COMMENTARY : Southern Section’s Rulings, Reputation Take a Beating

The Southern Section hit rock bottom this week but not just because it appeared in full retreat on the litigation front.

At best, the section bungled cases against Canyon High football Coach Harry Welch and John Hazelton, a Montclair Prep assistant football coach. At worst, in the case against Welch, the section’s attorney acted in an underhanded manner with the media.

Welch clobbered the section in court Monday, winning a preliminary injunction that stayed a 5 1/2-month suspension recommended by Southern Section Commissioner Stan Thomas. Welch had been accused of conducting an illegal off-season practice. Welch admits that rules violations were committed, but not by him.

In order to retain his job as football coach, he filed suit against the Southern Section and also named as defendants Canyon High and the William S. Hart Union High School District.

After Monday’s hearing, The Times received a tip alleging that the judge in the case was biased because of his ties to Canyon High.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Haig Kehiayan issued a strong rebuke of the section’s case when he granted the preliminary injunction, saying the case lacked facts and evidence and indicated that the Southern Section had acted arbitrarily and had denied Welch due process.

Kehiayan lives in Canyon Country and his children are Canyon High graduates--Nancy in 1972 and Rob the following year. In addition, former Canyon football Coach Don DeGroote, who coached the Cowboys in 1972 and is currently an assistant football coach at Hart, described Kehiayan as an active supporter of Canyon activities when the judge’s children attended the school.

The Times contacted Eric Paris, the attorney who represented the Southern Section at both Monday’s hearing and at a July 31 hearing in which Kehiayan granted Welch a temporary restraining order.

Paris said at 11 a.m. Wednesday that he was unaware of Kehiayan’s connections to Canyon and quickly transferred the call to Andrew Patterson, the section’s chief attorney in the Diamond Bar firm of Patterson and Miller.

Patterson also said he was unaware of Kehiayan’s Canyon ties, saying, “It’s news to me.”

After The Times apprised Thomas of possible bias in the case, Thomas said, “We didn’t know about it.”

Kehiayan refused comment through his clerk, who outlined the nature of the questions put to him Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Thomas had discussed options with Patterson, weighing whether to appeal Kehiayan’s decision or file a complaint with the State Commission on Judicial Performance. Later in the day, Thomas told The Times that the section had made no decision on its course, but he encouraged a reporter to push ahead with the story.

The Times then confirmed through a call to Clyde Smyth, superintendent of the Hart school district, that the judge was the same Haig Kehiayan as described by DeGroote, the former Canyon coach. Smyth vouched for Kehiayan’s integrity and then mentioned that, according to Wendy Wiles, an attorney for the school district, the judge had revealed his ties to Canyon in chambers before the July 31 hearing. Wiles and Stephen J. Tully, Welch’s attorney, confirmed that account, saying that all three attorneys had no objections.

The Times then contacted Paris, the section’s attorney, at about 6 p.m. and asked him if the judge disclosed his Canyon ties at the July 31 hearing. Paris said, “Yes.”

When asked why he earlier had said that he was unaware of Kehiayan’s Canyon ties, Paris said, “Well, you asked me a lot of things about the judge.”

Convinced that Kehiayan acted properly, The Times killed the story.

Paris said he never told Patterson about the judge’s disclosure, and Thomas adamantly denied that Paris told him, either.

“Absolutely, I had no knowledge of the disclosure,” Thomas said Thursday. “Neither Paris nor Patterson told me. I didn’t have a clue. I’m devastated, to be honest with you. I’m disappointed.”

Thomas, however, said Thursday that he learned of Kehiayan’s Canyon ties from DeGroote after the hearing Monday. When asked why he previously claimed he knew nothing of Kehiayan’s ties, Thomas said that he meant he knew nothing about the judge until after the hearing.

Thomas said Thursday that he would need to make inquiries before deciding whether to take action against the section’s law firm.

Tully was outraged when he learned of Wednesday’s events, saying, “The example set is one of bad sportsmanship.”

Welch voiced similar sentiments, saying he has strengthened his resolve to seek damages against the Southern Section, which he claims has treated him unfairly and slandered his name.

“This is no longer a little game of ‘Let’s get Harry Welch for throwing some footballs,’ ” he said. “The (Southern Section) has tried to assassinate my name. They accused me of the height of unsportsmanship, but after losing a legal battle in which I played by the rules, they continue to trash me. This exemplifies the worst in sportsmanship. This cements my resolve and ups the ante.”

Who would have thought that three months after the Newhall Signal provided the Southern Section with photographic evidence and testimony from Canyon basketball Coach Greg Hayes that the Canyon football team was conducting illegal off-season practices, that Welch would have the upper hand?

Thomas admitted after Monday’s defeat in court that the section was procedurally incorrect. That may be true, but Kehiayan also said that the section’s case, in simple terms, stunk.

Thomas has never provided evidence to back up his oft-repeated contention that Welch has repeatedly broken section rules.

The day after the section lost in court, Thomas said he was willing to waive a one-year suspension of Hazelton, the Montclair Prep assistant coach who faced illegal recruiting charges. Thomas said he interpreted the judge’s ruling Monday to mean that the section no longer had jurisdiction over personnel matters.

The decision to drop the case against Hazelton came despite a ruling on July 31 by a three-member panel of executive committee members. The panel cleared Hazelton of five of seven charges but found him guilty on two counts of rules violations in addition to a general charge of “disregard and lack of knowledge of the state’s recruiting rules.”

In the 8 1/2-hour hearing on July 31, Thomas served as chief prosecutor against Hazelton and hinged his case primarily on the testimony of Jerome Sparks. The uncle of Derek and Leland Sparks, cousins who transferred from Montclair Prep to Mater Dei in Santa Ana, Jerome Sparks twice threatened witnesses who testified in Hazelton’s defense.

In the wake of Thomas’ decision to lift Hazelton’s suspension, Montclair Prep Principal V.E. Simpson said he intends to ask the Southern Section to reconsider punishments handed down in April. The Southern Section banned Montclair Prep from the playoffs in all sports for the 1991-92 school year and the football team for at least two years in the wake of charges of illegal recruiting and grade tampering. There also were charges of non-payment of tuition by football players.

Simpson cut a deal on the eve of a hearing for those charges, admitting to recruiting violations. Simpson was elated that night in April, relieved that the ordeal had ended and his school had avoided expulsion from the section. Now, the events of this week have given Simpson momentum, placing him on the attack against the section.

When football practice begins Monday for Southern Section teams, Welch and Hazelton will be on the job despite the charges leveled against the Canyon program and Hazelton.

In both the Welch and Hazelton cases, Thomas displayed poor skills as an investigator and prosecutor. But that doesn’t make him a bad commissioner. He seems well-intentioned and diligent. When evidence of wrongdoing came to his attention, Thomas investigated quickly and seemed sincere in his desire to enforce rules in order to preserve the integrity of the Southern Section and keep the playing fields equal.

Few would give Thomas high marks in those areas based on this summer’s events.

In fact, Welch boldly turned the tables on Thomas. The coach claims he was charged because of the actions of his underlings. Assistant coach Brian Stiman, not Welch, was pictured in the Newhall Signal conducting an illegal workout.

In recommending a one-year suspension of Welch, Thomas argued that the coach was responsible for the actions of those in his program. The roles of Paris, the section attorney, and Stiman are analogous, Welch said.

“I was asked to sit down for a year because of the actions of my assistants,” Welch said. “It will be interesting to see if Stan Thomas will offer to sit down for a year.”

The Southern Section has had better summers.