EDITORIAL - In eighteen years of publishing Big Valley News and Madera Online I have received my share of threats. From a junior high school band director's son to even a Madera Police Officer's wife. Usually all I need to do is a little research with the Internet Provider Address (IP) that is attached to every email to determine where the threats are coming from.
Some times I'll ask law enforcement to step in and subpoena the information from the Internet providers when the threat is directed towards my family. Well this morning when I logged on to Facebook there was a very disturbing message and it didn't take any research to figure out where it came from. The man's name and photo were right there on my screen.
The message was from Roy Price. Who is Roy Price you might ask? Well he is a walk-on coach for the Madera High School Football program. He is also the brother-in-law of suspended Madera High School varsity football coach Bonner Cunnings. This is the second message from Roy Price we've received since breaking the story about Coach Cunnings hitting a student-athlete and being placed on paid administrative leave. The first message from the brother of Hannah Cunnings was just nasty comments about my wife, someone neither coaches have ever met. This second message though was filled with what can only be described as threats.
After the first message I responded with, "Did you go after the reporter from Channel 30 that knocked on Bonner's door? Did you comment about her marriage? Do you go after any of the dozen's of reporters all around the valley that also covered this story? Do you think Jesus would trash people's families like this? How sad. I will pray you find your way back to the right path."
The response from Mrs. Cunning's brother was this, "You fat pile of Jell-O trash. Trust me on judgment day you get yours and you just assume judgment day is in heaven. Some people bring it down here. Acting tough and running your mouth does nothing except pushing people to do things they normally wouldn't do. You think you know what the bible says. How bout you running your mouth and doing what you did is screwing with his family. The fact that you have no regard for any of them is the very reason why someone will have none for you. Do you understand that? You need to shut your mouth. I can go for days and you never know where I'm going to come from. Let it go and I will also. If not then trust me it's on."
I did have to edit this post for publication. After the spelling errors were corrected, I did remove any nasty references that were made about me or my family. There was no reason to publicly publish that trash and hurt people that have nothing to do with this issue. Neither my wife nor kids broke the news about the coach, I did. Why this coach decided to go after the people I love is beyond me. After all an Internet search of Bonner Cunning's will show that he is a leader in his church and there are several sermons he has given that are available online. I don't know about you but I would hate to see the tree that these two bad apples have fallen from.
This message I received this morning is from the coach's brother-in-law, not Bonner Cunnings. But this person is someone that Coach Bonner Cunnings got a job with the Madera Unified School District. Someone that has been entrusted with the safety of our children. If Mr. Cunning's own family thinks these are appropriate things to write down and send to a reporter, it's not a stretch of the imagination to see why the coach of Madera High's football program thinks it is ok to punch a fifteen year old boy in the mouth for saying he is FAT.
Tonight the Madera High football team will take the field for their first time at home game since this incident took place. This will also be the second game that Madera High will be without their football coach. His paid administrative leave is still in place despite the district's investigation being complete.
According to the Madera Police Department, Coach Cunnings has refused to answer any questions for their investigation of the criminal act. The reports from the investigation has yet to be sent over to the Madera County District Attorney's Office. A statement from Roy Price will be part of that report. Let's hope that our district attorney can see through the "horseplay deception" and hold Mr. Cunnings accountable for the battery he inflicted on one of his players; one of our kids.