Dear: Pioneer Newspaper
On February 1, 2012, I was saddened to see the mug shot of Coach Pete Timmes on the front page of the school newspaper along with the details of his arrest. Coach Timmes made a mistake that day and so have others on this campus.
The difference is they have not been tried in the court of public opinion. It is sad to think that someone thought this story deserved to be on the front of the college newspaper. The event did not take place on the campus, nor did it involve anyone on the campus.
What troubled me the most is that I am involved in many activities on this campus and, at every event held on campus, the administration stresses Post pride and the idea of a L.I.U. Post family. Post is considered a place that no matter what happens outside of this great university there is always a place at L.I.U. Post for graduates.
Coach Pete Timmes was not just the L.I.U. Post baseball coach; he also was an alumnus that had given over 30 years to the university he loved so much. What is truly troubling, although what Coach Timmes did was unlawful, there were others in the Post family who decided it was appropriate to disgrace a man who up until this mistake has spent his whole adult life on this campus first as a student and then as a faculty member.
How can a man that had given so much back to his university ever call this institution home again like so many administrators have stressed throughout my time at Post. It is a shame to think that even his so called home has persecuted and exiled him from his extended family. While earlier in the year, there was an incident with a professor that brought a loaded gun to school. In attempting to render the weapon safe, he accidently discharged a round endangering not only his life but also the lives of so many other students around him. This Professor was not a Post graduate, nor was he featured on the front cover of the school newspaper. While both incidents were criminal acts, one man whose incident was on campus and affects so many others was able to escape the public humiliation of having his face put on the front page of the school newspaper. Coach Pete Timmes was not as fortunate. It is truly a shame that the faculty and staff in charge of the voice on this campus cannot live up to the administrations ideology of family and pride on the L.I.U. Post University. You have to give loyalty in order to receive it.
Sincerely,
John Hannan
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