Please let Arnold Dodds play little league Football

UPDATE - Many of you have contacted the Bellevue Boys & Girls Club and have been told that they have worked everything out with me and their attorneys, the Law Firm of Perkins Couie. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I have asked repeatedly when this ban on me being allowed to sign my son up for football will be lifted and have recieved no response. Football Season has begun and now, my son is black balled from signing up to play for teams in neighboring cities too. Like the Mercer Island Boys & Girls Club.

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LAST FALL, ("2013"), the day before the first game of the Season: two Executives at the Bellevue Boys & Girls Club; against the coaches wishes, threw my 10 year old son, Arnold Dodds off of his little league football team in Bellevue, Washington because I asked if he could learn to play more than just one position. For my son's first 3 years in football he was only allowed to play Defensive Tackle, (not one other position). This year, they won't even let me sign him up to play football.

THE YEAR BEFORE they tried to have me blocked from even watching my son practice and the Bellevue Police stepped in and told them they could not ban me from watching my son practice without court order. Stating that I had not behaved in any manner that would warrant such an action.

THREE YEARS AGO, I was an assistant coach on my son's team, (his first year playing football). After an 0 - 4 start, (in which not one offensive touchdown was scored all season long), the head coach was verbally abusing the kids. Singling out my son, blaming him for the losses. I pulled Arnold from the team after the 4th game. When I stood up for the kids, in one case for a kid who was hurt and could not play in a game, the coach called him the "P __SY" word, I was told I could not coach any longer. Since then, they've been trying to run me and my son off creating false representations of me and using forms of intimidation to our friends and others if they choose to associate with me. 

They don't want other parents asking why their son is only being allowed to play just one postion for year after year. Ed Luera, a coach in the Wolverine System told me that 70% of the kids from the little league Bellevue Junior Wolverine System don't make the Bellevue High School Team. Because the High School Team only plays the best players for the position. In some cases: kids they designate to be 'Hidden' will play the same position for as long as five years straight. Because their parents haven't, 'given enough' at the fund raisers that they hold. 

In Bellevue, there are 80,000 millionaires. This is a city that is roughly 32 square miles in area. To play football here is around $275 a season. The poor kids don’t get to play and by and large. 

If you happen to be new to America and are Asian, Pakistani or Indian, you won’t even get a notice in the mail or be informed how to sign up in most cases. If you are poor: or don’t donate to their fundraisers; and just happen to fall in to the criteria the use to determine which kids is going to be 'Hidden," and your kid manages to get to be on a Bellevue Wolverine JR Football Team, your child will get stuck in one position and one position only whether they like it or not for years to come.

There were no try outs on any of my son's three Wolverine Teams for the skilled positions, (Quarterback, Running Back, etc…), no kid was allowed to challenge another player for a skilled position. If you as a parent ask if your child can learn to play more than one position, they haze you among the other parents, and your kid among the other kids on the team and in school, and kick your child out of football.

A few months ago my son's 4th Grade Teacher, whose Husband used to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers forced my son to admit to something he didn't do in school. She withheld food from him and wouldn't let  him go to lunch until he wrote a confession. The next day he recanted his confession and she began standing him up in front of his class mates, berating him in front of everyone 2 - 4 times a day until we pulled him out of class and the Superintendent mandated the Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying Director to step in.. .Over the next few months my son's teachers actions towards him escalated and eventually my son was assaulted in class by two teachers.

The Bellevue Boys & Girls Club and their System Heads for Football are very powerful in Bellevue. Every parent is afraid of them for fear of their child being treated like my son. I have an email from one of my son's coaches who was very much afraid of what the Boys & Girls Club and ther System Heads who run little league Football had in store for Arnold which has now come to fruition.

The Bellevue Boys & Girls Club raises millions of dollars annually from local sponsors like Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon.com, Paccair, Alaska Airlines, Expedia and countless other fortune 50 and 500 Companies. They have the newest, state of the art facilities in the World and are currentluy building a new facility on 112th Street. There is no excuse for Football, Baseball or any other sport to cost more than $35 a season. In fact, based on the amount of money they are raising, their activities should be offered for free if they are truly a non profit.

Where is all of this money going to? What percentage of the money that the Belleue Boys & Girls Club recieves is going towards the kids and the programs they offer? Do we have the legal right to know as Tax Paying Citizens?

I have asked repeatedly for the Bellevue Boys & Girls Club BI LAWS since they took these many actions against my son and they have refused my legal request. I was asking for an appeal to their actions and they stated there was no appeal process. When I called down to the Seattle Charter Office the secretary told me that the Bellevue Boys & Girls Club was not under their charter. I was told the same thing by the Mercer Island Boys & Girl Club. In my experience, a non profit must surrender a copy of their Bi Laws when any citizen makes request to see their Bi Laws. I repeatedly asked to meet with the System Heads, Kathy Haggart and Ryan Scott to talk this out and was denied. I have spent the last year or so begging for them to allow us all to move on as if this has never happned, yet their actions continue to get bolder.

Their System Heads and Coaches are volunteers and they raise more than enough money to comp every kid to play any activity they offer with money left over. They do offer scholarships, but those who take on the scholarships are discriminated against heavily unless they can find a wealthy donor to kick in sponsorship money for an athelete who comes from a family that is not wealthy. Hundreds of kids a year on scholarships that sign up for a sport like Basketball with the Bellevue Boys & Girls Club don't even get an invite to the first practice and miss out on the entire season.

The Bellevue Boys & Girls Club controls all 3 Tackle Football Teams in Bellevue. There is no place else to play in Bellevue and when I tried to sign Arnold up with the neighboring Mercer Island Football Program last week, we were black balled there too. Now the Mercer Island Boys & Girls Club won't let me sign Arnold up there either.

Now Kathy Haggart, the President of the Bellevue Boys & Girls Club is attempting to get Jim Clark, the President of the National Boys & Girls Club Headquarters in Atlanta to block me from being able to sign my son up at any Boys & Girls Club in America under false representations about me and my actions.

At one point, Ryan Scott, the COO of the Bellevue Boys & Girls Club called the Police under false pretenses to have me arrested three times over the last two years. The Bellevue Police refused and stated that I had done nothing to warrant such treatment. After years of asking for the Boys & Girls Club's attorneys, I finally met with the Attorneys who represent the Boys & Girls Club, (Perkins Couie). They informed me that 2 other Executives outside of the Boys & Girls Club, who have actually run football for over 20 years here in Bellevue: allegedly on a volunteer basis; their names are Greg Pardee and Hugh Ladner, (the "System Heads"), have threatened to quit if the Boys & Birls Club allow my son to play football.

As I learned this, I informed them that I would not be seeking legal action against the Boys & Girls Club, but against Greg Pardee personally. Yet Perkins Couie sent me an email stating they will be representing him too as he is an employee of the Bellevue Boys & Girls Club. All along I've been told he is a volunteer.

A few months ago, I had the lead attorney for the Bellevue School District in court as the Defendant. He too was represented by Perkins Couie. This Attorney retired after his first day in court and recieving his subpoena. It appears that Perkins Couie is directing certain members of the Bellevue Boys & Girls Club and the Bellevue School District on how to treat me and my family in a discriminatory and abusive manner to secure a retainer fee from entities with millions of dollars in their annual budgets.

How much of an annual Retainer Fee does the Bellevue Boys & Girls Club and the Bellevue School District pay Perkins Couie? I know the annual budget for the Bellevue School District is approximately 248 Million Dollars. Furthermore, as I told the Superintendent for the Bellevue School District, I'm not filinging against the School District, I'm filing against Ricardo Cruz personally. The same goes for Kathy Haggart, Ryan Scott, Hugh Ladner and Greg Pardee. I won't be filing suit with the Boys & Girls Club or the Greater Eastside Junior Football League; I'll be filing against each indivdual personally responsible for actions against me and my son. So Perkins Couie in my opinion isn't entitled to any retainer fee from the Boys & Girls Club. They should be paid by each individual of their own account. Why take money from the kids and their programs?

Is it really a Volunteer Position when parents are being forced to buy sweat shirts made by the System Heads, participate in fundraisers at $8,500 a plate organized by the System Heads, and mandate thier kids to be trained and charged like a pro at the age of 8 at chosen, expensive training locations. And are Greg Pardee, Hugh Ladner, Kathy Haggart and Ryan Scott getting kickbacks from all of these revenue streams they endorse?

All I asked is if my son could learn to play more than one position. I could have cared less if it was Quarterback or Running Back. My hometown is Pemberton, New Jersey. Within 30 miles of my home town is NFL Films and places where guys like Joe Flacco, Joe Theisman, Franco Harris, John Taylor, Irving Fryar, Olympian Carl Lewis and a host of other great athletes started playing football when we were kids. We all learned all the positions and nothing like this ever entered our minds or happened.

I've been told to move out of Bellevue by teachers, Police Officers, Preists, their Parishioners and others in the community for the safety of my kids. And I have a lot of families too afraid to speak up encouraging me or anyone to bring civility to the Children's Sports Activities here in Bellevue. The Bellevue Police are trying to cover up my son's assault and I have pictures with bruises on his forearms.

America is known as the greatest Country in the World because our People are the Fairest People in the World. I guess what I'm asking is, can all of you out there who are ordinary people, stand beside me, my son and the other unfortunate people of Bellevue and do something a little extra ordinary right now?

In my case, I intend to teach my children to learn from their problems, not to become a victim of them. And I have kept nothing from my son and he is handling this like a real champ. I want my children to seperate the problem from the person. Focus on solutions instead of problems when they face an obstacle in life. 

I cannot beleive that what the Bellevue Boys & GIrls Club and their Systyem Heads for Football are doing is legal. I have phone over 200 attorneys and not one will take my case. I strongly feel I am black balled among the legal community here in the Seattle/Bellevue Metropolitan Area so I am taking legal action on my own behalf.

My son was even blocked from signing up for Lacrosse and Spring Baseball this year here in Bellevue. In the Freemont section of Seattle is a Statue of Soviet Leader Vladimir Lenin. Not one artifact that represents an American Historical Figure stands on the streets of Seattle. In Bellevue, they don't even elect their Mayor. The Mayor is appointed. It has been rumored that the highest concentration of Communists in America are here in the Pacific Northwest. We have a lot of good freinds here who are helpless and deserve to see what the rest of America is like when faced with adversity. Here, the people do not stand up to this type of persecution. The popular saying here is, "The nail that stands up gets hammered down."

I am a former professional wrestler known as JOHNATHAN HOLLIDAY. You can search for me on YOUTUBE.  All I wanted to do is drop my kid off and let him play little league football. They approached me and asked me to help coach his first year. For the past few years, I have hoped this would all just go away only to watch their actions get more cruel and to have their efforts multiply in some circles in the community. Forcing me to take my case to the American People and People from around the World.

Please help me by signing off on this petition.

If you have any ideas on how I can do anything to help in this matter, please do not hesitate to conatct me directly at any time. What we have to be concerened with, is what kind of kids are we going to create from childhoods such as this 20 years from now. The future of our country is tremendously being re routed in the wrong direction if we allow this type of tyranical rule of our kids and their childhoods to take place.

If we don't stand for something, we'll fall for anything. This is a good cause. Please lend your support in any way possible.

GOD BLESS AMERICA

MY SON is 10 and 3 executives, (not the coaches), at the Bellevue Boys & Girls Club will not let him join football this year.  I have a petition that some NFL Players have signed. Would you please look at my petition and consider signing it?
 
CLICK HERE to see more on the story.
 
We really need a ground swell of support.
 
Best Regards,
 
Johnathan Dodds, Father


BELLEVUE, WA - USA


(425) 502-6880

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