UT running back arrested for marijuana possesion.

Austin (un)American Statesman ^ | 05-16-06 | Laura Skelding

[evets]

The owner of a pecan farm near where Ramonce Taylor was arrested on a drug charge said Monday that the University of Texas running back and his friends crashed an outdoor college graduation party for his daughter.

At about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Stewart said, his son and several party guests complained to him that about seven uninvited guests were trying to sell drugs and he asked them to leave, he said.

A short time later, Bell County sheriff's deputies arrested Taylor, 20, at a nearby convenience store and accused him of possessing five pounds of marijuana.

Taylor called Bell County sheriff's deputies at about 1:30 a.m. reporting a fight involving as many as 100 people at the farm, according to the affidavit. He complained that the window of his vehicle was broken at the pecan farm. When deputies responded to Taylor's call, he told them that people at the party "provoked a fight and demanded that he leave," the affidavit says.

While deputies were talking to Taylor, they learned from fellow deputies — who were by that time at the pecan farm — that Taylor was being accused of threatening to return with a gun, the affidavit said. When Taylor consented to a search of his vehicle — a 2004 Chevy Tahoe — deputies found 5.3 pounds of marijuana in a bag stitched with "Big 12 Conference."

Taylor's lawyer, Robert "Buck" Harris of Killeen, said that if his client knew there were drugs in the car, he would not have called Bell County sheriff's deputies or allowed them to search his vehicle.

"He's not playing hide the ball. If he's carrying five pounds of marijuana, either he's the stupidest person alive or thinks he's bulletproof," Harris said after the brief arraignment hearing in Belton.

[SuzyQue]

Sorry, I didn't see your reply.

[1L]

He's still in school at t.u., which means while he may not be participating in spring practices, they expected they would keep him around. This arrest may change things, but given t.u.'s turning a blind eye to other criminal behavior (Tim Moss, Madisonville 4, etc.), I'll believe it when I see it.

[FOG724]

I'm not anti drug by a long shot but there is a reason they call it dope.

[af_vet_rr]

You know, it's funny, when I saw the article you mentioned back in March, I thought he had academic problems and UT was being polite (UT is very "polite" when it comes to athletes and grades, after the whole 1998 fiasco with the basketball player's grades and the radio station, and the subsequent lawsuit a few years later).

To find out that it was before the semester started..it's very possible they had the final grades before the semester started (not familiar with the schedule) and Brown is a stickler for NCAA regulations, which would have required Taylor to be ineligible to pratice in the spring.

But something just tells me though that he had some other issues going on. If they thought he would raise his grades up in time for the summer practices and fall games, it seems like they wouldn't have severed ties with him the way they did.

[af_vet_rr]

He's still in school at t.u., which means while he may not be participating in spring practices, they expected they would keep him around. This arrest may change things, but given t.u.'s turning a blind eye to other criminal behavior (Tim Moss, Madisonville 4, etc.), I'll believe it when I see it.

From what I heard this morning, he was in the paperwork process of transferring to a juco (I think UT got out last week).

I don't think they planned on keeping him around, and definitely not after this.

Think about it - going by NCAA regulations he was eligible to play in the Rose Bowl, therefore he would have been eligible to receive a ring and visit the WH - for them to pull his ring and his visit to the White House. That's pretty harsh.

[1L]

First of all, the story I read said he had a final at t.u. on Monday. That means he was in school.

Second, the trip to the WH was probably conditioned on him being in "good standing" whatever that means. I bet there are other team members that for one reason or another didn't make the trip. This means absolutely nothing, and I know of no NCAA regulation that would be relevent. Anyone can go to the WH for any reason.

Finally, I seriously doubt he didn't get a ring. Do you have a source on this?

[jra]

In school where? What's TU?

[David Allen]

That is how Texas Aggies like to characterize UT.

Nothing makes a Texas Aggie quite as happy as calling UT "TU."

Now you know why UT kicks their butt in everything.

[jra]

Okay, I'll bite...

A&M, if I'm not mistaken, has aggies for their mascot...

What's a Texas Aggie?

[Paleo Conservative]

Parents to blame for naming son "Ramonce".

"Parents" as in plural? I think not. Well at least is mother didn't name him Antwan.

[massgopguy]

What took ya' so long?

[TaxMe]

I am voting for stupid. It never ceases to amaze me how many people voluntarily allow the police to search their car even when they know that something illegal (drugs, etc.) are in it!

[af_vet_rr]

First of all, the story I read said he had a final at t.u. on Monday. That means he was in school.

I'm not saying he wasn't in school for the spring semester, I'm saying that it sounded like this was it and he was trying to get his grades up enough to transfer to a juco.

Second, the trip to the WH was probably conditioned on him being in "good standing" whatever that means. I bet there are other team members that for one reason or another didn't make the trip. This means absolutely nothing, and I know of no NCAA regulation that would be relevent.

The fact that they booted him before the beginning of the semester could have headed off pertinent NCAA regulations that would have automatically triggered - I would think NCAA regulations would prevent an academically ineligble athlete from participating in a school/athletic related event, and a trip to the WH because of a National Championship would probably fall into that category. I think Mack Brown had every right to boot him from the team before then and keep him from attending.

Finally, I seriously doubt he didn't get a ring. Do you have a source on this?

He wasn't allowed to participate in the ring ceremony at all. A friend who was there implied that unless it was an emergency, if you were going to get a ring, you were going to be at the ceremony.

Unless you have proof otherwise that he is an upstanding citizen, I'm telling you that I think he probably was a bad apple. People (his lawyers) are trying to paint this as an innocent mistake, or that he just showed up at some A&M graduation or end-of-semester party out in the middle of Bell County or that he was invited or whatever.

According to the owners of the property (who also happen to be the parents of the students who organized it), the party had booze, music, dancing, etc., and that could certainly get out of hand, but it sounded to me like a normal party and he was uninvited and tried to stick around anyways (which led to the fight(s), or as one of the local columnists called it, the "Showdown at the Hoedown").

[AggieMom x 3]

An Aggie is not a mascot. An Aggie is a student at A&M. The "A" stands for agriculture, hence Aggies. Our mascot is a collie named Reveille.

[af_vet_rr]

Aggie - short for Agricultural. A&M (M = Mechanical) was originally an agricultural/mechanical-oriented school

They still have one helluva good engineering school (and they are good natured about it - when the Red Bull Flugtag thing game came to Austin a few years ago, A&M's entry was constructed out of duct tape).

They also have one of the premier agricultural research schools (or however you want to call characterize it) in the world. They've turned out a lot of good vets as well.

They have a campus down at Galveston or Corpus, that has a large ship that goes out and does underwater archaelogy research (for a long time they were venturing to somewhere around Turkey). The Naval and Coast Guard ROTC cadets ran the ship (or did), while the archaelogy students do their research. It's one of those unique real-world experiences that most colleges don't have.

If my kids hadn't gone to one of the Acadamies or to UT, I would have preferred they went to A&M or Texas Tech (which was also agricultural/mechanical-oriented when it first started out as well) - both are good schools.

[isom35]

I bet he ends up playing for the miami dolphins

[David Allen]

Yep, A&M is a good school, but I do prefer UT.

Some families are all one of other. Some, like mine, are divided between the two, which is great for Thanksgiving!

[David Allen]

Some families are all one OR the other.

[razorback-bert]

Did you know that there are three types of Aggies?
Those who can count and those who can't.

[1L]

>>trying to get his grades up enough to transfer to a juco<<

No one "tries" to get their grades up to transfer to a juco. Jucos have open admission standards and if his grades were a problem, he'd have withdrawn from school.

>>The fact that they booted him before the beginning of the semester<<

They didn't. It was prior to spring practice.

>>academically ineligble athlete<<

There isn't any evidence that he lost any eligibility. Brown could have used the school work as an excuse to see how he'd behave without practicing. Brown has said he would "remain on scholarship until the case" has been resolved.

>>I think Mack Brown had every right to boot him from the team before then and keep him from attending. <<

I don't disagree, but I don't think he was ever actually booted from the team.

>>Unless you have proof otherwise that he is an upstanding citizen<<

Are you kidding? He's a rat just like a bunch of others down there.

What I'm saying is that what's being said now as damage control for the t.u. football team isn't necessarily the facts.