EDITORIAL
Long-time local resident and basketball club coach John Kimbro was doing what he does, working with kids, helping out someone in need, when he took on a student by the name of Jerry Joseph.
Only Joseph wasn’t who he said – or his “birth certificate” said – he was. In actuality, Joseph is 22-year-old naturalized citizen from Haiti, Guerdwich Montimere.
Kimbro is in good company when it comes to being fooled by this young man. The coach for Odessa Permian High School likewise saw Montimere as a young athlete who could really play basketball, and who was in need of a little care and support.
The revelation of the fraud by Montimere became a hot topic across the nation over the past few weeks, and pundits have been discussing what coaches should and should not have done. Montimere registered at a junior high in February 2009 in Odessa, saying he was a homeless Haitian resident. He had Haitian birth certificate showing his birth date as Jan. 1, 1994.
Montimere was arrested two weeks ago in Permian for presenting false documents.
With all of this controversy swirling, there have been calls for the resignation of the Permian High coach, and residents here who have said that Kimbro “should have known better.”
Really? As Kimbro told the Hays Free Press, this young man was a big athlete, but there were larger players on his team. Anyone who looks at photos online of this young man can see he looks about the same age as other players on his team. Only, he wasn’t.
When a student presents what appears to be a legitimate birth certificate, then why would a coach question further? It is standard procedure for club sports, as well as anyone attending public school, to have an incoming player or student present a birth certificate, proving his or her birth date. Kimbro and the Permian coach did as they were supposed to do – they checked the birth certificates, coached a good athlete, and helped that young man on and off the court.
The calls for resignation in this case are ludicrous.
It is good that coaches get involved in their players’ lives. Like teachers, coaches have a big impact on young people, and their involvement in the personal life of students – whether talking about choices they are making, inviting them to church, giving them a temporary home when needed, helping them with homework – should be applauded, not denounced or berated.
There is the old saying that you should not throw out the baby with the bath water. Society should not decide that helping a youngster or teenager is bad, just because of a few incidents. Likewise, you should not punish someone for helping a student. It is good in our society that people help others, especially a youngster in need. We should applaud the service of coaches and teachers, and commend them for taking on a troubled young man.
We don’t know why Montimere wanted to return to school. Did he want to relive teenage years that he didn’t really “get” while in Haiti? Did he want an education? Right now, no one really knows the answers to these questions. We may never know.
But it is unforgivable for people to condemn the coaches – whether in Kyle or in Odessa – for trying to help a young man who obviously has problems.
