Wednesday, January 2, 2008

"You put your Finley In, you put your Claude Brown out, You put Sylvester in but he'll soon be coming out"

He's backkkkkkk.

Joe Finley has decided he'd like to take another shot at public office. He announced today that he'll run for Summit County Executive, trying to unseat Russ Pry. The Democratic primary is March 4th .. a mere 60+ days away ... and with a petition deadline looming this Friday at 4 p.m., these might be the only two candidates for the job.

Meanwhile, Claude Brown was granted judicial release today, as was expected. He's a first-time offender, his sex crime was consensual, and he kept himself out of trouble while behind bars. I wonder if he'll eventually rise again as a speaker for local teens on how to keep from making big mistakes in life.

I gotta debate WTAM's copy on this story today when the reporter said "a judge in Akron today released 'legendary' football coach Claude Brown ..." I'm not sure legendary is the right adjective. Brown's teams never rivaled the man he replaced, Tim Flossie, although Brown's influence with his players and the Buchtel community was quite solid.

Meanwhile, the Akron Public Schools announced a community forum to gain input on selecting a new superintendent to replace the retiring Dr. Sylvester Small, whose contract expires at the end of the summer. Mark your calendars for 6 p.m. next Tuesday, Jan. 8th, at the Central Learning Center, 400 W. Market Street. Not sure any big names are really out there for consideration just yet, but I can think of a few solid principals in the district whom I'd like to see get consideration.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You do have a way with words! The title was very funny.

Elissa

Anonymous said...

Agreed on the WTAM wording. Claude Brown was NOT "legendary" as the Buchtel head coach. Flossie took the Griffins to I believe two state title games in two or three years during the 1990s and had other deep runs in the playoffs. Flossie had a ridiculous record as a head coach there.

Anonymous said...

i am glad to see that claude brown was able to come home. having made a terrible mistake he now has the chance to start over...oops...no he doesn't because the sex offender laws won't let him. of course if he had murdered someone instead then he would be ok to move on...

Anonymous said...

No one can hold a teaching license in the State of Ohio if they also have been found guilty of a felony crime (or higher).

So, no, if he had been found guilty of murder, Claude Brown would be in pretty much the same boat he is now . . . other than the likelihood that he would still be in jail.

Maybe we should ask Doug Prade how easy it is to "move on" after been found guilty of murder.

Anonymous said...

This (Claude Brown) was NOT just some mistake. He crossed the line and got caught. His behavior as a teacher had been unethical for years. It was reported that even when he was at Canton McKinley many years ago, he was making sexual jokes and comments to girls.