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American Morning

Foul Play?

Aired May 14, 2003 - 08:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A parent is accused of very bad behavior at her son's little league baseball game. Police in Wakefield, Massachusetts charging Valerie Younacoplious (ph) with assaulting an 11-year-old boy who was rooting against her son's team. Not all witnesses agree with what happened. Here is a sample from Massachusetts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was saying some pretty bad stuff, things like kill them, beat him down, and afterwards, that she was saying he deserved it.

DOUGLAS CESERO, LITTLE LEAGUE UMPIRE: I was standing right there as an umpire. I'm not a policeman, but if I seen anyone kick a kid, I'm going to report it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Cy Bode is vice president of the Wakefield Little League, and he coaches one of the teams that was playing on Saturday. He's our guest now live in Wakefield, Massachusetts.

Sir, good morning to you. Thanks for joining us here.

I want to take you back to after the game. You went to the refreshment stand, and at that point, you heard some sort of chatter behind you. What did you see and hear?

CY BODE, VP, WAKEFIELD LITTLE LEAGUE: Well, basically, there was a loud noise behind me. I turned about. A couple of boys were fighting on the ground. A young lady came over, Val, and was making a number of comments in a very loud voice. My coach at the time, Bill Smeglim (ph), went over and helped separate the boys. It was over in about 15, 20 seconds.

HEMMER: There are some boys who say that Valerie kicked this young boy in the head. Did you see that?

BODE: Neither I nor my coach saw that. You know, I think it's unfortunate. Val is a good person. She's done a lot for the league, and she just lost her cool at this particular time.

HEMMER: Sir, would you say that did not happen, or this is something that you did not witness personally?

BODE: It's something that I did not see, nor did my coach, who was separating the two boys.

HEMMER: Her husband, Glenn, I know they've been very active in this league and also other organizations in your community. What can you tell us about the parents and their kids?

BODE: Bo played for me when he was 9 in a summer league. He's a super kid. In fact, the other boy involved, Mr. Poolio (ph), his older brother played for me about eight years ago, another very nice family. His father is a state police officer. He's very well- respected in the community. He's excellent coach, done a lot for the kids in town.

And Val has been very active, and on a number of occasions has been very helpful and spent a lot of time and effort helping the community.

It's one of those unfortunate things.

HEMMER: I know you've been involved for many years. Have you seen anything like this before?

BODE: About 30. No, I've never seen anything like this before.

HEMMER: What does it say? There is a community nearby you in Redding. This a community in Massachusetts that got a lot of attention after a hockey brawl broke out between one parent and another, and eventually one of the parents died as a result of his injuries. Is that still talked about in your part of the country?

BODE: Oh, absolutely.

HEMMER: What do people say about that, reflecting back?

BODE: Well, I think what it caused in this area was to put in a no-tolerance rule for any type of violence at the games by the parents, coaches, or players.

HEMMER: Thirty years of watching this Cy, what explains why parents are being set off in the way that we're describing today?

BODE: I think parents were always excited about their kids. You know, it's like anything else. If your children are threatened or you see it as a threat, or they're hurt, you tend to respond to it. It's a natural thing. I think over the past 30 years, we just didn't have as much national TV.

HEMMER: Could be.

BODE: I'm not justifying it. It's just, you know...

HEMMER: Good luck to you, sir, and thanks for sharing with us. We'll continue to follow the story. Cy Bode in Wakefield, Massachusetts with us today.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired May 14, 2003 - 08:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A parent is accused of very bad behavior at her son's little league baseball game. Police in Wakefield, Massachusetts charging Valerie Younacoplious (ph) with assaulting an 11-year-old boy who was rooting against her son's team. Not all witnesses agree with what happened. Here is a sample from Massachusetts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was saying some pretty bad stuff, things like kill them, beat him down, and afterwards, that she was saying he deserved it.

DOUGLAS CESERO, LITTLE LEAGUE UMPIRE: I was standing right there as an umpire. I'm not a policeman, but if I seen anyone kick a kid, I'm going to report it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Cy Bode is vice president of the Wakefield Little League, and he coaches one of the teams that was playing on Saturday. He's our guest now live in Wakefield, Massachusetts.

Sir, good morning to you. Thanks for joining us here.

I want to take you back to after the game. You went to the refreshment stand, and at that point, you heard some sort of chatter behind you. What did you see and hear?

CY BODE, VP, WAKEFIELD LITTLE LEAGUE: Well, basically, there was a loud noise behind me. I turned about. A couple of boys were fighting on the ground. A young lady came over, Val, and was making a number of comments in a very loud voice. My coach at the time, Bill Smeglim (ph), went over and helped separate the boys. It was over in about 15, 20 seconds.

HEMMER: There are some boys who say that Valerie kicked this young boy in the head. Did you see that?

BODE: Neither I nor my coach saw that. You know, I think it's unfortunate. Val is a good person. She's done a lot for the league, and she just lost her cool at this particular time.

HEMMER: Sir, would you say that did not happen, or this is something that you did not witness personally?

BODE: It's something that I did not see, nor did my coach, who was separating the two boys.

HEMMER: Her husband, Glenn, I know they've been very active in this league and also other organizations in your community. What can you tell us about the parents and their kids?

BODE: Bo played for me when he was 9 in a summer league. He's a super kid. In fact, the other boy involved, Mr. Poolio (ph), his older brother played for me about eight years ago, another very nice family. His father is a state police officer. He's very well- respected in the community. He's excellent coach, done a lot for the kids in town.

And Val has been very active, and on a number of occasions has been very helpful and spent a lot of time and effort helping the community.

It's one of those unfortunate things.

HEMMER: I know you've been involved for many years. Have you seen anything like this before?

BODE: About 30. No, I've never seen anything like this before.

HEMMER: What does it say? There is a community nearby you in Redding. This a community in Massachusetts that got a lot of attention after a hockey brawl broke out between one parent and another, and eventually one of the parents died as a result of his injuries. Is that still talked about in your part of the country?

BODE: Oh, absolutely.

HEMMER: What do people say about that, reflecting back?

BODE: Well, I think what it caused in this area was to put in a no-tolerance rule for any type of violence at the games by the parents, coaches, or players.

HEMMER: Thirty years of watching this Cy, what explains why parents are being set off in the way that we're describing today?

BODE: I think parents were always excited about their kids. You know, it's like anything else. If your children are threatened or you see it as a threat, or they're hurt, you tend to respond to it. It's a natural thing. I think over the past 30 years, we just didn't have as much national TV.

HEMMER: Could be.

BODE: I'm not justifying it. It's just, you know...

HEMMER: Good luck to you, sir, and thanks for sharing with us. We'll continue to follow the story. Cy Bode in Wakefield, Massachusetts with us today.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com