Posted on 09/23/2003 9:42:19 PM PDT by Theodore R.
Basketball coach remains at LCCC
By Dave Shelles spt4@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE - Despite being arrested and charged with domestic violence and battery, Queint Higgins remains employed by Laramie County Community College.
"He's still our basketball coach," LCCC President Charles Bohlen said Monday. "Other than that, it's a personnel matter, and I can't say anything."
Higgins turned himself in at 3 p.m. Sept. 15 after police were called to his East Sixth Street home Aug. 31. He allegedly punched his wife, Jenny Higgins, in the stomach with a closed fist during the argument.
Domestic violence is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $750 fine.
Section II-A of LCCC's Personnel Policy 4130, dated Jan. 3, 1989, does not specifically address domestic violence.
But it says the college can dismiss, suspend or terminate an employee for "immorality," defined as "conduct that is inconsistent with the standards of public conscience and good morals of the district in which the college is located. It is conduct which violates criminal law or is sufficiently notorious to bring the employee concerned or the education profession into public disgrace or disrespect so as to impair the employee's service to the college."
One LCCC student said he'd like to see how the case plays out before the college decides what to do.
"There are two sides to every story," Erasmo Olmos said. "You've just got to see all the facts first before you can make a decision on that."
Olmos said Higgins is a public figure with a responsibility to conduct himself in a proper manner.
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