Posted on 08/13/2007 10:34:47 AM PDT by SmithL
Five school districts had asked the high court to overturn the order that would have restricted activities outside schools from 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.
There's no questioning that Chancery Court Judge Mitchell Lundy has his heart in the right place. But he was severely overstepping his authority - and acting a bit like Big Brother - in deciding he knew better than coaches, players and their parents about how best to balance athletics and the current heat wave.
The Grenada County chancellor, apparently in response to the recent deaths of a pair of Mississippi high school football players, issued a temporary restraining order Thursday.
The justices, in voiding Lundy's order, pointed out that no one had petitioned the judge to stop the practices.
“The order ... is hereby vacated and void,” the court wrote.
The order applied to DeSoto, Tate, Panola, Yalobusha, Grenada and Montgomery counties.
School systems in DeSoto County, Panola County, Senatobia, Montgomery County, Winona and Water Valley asked the Supreme Court overturn Lundy's order. The school districts were joined by the Mississippi High School Activities Association and the Mississippi Private School Association.
The MHSAA allowed its teams to officially start football practice Monday.
Lundy's order, by some accounts, is unprecedented. What makes it particularly unusual is that he took this action unilaterally. No one came before the judge petitioning him to intervene to stop practice or games during the heat of the day.
The ban included everything from recess to cheerleading to band practice. But the big target, of course, was football, where the danger of heat stroke and temperature-related calamities are the most severe.
The judge, by his action, was saying his judgment is better than that of the school administrators and coaches, who are trained in how to minimize the risks of heat-related illnesses.
There may be some overzealous coaches out there who are so preoccupied with winning that they would put their players in danger, but they are in a vast minority and can be handled by their bosses on a case-by-case basis.
The vast majority of coaches, however, are going to do what's safe - either because they truly have the welfare of their players at heart or because they don't want to be hung with the guilt of having one die on them.
Lundy, for all his good intentions, had no business getting involved in this call.
There are a lot of situations out there that could be potentially dangerous to children, and most of them have nothing to do with sports. There are parents who leave young children unsupervised for long stretches of time. There are homes where loaded guns are unsecured. There are places so filthy and ill-kept that even the rats stay away.
So, it was the right call by the Mississippi Supreme Court to halt the order and let the kids get back to the business of being kids.
Judge rules it's too hot to playMississippi state Supreme Court requested to block outdoor ban
Another little Hitler on the bench. What’s new?
Damn nanny state judges! I remember having 4 hour practices in full pads back in West Texas when the temperatures were running over 100 degrees. NO one ever died of heat stroke, though we did leave a lot of puke piles!!
Late Ping to a good read.
The Judge meant well but had absolutely no authority.
I think you are wrong in saying...
“Another little Hitler on the bench. What’s new?”
while the higher court was correct in overturning the order, there is no evidence that this judge was malicious in any way.
His heart was in the right place, but he was wrong in his actions. It is overturned and there is no need that I can see to pound on the man.
bookmark
I makes you wonder how we and our ancestors all survived our childhoods without judges to protect us from the midday sun.
This is NOT “well-meaning”:
“It is well settled in the State of Mississippi that the Chancery Court is the guardian, custodian and caretaker of all minors in the state.”
He violated the parental rights of every parent in the area.
Too many judges like this idiot actually believe that they have the "divine right of kings", and act accordingly.
Typical liberal response. Irrelevant that the idiot grossly overstepped his authority.
That he meant well, is totally irrelevant. Dangerously so. He needs to be pounded on as hard and as often as possible.
There is a reason for the observation, the road to hell is paved with good intentions"
Obviously there was no legal basis for the judge to issue this order. However, I'm sure he was driven by the very correct knowledge that lots of parents and coaches of middle and high school football players are NOT letting their kids be kids, and are browbeating the kids into practicing and playing even in unsafe weather conditions and through injuries which need rest to avoid risk of permanent damage.
He is no doubt afraid that if practices are held, kids whose parents really feel they should stay home will be threatened with being dropped from the team if they miss practice, and will therefore go to practice against their parents' better judgement and feel compelled to "be tough" and try to continue even when they begin to feel the effects of heatstroke. Sounds like that may be what happened in the two recent deaths referred to in the article.
The big question is why the school districts in affected areas didn't issue an order to this effect on their own. The answer, sadly, is that football wins are more important to them than the safety of individual students.
Maybe it’s just me, but it isn’t it better to be outside in the heat.
As a former guest of the education system in Miss. I can tell ya, you don’t want to rely on the A/C
Im just a bit north of these counties. Its going to be 106 tomorrow, and its 104 today. Im a 70 mile per week runner, and I consider myself pretty damn tough, but not tough enough to push it out in this heat. I agree with this somewhat.
That is hot. I guess, I’m assuming the adults will take precatuions—shade, water, etc. Kids definetily should not be doing 2-a-days or running suicide drills in that heat.
I was wondering the other day why our US Supreme Court doesn’t do more of this. Another whacky decision by a lefty judge out of the 9th Circus? Slap it down from afar, make it void. Just takes 5 votes. Why wait for them to appeal it two years later, meanwhile, the US Navy can’t protect the coast because sonar might disturb the whales.
On rriple digit days in highschool, my mom would not let me go to track or cross country practice, because the coach would go on with his plan, whether it was an easy 6 miles, or a hard 10.
That's easy; our ancestors were the ones who survived their childhoods.
That said, I think the judge was legally out of line.
i agree and welcome to FR
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