PIAA NOTEBOOK Football officials threaten boycott of games over pay

They are paid $64 a game but want increases to $69 and then to $75.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Some football officials in PIAA District 3's largest conference are threatening to boycott games over a pay dispute that could force schools to alter their schedules.
Members of the Capital Area chapter of the PIAA football officials group, based in the greater Harrisburg area, rejected a five-year pay proposal from superintendents representing 24 of 34 schools in the Mid-Penn Conference.
Officials in the 109-member chapter have been seeking increased pay, citing a dwindling membership that has forced active members to work more games. They also said the costs associated with becoming a PIAA official have increased.
Officials are paid $64 per game for varsity games involving Mid-Penn Conference schools. Conference officials said they surveyed the state and found that was the second-highest fee paid to football officials by a league.
Timetable
Game officials want their pay increased to $69 per game this season and to $75 per game as soon as possible.
Mid-Penn officials presented their superintendents with a plan that would give the officials $69 per game this year and raise the fee to $75 for the last two years of a five-year plan.
The superintendents, saying that 2003-04 school budgets have been established, scaled back the first year to its current $64, followed by raises to $67 next year, $70 the third year, $72 the fourth year and $75 the final year.
"That plan was unacceptable to us," Capital Area chapter executive Thomas Heim said.
Heim also said the officials were unhappy with the Mid-Penn's decision to replace Robert Newbury, who was paid by the conference for 21 years to assign football officials. Donnie Eppley, who assigns the conference's basketball officials, was also given the job of assigning football officials.
Final offer
Mid-Penn Conference executive director Fred Isopi described the superintendents' altered plan as a final offer.
"We do not meet again until school starts, and I don't see us meeting any time before that," he said.
Heim said his group sent a letter to the Mid-Penn schools listing officials who would work for the $64 fee and those who would work only for the $69 fee. He said only 14 officials agreed to the lower fee and that most officials would sit idle if they were not given the $5 pay increase.
Heim pointed out the fee is a minimum fee and that schools can voluntarily pay more if they choose.
Henne narrows list
West Lawn Wilson quarterback Chad Henne, among the nation's top recruits, has narrowed his list of potential college choices to Penn State, Michigan, Miami, Tennessee and Georgia.
Henne, a 6-5, 220-pound senior, was invited to the Elite 11 camp in California, a gathering of some of the nation's best scholastic quarterbacks. But he passed up the invitation to visit Miami.
Henne expects to make his decision before the season starts.
Not enough
Elk Lake High School pitching star Seth Button was cleared to pitch in Monday's PIAA Class A championship game just minutes before the game began.
Button was scheduled to start, but left Harrisburg's RiverSide Stadium an hour before game time to have his right elbow examined. Button, a 50th round draft choice of the Cleveland Indians, was hit on his throwing elbow during batting practice Sunday.
Button returned to the stadium 14 minutes before the game started, but Elk Lake coach Al Caines decided to start No. 2 pitcher Ben Lyne against Bellwood-Antis.
Lyne yielded one run in two innings before Caines brought in Button, who allowed one run in the final five innings of Bellwood-Antis' 2-1 victory. Button was the losing pitcher.
Bellwood-Antis' Adam Plummer out-pitched the Elk Lake duo, allowing two hits as the school claimed its first PIAA baseball title.