ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 27, 1996 TAG: 9611270040
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
SCHOOL OFFICIALS' IGNORANCE of a Botetourt County coach's drunken-driving history surprised some parents. They'd heard about it, they said.
Lord Botetourt High School football coach Andy Ward's trial for driving recklessly in his star running back's car was continued twice before it was held Monday - a week after his team's season ended.
Botetourt's Commonwealth's Attorney said that may not be coincidence.
"I felt like he wanted to continue it until the end of football season," Joel Branscom said. "I didn't want to do that and have [Ward] still on the road."
Branscom said he agreed to the second continuance when Ward agreed to surrender his restricted license, thus giving up all driving privileges. He also filed a letter with the court objecting to any further continuances.
Rob Hagan, Ward's attorney, declined to comment on whether football season had anything to do with the continuances, citing attorney-client confidentiality.
He called the continuances routine and attributed them to scheduling conflicts.
Ward had already been convicted twice this year on charges of driving under the influence when a Botetourt County deputy caught him driving 90 mph in a 55 mph zone on U.S. 460 in southern Botetourt County. The car he was driving, a high-performance Pontiac, was owned by Wesley Cox, a running back who helped lift his team to the playoffs this fall for the first time in years.
Ward pleaded guilty to reckless driving and driving on a suspended driver's license in Botetourt General District Court Monday. He will spend this weekend and his December holiday break in jail.
Ward, a history teacher, was not at the school Tuesday, but no one was saying whether he's been suspended. Lord Botetourt Principal Jim Sledd and interim School Superintendent Robert Reece both declined to comment because it's a personnel matter.
"This man's got rights, too," Reece said. Reece said he won't say anything until he completes his investigation and talks to Ward about it. Then he will make a recommendation to the school board, the only body that can hire and fire teachers.
Like members of the school board, Reece said he "had no inkling" of Ward's trouble with the law in the past year.
"If the school board didn't know about it, then they are too out of touch with the students and the faculty," said Anthony Dickerson, whose son, Tony, is on the junior varsity football team at Lord Botetourt.
He and other parents said they had heard talk of Ward's problems with drinking and driving.
"It was pretty much common knowledge," said Botetourt County Sheriff Reed Kelly, whose deputies arrested Ward Nov.24, 1995 for DUI.
Law enforcement officials are under no legal obligation to inform the school board if an employee is convicted of DUI. State law requires the school board be informed only of arrests for crimes of moral turpitude, especially sex crimes.
"As a prosecutor, I never felt I should call employers and tell them their employee has been convicted of this or that," Branscom said. He doesn't believe he should make an exception just because someone works for the school board, unless the board requests it.
Judy Cox wondered why nobody informed her or her son when Ward was pulled over driving a car with their names on the registration.
Unless the car has been reported stolen, Kelly said, the owner of a car in situations like that is rarely informed. In this case, Deputy M.A. Moran knew Ward was Cox's coach, Kelly said, so he didn't question why Ward was driving the car.
Ward, on Monday, called his drinking and driving stupid and said he was "very ashamed" of it. He recently separated from his wife, he said, and he dealt with his problems in the wrong way.
Parents of football players seemed to feel for Ward, but at a school twice named state Prom Promise champion for its commitment to stopping drunken driving, that sympathy only goes so far.
Beth Dalton, mother of sophomore football player Allan Dalton, said she was relieved the situation was out in the open, because it might get Ward away from the kids. Ward should be given another chance, she said, but not at Lord Botetourt, and not anytime soon.
Dickerson was more succinct: "I think he's already blown his opportunities, and he needs to go, personally."
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB