MIDDLETOWN — Middletown High School Athletic Director Gary Lebo expressed great pride in the emphasis he and the MHS coaching staff has when it comes to character development of the school's student-athletes.
That's why when incidents involving a Middie student, such as the ones that have recently been encountered by senior football player Dwayne "Deejay" Hunter, Lebo tends to look on the positive side of things.
Hunter, 18, will appear at 8:15 a.m. today, Jan. 21, in Middletown Municipal Court for a pretrial hearing on felonious assault charges for his alleged involvement in a BB gun shooting of a teen last week.
After his arrest last week, charges of criminal damaging, assault and aggravated trespassing from July also were discovered. The details of that offense were not released because Hunter was a juvenile at the time.
The incident in July, which occurred just a few weeks before the football season began, has left some people wondering why, when athletes can be kicked off teams for other offenses such as drinking alcohol, Hunter was allowed to play football for the Middies this past fall.
"It's important to keep students involved in athletics," Lebo said. "I feel as an athletic department we do emphasize character development, because our biggest asset is our students."
Lebo said the school was aware of an incident last July involving Hunter, but because he was a juvenile, the court records were sealed. Also, the outcome of the incident was not resolved until November, after the football season was completed, Lebo said.
"The thing we have to remember is these are 15-, 16-, 17-year-old kids. It's important for them to be involved in activities," Lebo said. "If we have a borderline kid, then we want to keep him involved because he's going to be around great coaches. If we can help them at that age and develop character, they'll be better people."
Hunter, one of the top defensive backs in the country, committed to the University of Tennessee in July. The Volunteers are no longer recruiting Hunter, who was planning on visiting several Big Ten schools.
The first day of the early signing period is Feb. 4.