Astoria football players in trouble after drinking, smoking pot
ASTORIA, Ore. – School doesn't start until next week in Astoria but there's already a damper on school spirit after 28 football players got in trouble for drinking and smoking pot.
The Astoria High School football team will forfeit the next three games. It already lost its first game of the season last week and will start the season 0-4 after the forfeits. It's all because of what the kids did on their home field during a team campout.
It was Monday of last week, and the Astoria High football team was doing an annual team-building event. The coaches went to bed and some of the players started drinking and smoking marijuana sometime after 3:30 in the morning.
A parent got wind of it and alerted the school. After the investigation began, the players showed up Wednesday to the high school in coat and tie and with something to say.
"The kids have stepped forward and divulged their role in the situation, and have been very forthcoming in the whole situation, I'm very proud of them for that," said Superintendent Craig Hoppes.
Eight of the 28 players are in trouble for not turning in the players who were partying, and eight other players didn't even know it was going on. Parents of other students are just learning the details.
"I'm surprised they did it on the football field," said Melissa Palmerton, whose daughter is a senior on the soccer team.
"We're disappointed in the boys, and I hope it's something they can learn from and grow from," said Wendy Berezay, whose daughter is a freshman on volleyball team.
The district is making the 28 players get drug and alcohol education. The players will also have extra scrutiny put on their grades. Additionally, they will have to do community service every Friday during the games they forfeited.
"It doesn't matter if we win 10 games or zero games, this is not about football," said Hoppes.
Even though the team has forfeited the right to earn a league championship, the district says it can still earn the right to make the playoffs.
Astoria police are doing their own investigation. They'll try to figure out who gave the kids the booze and pot.
Education about alcohol and drugs starts at home. I feel with this many players involved in this incident and knowing the harsh penalties that have emerged for this kind of behavior for athletes in the last twenty to thirty years, they should know better. I feel media and marketing, parents, and lack of education at school isn't sending a harsh enough message to these kids. If that many players are not fearful enough of the strict penalties, than maybe more dollars should be spent on education about the harmful effects of alcohol and drugs instead of the benefits. I know this because I was a sales representative in this area for an alcoholic beverage distributor. I think the local distributor and its' employees, who are parents of some of the kids who go to school in this area, should spend more time volunteering at the local schools educating the children about the product they endorse. God-forbid if you try and halt sales in any manner. This community is not alone with this issue and parents and educators need to take a hard look at this epidemic society has on its' hands called addiction. I now work as a substance abuse counselor and I see young men come into my office as young as 19 to 20 years old, and sometimes even die of an overdose as soon as a month from discharge from treatment. My motto is: Less promotion, more education!
I salute and applaud the school officials in this. They want the students to be responsible for their actions. This will hopefully start other schools thinking about the same thing. They screwed up, they knew they were wrong, and now they pay.
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Congratulations to the school officials