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Judge rules in favor of Harding player
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Attorneys Sarah Baker, left, and Tim Pettorini stand with Arthur Cook while answering questions Wednesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. A judge there granted a temporary restraining order allowing Cook to play sports until at least Jan. 13, when a hearing for a preliminary injunction will take place. At rear is Cook’s father, Gene Cook Jr.
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A Trumbull County Common Pleas Court judge has granted a temporary restraining order that allows Warren G. Harding High School senior Arthur Cook to play basketball starting with the Raiders’ next game Friday night.
Judge W. Wyatt McKay held a hearing in chambers with attorneys, then announced in open court that he had granted the request filed last week by the boy’s parents, Gene and Seanine Cook.
The order prevents the OHSAA from carrying out a one-year suspension while the case proceeds through the courts.
Judge McKay set a hearing for 1 p.m. on Jan. 13 to hear the facts of the case. Afterwards, Judge McKay will determine whether to grant a more final decision in the matter, called a preliminary injunction, or refuse the preliminary injunction and support the 1-year suspension.
Judge McKay said the Jan. 13 hearing would provide a “full hearing of the facts of the case” and that the granting of a temporary restraining order “is no indication that [the Cooks] will win on the merits. It’s only to maintain the status quo.”
The OHSAA said it received information, including messages from Arthur Cook’s Twitter account, indicting that the boy may have transferred from Euclid High School to Harding this August for sports reasons and not the family reasons outlined in documents filed by the family.
Students are allowed to transfer to another school but are not allowed to participate in athletics for one year unless they qualify under an exemption granted when a student’s custodial parent has made “a bona fide legal change of residence and the former residence of the custodial parent has been completely abandoned,” according to the OHSAA.
In the case of Arthur Cook, his parents separated, and Gene Cook moved with Arthur Cook to Warren in August to be closer to relatives and provide more positive influences in Arthur’s life, according to the lawsuit.
Steven Craig, an attorney for the OHSAA, said after the hearing that temporary restraining orders are granted about half the time in such matters.
Atty. Sarah Baker, among the attorneys who filed the legal action, called the judge’s ruling “the first step” and said she believes Arthur is “excited to be back on the court” and added that he is “a great player.”
Cook has practiced with the team but hasn’t been allowed to play in the first five games of the season, he said, adding that the matter has been “stressful.”
Harding received notification from the OHSAA on Oct. 25 that Arthur Cook’s move to Warren was done to circumvent OHSAA rules and that he would be ineligible to play sports for one year. The OHSAA held a hearing Dec. 8 in Columbus and affirmed its earlier decision.
Tweets from Arthur Cook’s Twitter account quoted him saying June 21: “Pops not feeling the Euclid squad he want me to enroll at Heights but idk man!”
On June 24, a tweet says: “My dad just called me downstairs to tell me I’m going to either Shaker or Garfield!”
Last summer, Boardman senior Dayne Hammond tried to transfer to Warren Harding, only to stay at Boardman once it became clear that the OHSAA would declare him ineligible because his move was sports-related.