Mystery

There's a local story that has me fascinated. It involves the suspension and firing of the new high school basketball coach for misappropriation of funds. I'm fascinated because the newspaper has been doling out tiny bits of information over the course of the past week, but still has not told the whole story.

The coach's name is Barry Huckaby. He was just hired this year to take over what has been a dismal basketball program at Columbus North. I was planning to follow his progress, to see whether he could actually bring the program back to respectability.

So far, all the newspaper has said is that he was suspended by the school on suspicion that he took a little under $3,000 from the gate proceeds at a recent football game. The story seems to say that they discovered the receipts were short by about that amount, Barry was in charge of the gate receipts, the case was turned over to local police, and they have named him a "person of interest" in the ongoing investigation. They also have sent him a notice of termination.

There's plenty missing from the story. Are they withholding the information because of the ongoing investigation, or because they don't have it? Just a few of my questions -

Where is that money now? Is it still missing?

How do they know the exact amount that is missing?

What evidence has made them so certain Barry is guilty that they have suspended him and are firing him before he's even been charged?

The idea that someone in his position thought he could possibly get away with just walking off with that amount of cash is puzzling. Is it possible that he didn't actually steal it, but maybe was careless and lost it? Or that someone else stole it? Or that he simply took it home that night, fully intending to bring it back to deposit the next day?

There's an interesting little item in the newspaper that suggested things need to be calmed down for awhile to let the authorities complete their investigation. That there are some "strong personalities" in the North Athletic Department involved. I wonder what that's all about?

I don't know the guy, and am not at all involved with the basketball program. Maybe he stole the money and deserves full prosecution. Maybe it's a big misunderstanding, or even a nasty political battle within the athletic office as hinted by the newspaper. The people close to the situation probably know the answers to all of my questions.

From my reading of the news articles, I think everyone in the community should hold to the "innocent until proven guilty" philosophy and see how this plays out. It should continue to be fascinating.