney has done his research in order to back up this statement, as I personally know several churches who conduct background checks on employees and volunteers. In fact, many background check companies offer discounted pricing to churches and other non-profit organizations.

Volunteers Paying for Background Checks

A few entries back, we talked about entities background checking their employees, and how some opposed background checks as a violation of our civil rights. Out of 36 votes in our poll on the issue, 23 said a background check did not violate these rights.

Now, volunteer organizations are concerned about losing volunteers due to the process requiring the potential volunteers to pay for their own background checks. Depending on what type of checks are run, we have seen organizations charging volunteers anywhere from $20.00 to $80.00, with most checks among the lower range of this pricing scale.

The Calaveras County Animal Services in California is finding itself having to charge volunteers for their own background checks. In the past, it was routine for the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office to run the checks through the California Department of Justice, which charges $32.00. The Sheriff's Office has concluded that they no longer have the money to cover the checks due to the budget crisis in the state.

Volunteers are needed at the shelter to help feed, walk and care for the animals.

The Calaveras County Animal Services must recruit about a dozen new volunteers each year to replace those volunteers who quit or moved away. Debby Beaufort, a Calaveras County Human Society member is concerned that volunteers on low or fixed incomes might not choose to volunteer due to the $32.00 fee.

Would you be willing to pay a fee for your background check in order to volunteer at your favorite organization?

Yes No

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Belmont Heights Little League Learns to Run Background Checks

When the umpire of a game for the Belmont Heights Little League in Tampa, Florida failed to show, a man by the name of Byron James Simmons came out of the stands and offered to volunteer to call the game.

Artis Gambrell, president of the little league, recognized the man and coached him in the league when he was young. Simmons' own 10-year old son even played on the team as a second baseman. Gambrell acknowledged that he knew Simmons would know how to call the game and allowed him to volunteer. He did not run a background check because league rules, at that time, did not require one.

A quick background check would have revealed that Simmons was a repeat offender and it only would have taken just a few minutes to complete. Tampa police are now reporting that Simmons raped a 10-year old girl at a park in his van last weekend.

Again, had the league run a background check, they would have revealed that Simmons violated probation stemming from being convicted of possessing a firearm when he was in school. He was then given 270 days in jail. In 2003, he was convicted of the sale and possession of cocaine as well as lewd and lascivious molestation of a minor in between the ages of 12-15 years old. Simmons was given 5 years in prison with credit for time served. Furthermore, he has been arrested for aggravated assault, gambling, theft of a vehicle, marijuana possession as well as fraud.

Gambrell stated that until the present, coaches and other personnel were given background checks, but volunteers, normally parents, were not. The league is going to run background checks on everyone from here on out.

While Simmons didn't register as a sex offender until April of this year and began volunteering in February, a background check would still have picked up his criminal record and prevented him from volunteering.

Volunteer Screening a Violation of Civil Rights?

As schools begin to expand their background checks for volunteers, more people are complaining about the checks, citing that their civil rights are being violated.

Robert Smith, a parent of a kindergarten student at West University Elementary School in Houston, Texas, was surprised to learn that he was required to undergo a criminal background check in order to attend his son's field day. He agreed to the background check under protest stating, "There go more of our civil rights." School officials later told him that he could have attended without a criminal background check, but he would have been required to stay behind a fence in a restricted area.

West University Elementary is also going to require criminal background checks for any parents wishing to join their children for an end of the school year celebration. The principal of the school, John Threet, has said the checks are important because not everyone in attendance can be monitored by teachers and staff.

West University Elementary is one of the schools found who is remarkably strict about running background checks, but more and more schools are adopting a policy of screening all of their volunteers. Opponents have stated that schools will lose prospective volunteers because of background checks and submitting to the checks is a violation of civil rights.

What do you think?

Does submitting to a background check in order to be a school volunteer violate civil rights?

Yes No

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Bill in Minnesota Would Require Background Checks for School Volunteers

A bill in Minnesota is currently on its way to the Governor of the state. The bill would require criminal background checks for certain volunteers working in schools. Some school districts are fighting this change.

Opponents of the bill have cited costs as one of their reasons for not conducting background checks, saying the school districts would not be able to afford them. Opponents also state that criminal background checks would scare potential volunteers away who may have had DWI convictions. The concern is that schools will lose needed volunteers.

Some school districts, however, are in support of the bill and feel that background checks are especially important on sports activity volunteers. They say not all criminal offenses would disqualify a person from volunteering, but the districts need to have correct information to make informed decisions.

The bill passed the Senate unanimously and passed in the House with 112-15. It is now awaiting the signature of Governor Tim Pawlenty who has expressed his support of the bill.

The requirement would include background checks on all coaches and adults who assist with extracurricular activities in schools, either employees or volunteers. It would not apply to volunteers who read to children in classrooms or who help out with other classroom activities.