Guest blogger David on the Urban Meyer/Zack Smith domestic violence case

For non-Columbus, non-OSU Buckeyes catch up—the well-loved football coach Urban Meyer was suspended for not stepping into the marital mess of one of his coaches, who also happened to be the grandson of Earle Bruce, another football icon in our community. Gene Smith is the athletic director.

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The last thing I’m going to say. . .

1) If you haven't ever dealt with a sexual harassment/abuse case, don't be tempted to repeat the opinions of others who haven't, either. Unfortunately, I have had to deal with several over the years.

2) If you did have to deal with one, did you investigate it yourself? If you did, you're an idiot--that is unless you were trained and designated by the organization you worked for to do so. It is highly unlikely that conducting such investigations falls within the scope of either Urban Meyer or Gene Smith's job duties. They are required to report such incidents and then let the designated investigators handle it (I am assuming, If not, Ohio State is even more mismanaged than I thought).

3) If you are an investigator, were you able to question the victim if he/she wasn't an employee or, in the case of schools, a student of your organization? Unless you are in law enforcement, the answer is probably no. In my situation, having worked in a state agency, I had no authority to question an employee's spouse, significant other, or whatever unless that person also worked for my agency. Now, the Highway Patrol, which was our investigating body, could do so. And I could use whatever information the Patrol obtained.

4) When there is a criminal investigation, many organizations also conduct their own parallel administrative investigations because an organization rule might have been violated. Sometimes you wait for the outcome of the criminal investigation, but you don't have to because the standard is lower. I don't know if Ohio State did that in the Courtney Smith case or not. From what I have read, she did not allow the police to move forward on her complaints. I hope they at least referred her to a local battered women's shelter.

5) As far as Zack Smith's conduct is concerned, there are suggestions that Urban should have known about his visit to a strip club, his sending a lewd photo on his cellphone, etc. It would be interesting to know what kind of procedures the athletic department has in place for reviewing expenditures (it seems to me they should have caught that and dealt with it right away). However, I don't know of any organizations which routinely review what an employee is using his/her cellphone for, even when the organization has issued it.

6) The very fact that most of the witnesses questioned believed that any action taken against Zack Smith was dependent upon the outcome of any criminal charges--and there weren't any criminal charges--tells me that Ohio State hasn't done a very good job of communicating its expectations in such matters. Whoever is responsible for disseminating such policies needs to go back to the drawing board.

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https://www.businessinsider.com/urban-meyer-zach-smith-domestic-violence-allegations-ohio-state-2018-8

https://sports.yahoo.com/timeline-urban-meyer-zach-smith-saga-ohio-state-230126856.html

Since there are media sources and sports figures who hate the Buckeyes almost as much as they hate President Trump, finding credible sources to link to is difficult.  Since Mrs. Smith didn’t bring charges, and it is rumored she often called the police, I’d say Meyer was not responsible to babysit his coach.

Immigration laws and/or amnesty

President Bush lost support of his party in droves for proposing amnesty for illegals--I'm sure he didn't call his temporary worker program that--but that's what it was. His plan, during a booming economy, was intended to benefit employers, and I think his motives (political) were quite transparent.

"Yet even with all these steps [more border patrols and law enforcement], we cannot fully secure the border unless we take pressure off the border--and that requires a temporary worker program. We should establish a legal and orderly path for foreign workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis. As a result, they won’t have to try to sneak in. We will enforce our immigration laws at the work site, and give employers the tools to verify the legal status of their workers--so there is no excuse left for violating the law. We need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country--without animosity and without amnesty." (2008 State of the Union address)

BTW, we already have a temporary worker program--I have a friend in the landscape business and she's employed the same Mexicans for 15 years and they go home after the season. Those families and her family benefit from this, and Mexico certain benefits because it doesn't need to improve its route to opportunity within its own borders and the same wealthy class can maintain power.

President Obama is also using immigration as a political club. Without reading SB1070 he and his AG declared it racist profiling and illegal. Arizona wouldn't need this law if the federal government were able to handle the problem. In his case, it is to buy votes of minorities, not to help employers. Right now, we certainly don't need more cheap labor, but he needs more labor union members and needs to find uninformed new voters to replace the liberals and moderates he has driven away.

"Several Senators have learned of a possible plan by the Obama Administration that would provide a mass Amnesty for the nation's 11-18 million illegal aliens. Led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), eight Senators addressed a letter to the President asking for answers to questions about a plan that would allow DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to provide an amnesty if they can't secure enough votes for a bill in the Senate." (Numbers USA)