Wild pitches

On May 12, 2000, an article authored by James Ada, the District Administrator for the CNMI Little League Program was published in Saipan Tribune. It talked about the real people behind the program and introduced the men in blue (umpires) claiming that without these individuals, the program wouldn’t have been possible.

Well, Mr. Ada, to our knowledge, that is not totally true. Let us tell you that there are real hard working individuals behind the Little League Program whom you have apparently forgotten. These are the managers, coaches, parents, sponsors especially all the players who are sweating their lives out in the field.
Mr. Ada, without these individuals, your so-called program would not be possible and that is a fact.

You must have forgotten, Mr. Ada, that from the beginning, all managers, coaches, parents and their children started practicing without your assistance. These individuals took the burden and committed themselves to help these young kids to teach them the basic and fundamentals of Little League Baseball.

All the managers had gone through a great deal of burden just to find sponsors for these young athletic kids. A lot of the parents here in the CNMI do not know what the officials are doing and we believe that it is now time for them to know the truth.

And Mr. Mariano Taitano, you are selfish and greedy. Don’t twist the words of parents because they are not asking for any subsistence allowance for themselves. They are just trying to find out what has happened to the subsistence allowance which their children supposedly received but never did. The parents were just asking why didn’t the good and honest District Administrator mentioned about the subsistence allowance and kept it a secret. Next time, answer the question directly, don’t change the subject.

And you, Mr. Ada, if you are truly an honest director of the Little League Program, you will call for a meeting to discuss the concerns raised by the parents just to make them understand how the allowances given during off-island trips are spent. We know very well that if there is no per diem, travel and subsistence allowance, we do not think that you people will not be there.

If Mr. Jesus Pangelinan was sent to jail for a small amount of money that he has misused, then so do you and your so-called crew. How could each of the officials get their per diem and also get to keep the subsistence allowance?

If you are man enough, Mr. Ada, then you will not be scared to face us and explain everything. In fact, we are challenging you and your group not to receive per diems and subsistence allowance if you are only volunteering to this program. Next time Mr. Ada, if you throw your wild pitches again, we guarantee you that we will catch it.

Josephine Aguon

(Representing 28 other parents of
Little League and Big Players)