George Guido: State Rep. Conklin proposes to amend legislation regarding public, private school playoffs

By: George Guido
Tuesday, April 2, 2019 | 4:50 PM

The hot-button issue of Pennsylvania high school sports — holding separate playoffs for public and private schools — is about to get hotter.

An amendment to state law introduced by Rep. Scott Conklin (D-Centre County) that would open a path to separate public and private state playoffs in Pennsylvania high school sports now has nine co-sponsors.

The co-sponsors include former Ford City High School basketball player Jeff Pyle (R-Armstrong/Butler/Indiana), along with Rep. Stephen Barrar (R-Delaware/Chester); Rep. Thomas Caltagirone (R-Berks); Rep. Patrick Harkins (D-Erie); Rep. Rich Irvin (R-Huntingdon/Centre/Mifflin); Rep. Mark Longietti (D-Mercer); Rep. Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia/Chester); Rep. Harry Readshaw (D-Allegheny); and Rep. Tommy Sankey (R-Clearfield/Cambria).

Conklin proposes to amend the 1972 legislation that allowed Catholic and eventually other private schools to join the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.

Here’s Rep. Conklin’s amendment: “For the purposes of playoffs and awarding championships, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association shall establish separate playoff systems and championships for athletics for public schools and private schools admitted under subsection (a).’’

The co-sponsorship consists of five Republicans, four Democrats and no state Senators.

Legislation in Pennsylvania goes from introduction to co-sponsorship to a committee assignment, and then to votes in the state House and Senate before becoming law following the governor’s signature. The legislation can be changed at any point in the process prior to voting.

The PIAA has said numerous times in the last year that it does not have the power to change the 1972 law, so Conklin has now stepped in.

Awards limits increased

Also, the PIAA, after the second of three required readings, is close to increasing the value of awards that student-athletes can receive without losing amateur status.

The new measure would increase from $500 to $750 the value of awards.

Plus, a family can now accept reimbursement for the costs of participation of National Governing Bodies (NGB) teams and NCAA youth development camps.

Tragedy in Florida

The first lawsuit has been filed in relation to the horrible tragedy that took place three weeks ago at Liberty County High School in Bristol, Fla.

Baseball coach Corey Crum and his wife, Shana, were killed after being electrocuted while installing a new scoreboard at the school’s baseball field.

Crum, who had just taken over as varsity coach after serving as junior varsity coach for many years, was on a lift that hit an electrical line, according to a report filed by the Liberty County Sheriff’s office.

To add to the tragedy, Shana came to her husband’s aid and was electrocuted herself.

The Crums’ 14-year-old son, Chase, was also injured, but survived.

The lawsuit claims that the power company that owns the lines, Florida Public Utilities Company, is to blame. The complaint states that in the span of lines between the two power poles where the incident occurred, FPU had negligently installed the two wires “upside down” so that the hot/live wire was on the bottom and the safe cold ground wire was on the top.

“This is a clear and dangerous violation of the National Electrical Safety Code,” said Hal Lewis, the attorney representing the family. “I’ve talked to a half dozen experts in the field of electric power distribution, and none of them have ever seen anything like this with the hot wire on bottom and the safe wire on top.”

The lawsuit states the power line in question is an old abandoned stretch of transmission wires that runs for 228 feet onto the Liberty County school property and then stops. The line was once used to provide electricity to a horse track and stables, but the line was de-energized years ago when the stables were demolished.

Said Lewis in a report by WCTV in Tallahassee: “Mr. Crum had good reasons to believe that those abandoned lines were dead, otherwise he wouldn’t have been using the forklift under them in the first place.”

The complaint asks for compensation from Florida Public Utilities Company for the damages suffered by the Crums’ three surviving children.

The family was part of a community volunteer day that was working on the baseball field.

The original scoreboard was destroyed by Hurricane Michael. The school system had ordered a replacement scoreboard that arrived and was set to be installed.

Three days after the tragedy, a candlelight vigil was held at the school. The Liberty County baseball team began its season March 16 and played its first home game March 19, an emotional, 14-3 victory over Wewahitchka High School.

Bristol is located west of Tallahassee in the Florida panhandle.

Thanks for the update provided by Fletcher Keel of WCTV, a former Altoona resident who worked for the Altoona Curve, the Pirates affiliate.