Look, we did have a meeting and we will contact you after we have a meeting, the meeting was about what Harrisburg wanted and take that to the board. So, after Delta has a meeting we will contact you if we want to go back LL.

Ok, then. Harrisburg Youth has not determined that they want to go back to Little League yet. After you meet with the Delta board contact me.

This clears some things up for me. I received a phone call last week from someone stating we were playing LL and "Delta" had a meeting and decided this. I guess that information was off because now it appears 5 people from Harrisburg had a meeting last week and decided to go before the Delta board about switching to LL. I still don't see what the fuss about this particular meeting and who attended was. I think the concensus of the parents has been well known in Harrisburg to be that they were unhappy with USSSA. So this meeting apparently made that opinion official and now they will meet with Delta board. I am assuming this is the meeting that will take place December 7th??? So, nothing has been officially decided and we still will await Delta's decision before we will actually make ours. OK - got it. Either way we won't play as a town with the 3 teams that are going to Jonesboro so we need to move on from that.

Exactly, there is so many stories flying around. Harrisburg wants to play LL but we want to take this to the delta board and go from there. We feel it will be in the best interest to try and keep together at least some of the league.

first of all, skles and jeff, did NOT talk with a trumann Delta board member at length (I also posted on here months ago this same information and Jeff and I and a Trumann board member and a Harrisburg board member discussed the possibility at length right here on this forum. ). The Delta board meeting was put on hold until the peewee football season was over, to avoid any possible time conflicts.
2nd Skles seems to be voicing for all of the "unhappy" harrisburg parents. Ive seen baseball dad come on here and rerun, but they both seem to be interested in getting things straightend out and not keeping crap stirred up. Course some people are never happy unless they are involved in some controvery.
3rd, the other towns havent "jumped ship" as of yet, they are waiting on the Delta board meeting.

IMO, Delta needs to stick together, regardless of where they go, whether it be USSSA or LL or just interleague play. Jeff will talk out of both sides of his mouth to get what he wants or to make it sound like you are getting what you want.
4th, Jeff, Ronnie Haynes does not speak for all of Trumann. He has already been reprimanded by the Mayor for mouthing off about Trumanns finances, which he has repeated mislead folks on.

LL is a great program and Dist 4 has alot of great teams and coaches, however, as long as Jeff is DA, the program will never be as great as it could be. Our problem is that no one has the time to devote to the DA position, to run against Jeff.
Jeff you can call it persnal attacks all you want, but, you are not immune from making those personal attacks either, look back at some of the past posts where you have personally attacked the two from trumann, one from harrisburg, and worst of all, Kevin Jumper, when he has never said anything at all about you.
One day you will learn that everything Ronnie Haynes tells you is not always the truth.

NEA East and West, yall have some good programs, I just hope that one day yall dont wake up and Jeff done messed ya'll over too.

I hope that everyone on here would keep thier city issues withing thier cities and work out your problems there without airing them out for all of NEA to see. For the most part, Marked Tree, EPC and Trumann have done that. Jeff keeps bringing trumanns issues in here because of what Ronnie tells him, but most of Trumann would rather air out thier problems in trumann than on here.

I didn't say I or Jeff "spoke with a Trumann board member at length." I said it was discussed at length and you were on here posting plenty on that same thread. My point was that you had the opportunity to read it so it should not come as a surprise. And you obviously don't know who I am or you would also know I did have a personal phone call with YOU after Post season play and I expressed my concerns about USSSA and about the fact that Harrisburg was going to have coaches leave if we didn't return to LL. Your reply was "well, I'm not having that kind of problem at Trumann." It was a civil conversation. You were an advocate for USSSA, I was concerned. Period. So, in a way I HAVE had a conversation with you. Baseball dad IS a boardmember so of course he is not going to be on here with any complaints. Rerun has been on here exactly once and he said if people were informed of board meetings they might show more interest. So, you're exaggerating and trying to make this about me. Every other Harrisburg person besides Rerun and I so far, have been board members. So, what do you expect them to say??? What I said would come to pass has come to pass for Harrisburg. I realize this is of no concern to you or Trumann if we lose half of our players. I didn't start their animosity about LL. Their animosity started in regular season play, when they thought the rule changes were too advanced for young players. One coaches fears led to another and finally a 3rd coach being basically disappointed in City Youth and Delta and decided to take matters into his own hands and contact Jeff. I had nothing to do with their influence. I (the trouble maker) am the only one that I know of that contacted one coach via his wife and asked them to please not make a hasty decision, that the Harrisburg board members that I spoke to were going to probably vote to return to LL. I then turned around and contacted Harrisburg board members and told them they needed to talk to them or make a decision before they did because after talking to Jeff myself I found out we would be divided if we didn't act first. Sounds like I'm really trying to cause problems for Harrisburg! If you and your trumann and epc and marked tree citizens want to keep your matters private, good for you. I don't recall speaking about your program or private issues, because I have no knowledge of them. I do however have a right to speak about the City Youth program my son has been involved with, my husband has coached for and our businesses have sponsored over the last 4 years, if I wish. You, however, need to be on here discussing Trumann or keeping your opinion to yourself about Harrisburg and me. If the Harrisburg board members would like me to stop being and advocate for OUR program and stop encouraging people to get along stop informing the board when I feel like our program is being threatened in some way I will be happy to do that, but when I am told I can no longer worry about our program or ask questions or give an opinion they can consider my children not signed up, my husband not coaching any longer and our money not coming into that program. I don't speak for "all of Harrisburg" as you say, but I speak for the ones who don't feel like they have a voice. I have never posted anything on this forum, I have discussed with a board member and I have the emails to prove it. If you don't want to read about Harrisburg, don't. I was disappointed with USSSA, I have the right to say so. I didn't initiate or encourage or take part in the defection of 1/2 our program, and we were asked to do so. I instead tried to encourage open communication amongst all parties. Everything I say on this board I have proof to back up. Emails, phone records, and copies of old threads. Don't try to make me out to be a liar or a trouble maker. I want(ed) a community that was not divided. What you and Trumann do makes no difference to me.

I would like for you to tell me your name and let me know when you spoke to me about anyhting doing with makind decisions. If you are going to speak of me and my husband please state your name!

Think about it for a little while... I called you at the end of summer and asked you if ya'll were definitely going to do this because several kids told my son at a ball tournament you were. You said you probably were but hadn't made a decision. I told you then that I had spoken to some board members and they were probably going back to LL, and asked if ya'll would wait until they decided. You replied to me that you hadn't decided for sure yet and you would let me know if ya'll did, but you didn't think it would matter which way Harrisburg decided to go, that your decision was not based on that alone. I am in no way speaking of you or your husband in a negative manner. The only reason your husband's name is used is because Jeff offered his name as the contact person we could use for info about signing up to LL. I will remove your husband's name from my post. You can PM me if you want more information.

Hogfan I am done talking to you about this topic. If you have anything further to say negative about me, you can say it to my husband at the next board meeting. Or you can call him now. You should have his number. I would advise you to get your facts straight about me before using my name at all.

Could somebody please tell me where to sign up my kid this year! Dang this sounds rough. Look I aint nobody special, not a coach, not a board member, just a dad. My kid just wants to play ball. I can agree with most of the things said on this page... except for maybe the Trumann guy... (why is a Trumann guy telling Harrisburg people what to do anyway?) We need to fix Harrisburg and uh let Trumann worry bout Trumann. So whoever skes is, don't worry bout it... I just wanna say I've lived here all my life and I don't wanna take my kid to Jonesboro to play ball. So work this out guys!

Here we go again. This guy wants me to stop talking to people who want Little League. He is James or Jay Paul I am sure. These folks are out for themselves and it will all come out in the long run. Trumann's issues will also workout in due course. I have not, nor will I contact these two concerning issues in Trumann or Delta. If they have something to say to me I encourage them to contact me directly with a name or number connected to them.

I will continue to be an advocate for those who want to play Little League league ball and Weekend Travel ball in which ever program they desire.

I was told he was the latter of the two. Whoever it is, don't worry Jeff it is your job to talk about Little League! I personally just want to say that I hope all of the Harrisburg teams perform well in 09, because whether they are City Youth or not, they still represent Harrisburg and we should support them. People may not agree with their parents' decision but it is still Harrisburg youth out there on those fields so the community should be proud.

There was someone on here that wanted my e-mail address to ask a question well here it is ask away. junior72432@Yahoo.com

This is an attempt to clear things up a bit. Three teams from Harrisburg contacted Little League representatives about the possibility of joinining LL. Since the Delta League(Harrisburg included) left LL for the 2008 season a new league was formed that took over the boundaries.

The teams in question invited LL representatives to a meeting to answer questions. These parents and coaches made the decision to join Craighead/Poinsett county LL rather than charter a league of their own. With this decision, the Harrisburg area is now being serviced by Craighead/Poinsett County LL. These teams and any other Harrisburg teams that wish to play LL baseball will all be welcomed.

If the Harrisburg city officials will allow field space, I am sure that games can still be played in Harrisburg. This will be totally a community issue. The original group from Jonesboro likes to play out of town on a home-away basis. Craighead/Poinsett County also participates in the inter-league program with South Miss County and the NEA LL. This should still give the program in Harrisburg a lot of games in the city and in all probabilty more games that they had in 2008.

LL will not turn down any players. LL will find a way for any kid to participate that wants to play LL baseball. The current situation because of boundary restictions, will prevent the Harrisburg area from being a seperate league in 2008 or from joining another league that may be formed for 2009. With this being said, if the Harrisburg Youth have a greater participation in 2009, then they may be granted a charter for 2010. All of the kids that played LL in 2009 under the Craighead.Ponsett LL charter will be granted a waiver to continue to play with Craighead/Poinsett County LL if they so choose.

LL is not trying to prevent Harrisburg or any other community from joining or returning to LL baseball. Any kid, parent, league or community can contact LL and we will figure out a way to get the player involved in a new or established league. Our goal is to get as many kids as we can to participate in the Little League program.

I truly believe that LL is the best league program for youth baseball. USSSA has a great tournament weekend program and there is no reason that a kid can't participate in both. Both programs have their strengths and weeknesses. LL has just been around for so long that the league and all-star programs are well established and second to non. USSSA started out as a weekend program for tournament play and really excels in this area.

Keep in mind that any program is good for the kids if us grown-ups will keep it for the kids. Being a parent, I can fully appreciate the emotions involved when I think one of my kids is being done wrong. Communication is the key to this issue. Local leagues and communities need to convey their intentions for the 2009 season regardless of whether they choose LL, USSSA, Cal Ripken or any other program out there. All programs have an open door policy and will accept teams and players.

Ronnie

I want to first say to skles, Im sorry if I offended you, that was not my purpose or reasoning for my post, nor was I trying to make you out a liar. I am truely sorry if that was how it sounded or came out.
The 2 points I was trying to make involving you was that I dont recall and neither does the other trumann board member recall talking with you and jeff at any length about LL. The other, was that you were the only "voice" being heard on here, from harrisburg, that was having alot of issues with Delta. I just re-read my post, and yes, it does sound offensive, and I do appoligize.
Daburg, I did not see in the post where I or anyone else from trumann was trying to tell harrisburg what to do. And I do appoligize to you if you took offense. Offending any of the members from any of the Delta towns was never my intentions. I stated my opinion on the Delta league and I will leave it at that.