Drexel Chargers want in county sports

The parents of more than 80 Drexel Elementary School students are making a plea to Burke County officials to allow their children to play sports in the county.

Their children play for the Drexel Chargers, a youth recreation team sponsored by the Town of Drexel. The Drexel Chargers have been attempting for the past year to partner with the Drexel Booster Club, who sponsors the Drexel Wolverines.

The town initiated the formation of the Drexel Chargers when “local parents made it clear there was a need for more financial oversight involving the current Drexel Booster Club and requested an alternative program,” wrote town manager Matt Settlemyer in a background summary of the team.

The baseball and basketball teams travel to Caldwell County to play, and the indoor soccer team plays in Valdese, said Settlemyer. There also may be an opportunity to play with the City of Morganton.

The town wants to protect the financial interest of its residents because the town pays $20,000 per year, under a lease agreement with the Drexel Foundation, to keep R.O. Huffman Center open to the public, wrote Settlemyer.

“It is appropriate that a basic level of financial accountability be provided for activities that take place there,” Settlemyer wrote.

The town also owns a baseball field, which the Drexel Booster Club uses, said Settlemyer. The town unsuccessfully tried to acquire Hallyburton Academy’s gym last year.

Settlemyer told the Burke County Board of Commissioners at its pre-agenda meeting Tuesday that the town had reached out, in person and in writing, to the booster club for the past year, but to no avail.

“Not only have they been unwilling to work with the town, they refuse to let local families join their organization that are not aligned with the existing leadership in the booster club,” wrote Settlemyer in the summary.

Settlemyer said the booster club has ceased holding public meetings, preventing Drexel Charger parents from attending.

The Drexel Chargers also made two requests to the Burke County Parks and Recreation Commission in the past year to play in the county, said Settlemyer. The commission denied both requests.

The town and parents believe they’ve reached the point where they must seek the help of the commissioners to resolve the issue, said Settlemyer.

Several parents spoke to the board at its most recent regular meeting on Feb. 7.

Commissioners told Settlemyer they would identify a mediator, possibly county manager Bryan Steen, to help resolve the issues between the Drexel Chargers and Drexel Booster Club.

County recreation structure

The county’s high school and middle school sports programs are divided into playing districts. Students must play within their district, said Gary Craigo, director of county parks and recreation, and the structure is designed to prevent coaches from recruiting players and stacking their teams.

The elementary school sports programs are divided by school districts. The structure similarly discourages stacking teams.

“The theory there is, you should play and practice in the area where you live to minimize travel to your games,” said Craigo.

Each district is run by a non-profit organization — such as the Drexel Booster Club — that’s run by parents, who elect the group’s officers, said Craigo.

The organization can choose to enter the county league, said Craigo, but the county only accepts one organization per district.

Alternatives to joining the county are traveling teams and all-star teams, Craigo said. The county provides opportunities at the recreational level.

In addition to preventing the loading of talent on teams, having one organization representing a district encourages team work and community pride.

“We want all the parents and coaches in a particular area working together for their community for community spirit and pride,” said Craigo.

Allowing two teams per district would divide children at a school, said Craigo. Children may “pick at each other” in school if they are on competing teams and have a game that day.

The county recreation leagues also have mandatory playing rules, said Craigo. Any child that wants to play must be allowed to play and must get sufficient playing time.

In Craigo’s 14 years with the recreation department, the county has not made an exception allowing two teams in a district, he said.

Allowing two teams, or even more, per district could also prevent teams from finding enough players, said Craigo. If districts are divided, it’s possible neither organization could have enough players for an age group.

“And then where would the kids be?” asked Craigo. “The main thing we emphasize here is participation. It’s for the kids.”

Boosters welcome all children

The Drexel Booster Clubs emphasizes youth participation in sports too, says club president Jason Hensley.

“We’re not excluding anyone from coming into our program,” said Hensley. “… No child has ever been turned away or anything like that.”

The Drexel Booster Club was formed almost 40 years ago and is governed by a board of four members, who are elected.

The club has a treasurer, who compiles a report each month for the board showing revenues and expenditures, said Hensley. The report details what money has been spent on.

All receipts are filed and board members may look at receipts at any time, said Hensley.

The Drexel Chargers have offered to partner with the booster club if the club forfeits control of its finances, said Hensley.

But the booster club isn’t willing to hand over finances to the Drexel Chargers and the town, said Hensley.

“It would be kind of foolish for us to give up letting the parents run everything and letting the town run everything,” said Hensley.

He’s also worried the booster club would get mired in governmental operations, with parents having to go through lengthy processes to find out if they could spend the club’s money for recreation needs.

“We’ve offered them to come in under the booster club to work something out,” said Hensley. “That offer was declined.”

The board is backed by its membership too, said Hensley. More than 250 club members have signed a petition indicating they do not want the Town of Drexel to take over control of the booster club.

As for the closed meetings, the club’s bylaws do not require public meetings, Hensley said. The club has held public meetings in the past as a courtesy to the parents.

The board has chosen to hold closed meetings because the last public meeting in November “got out of hand,” said Hensley. People ended up cursing and made false accusations.

Until the board feels it can meet in a calm public atmosphere, it will continue to hold closed meetings, said Hensley.

“For one, another organization shouldn’t be in our meeting and, two, they’re stopping us from being able to hold our meetings and being able to conduct business as far as the booster club is concerned,” said Hensley.

Speaking for himself, Hensley said ultimately he’d like to see the parents and children work together and get along.

A Charger and Wolverine parent speaks

Margaret Curry’s two sons have played for the Drexel Wolverines since they were in kindergarten.

This year they’re playing for the Drexel Chargers because they wanted to play for the coaches they’d had in previous years, Curry said.

In the fall, she heard the town wanted to partner with the Drexel Booster Club, so she wanted to learn more.

“We attended one booster club meeting just to kind of hear — we’d heard rumors of the town wanting to do this and I didn’t understand why the booster club didn’t want to partner with the town,” said Curry.

It seemed like a win-win situation because the town could provide facilities, reduce registration fees and could apply for grants, said Curry.

She made it to the November meeting but hasn’t been able to attend since because the meetings are no longer public.

Then Curry heard the booster club was only for parents of Drexel Wolverines

“I drop my children off every day at Drexel (Elementary School) — does that not make me a Wolverine parent?” she asked.

The exclusion has also had an impact on her oldest son, a fifth grader, said Curry.

“He wants to feel welcomed and right now he doesn’t feel welcomed by the booster club,” said Curry. “My younger one, he just wants to play where his friends are playing.”

Several parents echoed the sentiment when they spoke before the commissioners on Feb. 7. The item wasn’t on the agenda, but parents spoke during the public addresses to the board portion.

Their children want to play with their friends instead of traveling outside the county, said many of the parents.

Additionally, the parents want to spend their money in Burke, where they pay taxes. They made that clear through an advertisement in Sunday’s edition of The News Herald.

“I would much rather spend my money in Burke County,” said Curry. “This is where I pay taxes. This is where I grew up. But right now our children are playing in leagues in Mountain View and Hickory.”

That means she’s buying gas, eating lunch and shopping in Hickory because she’s already there, said Curry. That money could easily translate to Burke businesses if her children could play recreational sports in the county.

At the end of the day, just wants her children, as part of the Drexel Chargers, to be able to play sports in the county, Curry said.