‘Tis the season of fly balls, strikeouts and grand slams. And asparents suit up their little sluggers, the question has to arise asto who will be supervising the players on the field.

Nationally, the National Recreation and Park Association isproviding background screening and photo identification forvolunteer coaches.

Here in Brookhaven, though, the recreation department has teamedup with the Brookhaven Police Department to make the screeningprocess more affordable, since the NRPA charges $90 per screening.It also helps to have local hands on the job.

“Chief (Pap) Henderson screens all the coaches in all the sportsone time a year,” said Terry Reid, recreation department director.”So if they’re coaching two sports, they’re only screened once thatyear. And Pap lets us know if there’s a problem before they evermake it to the field.”

The police department does not make the decision on who ispassable and who is not, though. Authorities pass the informationon and let the recreation department handle the decision-makingprocess.

“Without a doubt, we give them every bit of the information wefind,” said Henderson. “But then the decision lies with them todecide who they will admit and who they won’t.”

Reid said part of the advantage of a smaller city likeBrookhaven is that everyone is fairly familiar with each otheralready.

Hurricane Katrina threw a bit of a wrench in those gears,however. With people displaced and migrating north, there were somenew faces in town.

“We’ve only had three predators call, but that’s it out of about500 coaches a year,” said Reid. “And two of those were fromLouisiana after Katrina.”

Background checks go back five years for offenses such as minordrug charges and misdemeanor offenses. A sexual offense, however,automatically disqualifies a candidate no matter how far back onhis or her record it is.

The background check system is first and foremost to protect thechildren who enroll in the sports sponsored by the recreationdepartment, but Reid said it also protects the programs.

“The insurance company did an audit for the first time inforever,” he said. “And this is the first thing they askedabout.”

Both Henderson and Reid said the screening process is animperative one, especially when coaches are allowed to volunteer.Henderson said while a criminal record shouldn’t keep someone froma normal life, it’s still something that should be taken intoconsideration in situations where children are involved.

“For example, sex offenders,” he said. “Depending on the crime,we don’t want to hold it over their heads forever, but we certainlydon’t want them around our children. We owe it to our parents toscreen for that.”

And Reid took it a bit further, pointing out the dire need forpositive role models in today’s society.

“If you’ve got coaches you can trust, it gives the kids someoneto emulate and hopefully follow in their footsteps,” he said. “Youdo what you’re taught, so we try to find positive role models.”