You can check out anytime you like but you can never leave

Eighteen committee members were in attendance, but two recused themselves, Jerry Kobasa, longtime Sussex Tech basketball coach and now head coach of Wesley College basketball, and Woody Long, former Sussex Central athletic director.

Brandon Lewis is the son of William Lewis, a former All-State running back who played for Cape until his senior year of 1988 when he moved to Georgetown. William led the state in scoring that season while toting the football for Sussex Central.

Fast forward a generation and 22 years, and Brandon Lewes and his dad moved from Milton to Georgetown where William bought a house. Brandon enrolled at Sussex Central at the completion of his sophomore year at Sussex Tech and was initially judged to be eligible by DIAA Executive Director Kevin Charles.

The ruling was challenged by Sussex Tech, reviewed by Kevin Charles along with DIAA legal counsel, and it was decided Brandon was not eligible.

Two complicating factors were at play. First, Brandon played football at Cape his freshman year before transferring into Sussex Tech, so another transfer would be his second and his third school attended in three years, a violation of the one-time-transfer rule.

Second: If attendance zones are changed, the athlete is immediately eligible; however, although a move from Milton to Georgetown constitutes a move from the attendance zone of Cape into the attendance zone of Sussex Central, the attendance zone of Sussex Tech includes all of Sussex County so essentially it’s like the Hotel California, you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.

William Lewis sat at the table for 90 minutes, all 290 muscled pounds of him, a man who has bench pressed 600 pounds, a quiet guy who is always proper, never curses since I’ve known him 25 years. William always calls me Coach.

Quite frankly, the meeting reminded me of a bunch of C students jousting in a graduate seminar class where everyone gets an A just for playing. Sure, that’s a cheap shot; my job is to stir it up, I was told before the meeting. I knew William had no clue what was happening; you have to have a certain type of education to know there’s a word game at play.

Pat Savini, the outgoing Sussex Tech superintendent, was asked if Sussex Tech had an objection to “this student moving.”

“We are here in support of the Kevin Charles ruling,” Savini said.

Kevin Charles said he has struggled with the ruling and was conflicted about why he should rule one way or another.

And so after much discussion, the vote was 12-4 against granting the appeal of the ruling. William Lewis and his representative Bradley Layfield were told a waiver request to seek relief from the rule would be heard at the next board meeting and in the interim Brandon could practice but not play in scrimmages or the first game.

An earlier meeting was not possible because some board members had vacations scheduled.

Project Runway - Chris Straub was the honorary starter at last Sunday morning’s Free to Breathe 5K race in Lewes.

Straub was introduced as a “Project Runway” celebrity, having won the week Lindsay Lohan was a guest judge, which lends it to all kinds of altered reality jokes.

Nice of Chris to show up in Lewes.

My Aunt Rose was on Project Runway in the ‘50s but it required 7,000 feet and a taxi area to turn around.

My man Ashley - Ashley Giska may look too big to run 5K and 10K races but at least he’s slow. The 6-foot, 260-pound Delmar High School assistant principal is a great guy with a girl’s name who runs about 36 minutes for 5K and 80 minutes for the 10K.

I interviewed him after last Sunday’s Rusty Rudder 5 and 10Ks in Dewey because we are members of the same tribe.

Ashley went to Hickory High – got to be a dickory dock joke somewhere - in Hermitage, Pa., north of Pittsburgh.

He worked at Sussex Central before the Delmar job. “I did the couch to 5K program and started last February, ”Ashley said.

“My first run was a minute and I was done.” Ashley graduated from Clarion University.

His wife Ali is a Philly girl from North Penn High School, graduated from IUP and teaches English at Snow Hill High School.

Snippets - Matt Dunn won last Sunday’s Free To Breathe 5K in 17:43, shown here he is the clear winner after just eight yards; the remaining distance is just for conditioning.