Malevolence: A Harmonic Convergence

Introduction

If you have not heard about the latest entry in the Moscow fiasco semi-finals, then . . . read on.

The best way for you to get up to speed on the general situation is by reading this statement issued by Logos School.

Logos Statement

On December 12th 2023, Logos School rented the U of I’s ICCU Arena to host the Kamiah Kubs in a White Pine League boy’s basketball game. A donor covered the ticket cost for any Kamiah fans who traveled to attend so as many people could enjoy the arena and the game as possible. The event and the venue were intended to be an enjoyable experience for both teams and communities. The game was a close contest, with Logos winning by a small margin.

In the days following the game, a complaint was filed with the District 2 Board of Control against a sophomore Logos player, alleging that Kamiah players had been sexually assaulted on the court during the game. Logos was notified of this by the Board of Control, and the Logos head coach and Athletic Director immediately began to review game footage to locate any possible inappropriate contact. After reviewing the footage, Logos found that there was no evidence whatsoever of anything resembling sexual assault by a Logos player. To the contrary, the evidence showed nothing more than incidental contact typical of competitive basketball, especially while boxing out. The Logos AD submitted these findings to the District 2 Board of Control. On January 7th, a lawyer representing the parents of one of the Kamiah players filed a written complaint with the District 2 Board of Control.

On January 18th 2024, the District 2 Board of Control notified Logos that our player was suspended for six games, effective immediately. Logos made an appeal, because there was no basis for the initial suspension. The District 2 Board of Control lifted the suspension after admitting that it had not followed its own procedures or guidelines through the process, but then reimposed the six-game suspension after a hearing—while refusing to reveal the actual basis for the suspension. The player’s family and Logos then appealed to the IHSAA, which after reviewing all the evidence, overturned the suspension. However, through the appeal process, the player served 4.5 games of the overturned 6-game suspension.

After the suspension was overturned at the state level, the Kamiah player’s family launched a defamatory and inaccurate attack on Logos and the player on Facebook.

We have a great deal of respect and admiration for the Kamiah basketball program and have been grateful to be a member of such a strong and competitive league. We find this incident regrettable as our students and athletes have benefited greatly from Kamiah’s hospitality, especially during track season, and Kamiah has set a very high performance bar on the basketball court, which we have attempted to emulate. We find it regrettable that a Kamiah player’s family is accusing our player of serious misconduct. And we find it regrettable that thousands of adults without connection to the incident or access to the evidence have seized on the moment to slander, defame, and even threaten violence online against a child who already unnecessarily served 4.5 games of an overturned suspension for routine physicality during a basketball game.

We are grateful to the Kamiah AD for his professionalism throughout this process, and we look forward to reestablishing a respectful and mutually beneficial competitive relationship with Kamiah athletics.

So that is the basic lay of the land. I particularly appreciated the classy approach taken by the Logos statement here. We really do appreciate the opportunity for our athletes to play against tough competitors. We also really object to adults wrecking healthy competition because they want to play some other game of their own.

That said, at the same time, there have been some outrageous downstream consequences that have resulted from this online commotion, and I use the word outrageous advisedly. I didn’t want to use any term that would exclude additional layers of gaudiness, folly, and blinkered hubris. Something has to be done about it. What do I mean?

The family of our basketball player has now been contacted by social workers and prosecutors with Latah County. This is actually a preliminary step toward a possible decision to begin a criminal prosecution. I know that this is 2024, the next year of clown world, but guys, this is only February.

If anything other than humble apologies result from this, it will be stark evidence of a selective abuse of power. Authorities need to have better justification for doing something than the raw argument that they believe that they could get away with it.

So what am I talking about?

Criminal Charges for Boxing Out?

Perhaps you would like to see “the offense” in question. Well, here it is, in all its naked criminality.

The video montage shows you contact in the Whitepine League, which is a strong and competitive league. While contact like this could be considered criminal on the sidewalk, it is not, never has been, and never should be treated as criminal on the court. The video then moves on to bad (but not criminal) behavior in college ball, and the same in the NBA. many of them not called as fouls, then fouls in college ball, and then fouls in the NBA. It concludes with the two Logos incidents in question.

Here is the first link.

If you want to see the offenses falsely so-called in isolation, here is a link to the first complaint.

And the second complaint.

This is a glaring example of the legal weaponization of virtually anything. Provided enough people on Facebook are yelling about something, that by itself must be considered evidence of some sort. Call the police. Fetch the social workers and the prosecutors. Someone boxed out. No means no. Lady Justice is blind, especially for Christian school kids.

This is corruption, pure and simple. It is petty politics driven by animosity. This is venality coupled with malice, and then augmented with more than a dollop of legal and cultural ineptitude.

To be blunt, however, Logos was plainly asking for it. They had inflamed the situation by having a dominant football season right before this, and apparently without apology. Consequently, the people fomenting the online uproar about all this are circulating a petition that demands for Logos to be kicked out the Whitepine League.

But this isn’t really about our league. And it’s not about basketball. That stuff, all our league rivalries and any on field/on court complaints, are simply opportunities for our haters and parasitic progressive stalkers to exploit. They have swooped in to capitalize on the situation and steer people we actually have a great deal in common with into needlessly escalating conflict. They are the ones pushing for the criminalization of rebounding (in our case only). They are the ones spreading all sorts of defamatory lies and pressuring local prosecutors. They would love to see a conservative Christian school and red state rural Idahoans start fighting with each other. And those progressive stalkers of ours are the ones now hearing from our lawyers, not any of our league schools (even if they happened to believe some of the lies).

Selective and Malevolent Prosecution

It is worth noting that within the last few years the Logos head coach was prosecuted by the city of Moscow (Stickergate) for having had stickers printed. Those charges were eventually dropped after almost two years, but not until a lot of money was spent on the defense. Lawsuits are active. The Logos team captain was prosecuted by Latah County (Stickergate), with those charges eventually being dropped after a sufficient amount of your taxpayer money was wasted. The head coach of the Logos girls team was once upon a time arrested by the MPD, only to have those charges dropped after the city realized that what he had been doing (e.g. singing psalms outside) was perfectly legal. He and his fellow arrestees sued and were awarded a significant settlement by a federal court. The appeal of Moscow’s prosecution of the team captain’s brother (and the head coach’s son) is now set for oral arguments in Idaho’s Court of Appeals in April.

And now Latah County appears to be gearing up to prosecute the son of the assistant Logos coach. For boxing out.

But it is clear from the video that this is not anywhere near criminal. I mean, there is nothing there. A ref is staring right at one of the incidents, and he didn’t even call a common foul. I can tell you, on the 1-10 scale of ridiculousness, with 1 being a solemn judge in a black robe, and 10 being a baby giraffe trying to walk on stilts, this is a 12.

What You Can Do

If you are a resident of Latah County, here is what you can and should do. Write to this address:

Latah County Courthouse
522 S Adams
Moscow, Idaho 83843
Room 3B

Inform your commissioners that you do not wish your public servants to spend any time whatever on this issue. That they are even thinking about this is disgraceful. Your message should be firm, but civilized. Do not threaten. Do not vent. Do not lose your temper. Above all, do not box out. That’s the big one, right there.

Seriously, do not say or do anything that would bring discredit on those citizens who simply want to see simple justice restored for a school athlete who was just playing basketball. Simply express your settled and civilized views on the matter. You saw the video, and you should direct your public servants to stop being wildly irresponsible. For once.

It would be hard to imagine a starker case of adults behaving in a way that prevents kids from being able to play ball.