School Attorney says pink cleats kid "quit"

There is always two sides to every story but so far we've only heard one side. Here are the first comments by the attorney for the school in the silly pink cleats lawsuit.

The attorney for Mendenhall High School football player Coy Sheppard claims the school did not honor its agreement to let him back on the football team last Friday. But, the attorney for the Simpson County School Board says the coach told the high school senior he was back on the team, but he would not be playing in the playoff game. We’re told the coach allowed Sheppard to stand on the sidelines, but he was not in full uniform. "My understanding is that he quit he walked away. He said well I’m done with you and everything and he walks away and that’s it. At no time was he ever forced off the team,” recalls Daniel Jones, Simpson County’s attorney.

The Silliness Continues

The implied threat to the Coach is you better play this guy at Friday's game or else the lawsuit will happen. As we have warned, we are now litigating the decisions coaches make in football. Parents, forget screaming at the coach, just hire a lawyer instead.

Coy Sheppard says he just wants to kick the ball Friday and help his Mendenhall High School football team win.

And he's hoping his coach doesn't reverse field and keep him from dressing out.

Sheppard is practicing with the team this week in preparation for Friday's game against the St. Stanislaus Rockachaws in the third round of the state playoffs. The winner advances to the state semifinals.

The Sheppards sued the school district earlier this month to protest his dismissal from the team. According to the lawsuit, Mendenhall coach Chris Peterson dismissed Sheppard after he wore pink cleats to the Oct. 8 football game and Oct. 11 practice.

Peterson told Sheppard he could not dress out for Friday's game because he had missed too many practices, Diaz said.

Quarterback Arlandas Johnson, who has also been kicking in Sheppard's absence, was injured last week, and it's unclear whether he will be able to play Friday.

Joanne Sheppard said her son just wants to be able to play before his senior year season ends.

Diaz said the original lawsuit had not been dismissed because they were waiting to see whether Coy Sheppard would be "fully reinstated" as the agreement said.

Coaching Through Litigation - or - the other shoe drops

It appears the Mendenhall football coach did not play the kid with the pink cleats after he was reinstated to the football team and dropped his lawsuit. Some people yell at a coach from the bleachers when they don't like what he does. Not anymore. Now its time to sue.

The kid's attorney, Oliver Diaz, said

"So not only is this coach making bad decisions, he is also costing the taxpayers of Simpson County a good amount in legal damages."

Two items to note. First, what is costing the taxpayers of Simpson County is the lawsuit will now include money for the kid and money for his attorney. Second, the team won suggesting the Coach may just not have needed the kid.

In addition to the initial request for punitive damages paid to the American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Diaz said, he will be requesting punitive damages for Sheppard, plus attorney’s fees.

Mendenhall defeated Purvis 27-21 in the Class 4A playoffs.

If anyone is costing the taxpayers money, it is the lawyer. If you measure coaching decisions by a win or loss, then the coach did not make a bad decision.

Let's hope for the sake of football that we don't soon add on-field lawyers for players to consult when they disagree with their coaches.

A "silly" lawsuit dropped

It seems the silly lawsuit over a football player's pink shoes has come to an end.

Sheppard, who was kicked off the Mendenhall High School football team last month after wearing the brightly colored shoes for a game and practice, was reinstated Thursday during a meeting with school officials.

The 17-year-old kicker filed a lawsuit against the school district last week to protest his Oct. 11 dismissal from the team. The suit has been dropped as part of Thursday's agreement, his attorney, Oliver Diaz, said.

Sheppard said his goal was to raise awareness about breast cancer.

"As long as this raised awareness, then it's done some good," he said. "I'm just glad to be back on the team."

Attorneys for Sheppard and the district said coach Chris Peterson hugged Sheppard and welcomed him back to the team after the agreement was reached.

"He coaches the team real good," Sheppard said. "I'm glad to be back with him, playing for him."

At last, the Republic is safe once again.

A "silly" lawsuit

A kid wears pink cleats to football practice. His coach tells him not to wear them. The kid ignores the coach and wears them again. The coach says if you won't follow instructions, you're off the team. The kid sues. Former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz is his attorney.

Because students in the Simpson County School District earn academic credit for participating in sports, Diaz said the dismissal has put Sheppard's future at the school in question. "His graduation may be in jeopardy for something as silly as not being allowed to wear pink cleats," he said.

How silly for the kid to put his own graduation in jeopardy by not listening to his coach at practice. He must value his pink cleats more than football, even more than his education. Good for him. One day he can point to those pink cleats on the wall and tell his grandchildren that pink cleats are worth fighting for, even sacrificing your education for.

Another word for "silly" is of course "frivolous."

But wait. It appears pink cleats are not worth fighting for.

Diaz said Coy Sheppard has apologized and promised to leave the pink shoes at home, but so far school officials have not budged.

"All Coy wants to do is play football," JoAnne Sheppard said "If they told him he could play football this weekend, he would go play."

Kid doesn't listen to his coach. Kid gets kicked off the team. Kid still wants to play. Kid now says he will listen to his coach. I bet he will listen to his coach now and more than that the other team members will listen to their coach. That is important to a team.

Should the coach let the kid who learned his lesson to get back on the team? That's up to the coach, but while the kid still wants to play football, it isn't clear he learned his lesson.

Sheppard's suit, filed last week in Simpson County Chancery Court, asks the court to reinstate Sheppard to the football team and clear his disciplinary record. The suit also asks for any monetary damages to be awarded to the American Cancer Society.

So, the kid wants the judge to run football, not his coach. The kid wants a judge to erase the fact that he ignored his coach's instructions. And the kid wants to take money from his school and give it to a charity he supports. It appears the kid doesn't just want to play football, he wants to play football on his own terms, which is what started this whole mess to begin with.

We agree with his attorney. This is silly.

Bioflop generates 60 months prison for Tacker; McRae & Diaz to appeal

Tommy Tacker was sentenced today for his role in the bioflop and has hired former Mississippi Supreme Court Justices Chuck McRae and Oliver Diaz to handle his appeal, Patsy Brumfield reports.

Biodiesel entrepreneur William T. “Tommy” Tacker II of Okolona today was sentenced to 60 months in prison after his conviction to a federal fraud case.

In February, a jury found him guilty on 10 counts in a $2.88 million scheme to defraud a biofuels subsidy program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Co-defendent, disbarred Tennessee attorney Max Speight, 67, pleaded guilty to one count shortly before they were to go on trial. The prosecution’s key witness at Tacker’s trial, he hasn’t been sentenced.

...he has hired new attorneys for his appeal, former Mississippi Supreme Court justices Oliver Diaz and Chuck McRae.

Tacker built a plant to produce biodiesel from soybean oil in Nettleton in 2006.

Fifth Circuit: Paul Minor Still Guilty

Per our post yesterday about Oliver Diaz defending the integrity of Paul Minor, Y'all Politics breaks the story that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals finds that Minor is still guilty.

Just a bit of an update here. Paul Quinn and Tom Freeland weigh in. Quinn says it just leads to more questions. But this is an important comment from Freeland:

1. Paul Minor bribed judges by guarantying loans for them and paying them off.

2. Paul Minor did not violate 18 USC §666, the federal program bribery statute.

As it stands now, Paul Minor’s conviction for bribery as a part of a mail fraud scheme still stands, so he in fact is still convicted of bribing a judge.

Paul Minor's corruption hurt "the little guy" too

Oliver Diaz writes in the Northside Sun of his objections to the new book "Kings of Tort" by Alan Lange of Y'all Politics and former U.S. Attorney Tom Dawson.

Diaz, a former Simpson County Youth Court Public Defender, defends Paul Minor who was convicted by a jury of his peers, and attacks Tom Dawson who prosecuted Dickie Scruggs. But the interesting part was an online comment posted to the column that linked to www.NancySwan.com.


Nancy Swan had retained Paul Minor for a lawsuit. Nancy writes that Minor's corruption didn't just hurt big defendants he argued against, but also hurt her, his client.

After waiting fifteen years and suffering through two successful state supreme court decisions, my second judge, Judge Jerry O. Terry was ruled out of order and kicked off my case for bias. My case was sent back to Harrison County Circuit Court, then assigned to the third judge, John Whitfield. In the interim, I had been educating myself on the law, ethics, and court procedure. Experience had taught me to document everything, including license numbers and letters, and to record phone calls, conversations, and meetings, even those with my own attorneys.

My case was finally scheduled to go to trial in February 2000. With less than a week to go, I knew something was wrong. My attorney, Paul Minor, was still not prepared for trial. He had not returned my phone calls, no witnesses had been notified, no exhibits prepared, and no instructions had been given. I was fearful and reminded Mr. Minor that out of courtesy he should call my doctors to schedule their testimony.

Minor revealed he was not planning to take my case to trial because Judge Terry had been bribed twice to delay my case, my case was now too old, and I would never receive any money because of an offset from my prior settlements. From Minor’s list of settlement amounts it was obvious more than $200,000 was missing.

When I demanded an accounting, Minor threatened that if I did not accept his settlement, he would have my case dismissed. I refused to be bullied, reminding Mr. Minor that he had used threats and bully tactics to force me to settle with the other defendants.

The day before my trial was to take place, Judge Whitfield allowed Minor to secretly withdraw from my case without accounting for the missing settlement. Judge Whitfield withheld this information when Minor failed to show for the docket call for my trial, then continued the intimidation by threatening to dismiss my case if I did not accept the settlement.

I responded by filing two judicial complaints against Whitfield. Whitfield immediately announced he was stepping from the bench, but not before he dismissed my case on his last day. He then sealed all court records and personally removed court documents to protect himself and Paul Minor.

Abandoned and betrayed I fell into the abyss of despair.

Somehow, I don't think Alan Lange or Tom Dawson had anything to do with Minor's treatment of Swan. If Nancy Swan's allegations are true, Paul Minor deserves the punishment he has earned.

Judge Larry Buffington Self Destructs

What is going on with Judge Larry Buffington? First he made a public order to the Simpson County Board of Supervisors to hire his friend Oliver Diaz to be a youth court public defender (when other public defenders were doing the job) so he could get his state retirement. Then he demanded to know who leaked this public information to the press! So he subpoenaed the two Republican supervisors (because Judge Buffington is so nonpartisan) to appear before him.

Now, the supervisors have moved to quash his order because - get this - he didn't do it properly and had no authority to do it. Somebody talk this guy down from the ledge, he is embarrassing himself. Read their motion here courtesy of Y'all Politics.

Oh yeah, did we mention that PERS rejected Diaz for retirement benefits anyway?

Connecting Kitchens and Diaz

Jim Kitchens and Oliver Diaz are both running for the Mississippi Supreme Court. Diaz was acquitted of charges involving a judicial bribery scheme in which trial lawyer Paul Minor, former chancery court judge Walter W. Teel, and former circuit judge John H. Whitfield were convicted. Also wrapped up in that trial was Oliver's wife Jennifer Diaz. He is proud to have been acquitted, she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of tax evasion. Her attorney was Jim Kitchens who said she, "did what she did for her family.” Just an interesting connection.