SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Three children are growing up in Summerfield, La., just
like Karl Malone did - hunting squirrels, hauling hay, busting wood and baiting
hooks.
And all three, like Malone, are without a father.
The children, 17-year-old twins Daryl and Cheryl Ford, and 14-year-old
Demetrius Bell, all believe the Utah Jazz star is their father, although Malone
has refused to publicly claim the three. Paternity suits against Malone were
settled out of court.
Last month, Malone met with the Ford twins, born the summer after Malone
graduated from high school. But the meeting deepened the pain for Bell, who was
not invited to the reunion.
His mother, Gloria Bell, was 13 when she gave birth to the child during
Malone's sophomore season at Louisiana Tech. She said she doesn't receive any
support from Malone.
``Demetrius is ashamed that his dad doesn't claim him,'' said Bell in story
Sunday in The Salt Lake Tribune. ``But I've told him it is not his fault.''
Malone declined to be interviewed, but his attorney, Randall Call, said Malone
never felt the children were his because the suits were settled before
paternity was proven.
Meantime, Demetrius, or Meechie as he is called, shuns connections with Malone,
although they both are fond of big trucks. Demetrius recently returned from a
three-state road trip with Bell's truck-driver boyfriend, the closest thing he
has to a father figure next to his uncle.
The eighth-grader enjoys studying math and likes to hunt and fish. When it
comes to athletics, the 5-foot-11 teen-ager said he prefers softball to
basketball. His mother said he downplays his interest in basketball to avoid
being associated with Malone.
``He shies away from anything that has to do with Karl,'' she said. ``It hurts
his feelings when he goes somewhere and everybody's talking about Karl
Malone.''
According to court documents, Demetrius is the result of a two-month
relationship with Malone in 1983. Her family could have asked the district
attorney to file criminal charges because under Louisiana law a person cannot
consent to sex until the age of 17.
The crime carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, but Bell said her
parents didn't pursue charges since Malone was a neighborhood kid.
Malone visited Summerfield last month to visit the Ford twins. Both play high
school basketball. Cheryl recently traveled to Moscow as part of the Junior
Olympic Team. She wears No. 32 on her jersey - the same as Malone - but wears
it because it's the number her mother wore.
Still, ``The Mailman's'' presence is inescapable in Summerfield.
A sign on the edge of town welcomes visitors to ``Karl Malone Country.'' At
Summerfield High, his photo stares from the trophy case that the three children
pass each day.
The uniforms Cheryl and Daryl and their teammates wear were donated by Malone
in 1992, and every summer he returns to Summerfield where his mother runs a
general store.
``We saw him in the store every summer and all he would do is stare,'' Cheryl
said. ``I would go to the store, get my candy and go home.''
Some residents, who believe Malone fathered the children, see the behavior as
contradictory for a man who supposedly never forgot his roots and who also grew
up without a father.
Malone's father killed himself when Malone was 3.
``Everybody around here is proud of Karl, of what he has done,'' said a clerk
at Butch Bays' store, where Gloria Bell works as head cook. ``But then you see
these kids day in and day out. I can't imagine the pain they have had to grow
up with.''
It also seems abnormal for Malone, the family man, who has four children and is
considering adopting more and has a history of youth charity work.
He is involved in the Special Olympics; he has established the Karl Malone
Foundation to help abused, neglected and abandoned children; and he developed a
friendship with Danny Ewing, a 13-year-old boy with leukemia who died in 1996.
Utah Jazz president Frank Layden warns against passing judgment.
``It seems to be an unfortunate incident he's trying to correct,'' Layden said.
``Personally, I'm not going to love Karl Malone any less. ... He's done many
nice things for so many people. I'd go so far as to say he is one of the most
generous, giving people I know.''
How much Malone has given the three children is unknown. Settlements from two
paternity suits are confidential. Call said only that Malone paid one lump sum
for the settlement before the court established paternity.
Demetrius' grandparents, Tommie and Ola Mae Bell, filed the first suit,
requesting $200 a week to help their daughter, then 15, raise her 2-year-old
son. Blood tests showed a 99.3 percent probability that Demetrius was Malone's
son.
Malone failed to respond to the lawsuit, prompting Louisiana District Judge
Leon Whitten to order Malone to pay $125-a-week in child support. Malone
appealed, but settled the case before there was a ruling.
Bonita Ford's suit was filed in 1989 when her twins were 8. After three years
of litigation a judge found Malone in contempt of court after he refused to
disclose his assets and submit to DNA blood tests. Soon after, lawyers
negotiated an out-of-court settlement.
> His mother, Gloria Bell, was 13 when she gave birth to the child during
> Malone's sophomore season at Louisiana Tech. She said she doesn't receive any
> support from Malone.
I have said it before and I will say it again- Karl Malone is trash. 13
years old(hell, probably younger) and he is a college basketball
player. What the hell is wrong with him? One of the 20 greatest
players ever, but still total trash as a person. Michael
>
>MAN IF HE IS THE MAN HE CLAIMS TO BE THAN WHY DOESN'T HE WANT TO ACCEPT HIS
>RESPONSIBILITY AND BE A FATHER TO HIS KIDS...ALL OF THEM!!!!!
He thinks he has accepted responsibility by having his lawyer dupe these folks
into an out of court settlement. Keep in mind that the girl was 12 when Malone
started "dating" her and 13 when she gave birth to Malone's twins. I wonder
what the press would do if Rodman or Albert Belle knocked up a 12 year
old......GJS
A great player and a great man. These recent allegations
notwithstanding, of course.
These recent allegations would make malone trash even If I did think he
was an okay guy. The girl was not 18, not 16, not even 14. Twelve.
Michael
This is not to condone Malone's actions, but he was just 18-
19 years of age.
He still could be hit for statuatory, though. Where was the
(then) child's mother when Karl was "dating" this girl (now
woman)? This isn't all just about "evil ol'" Karl...
--
Michael R. Hicks - Louisville, KY
a "new jack" scholar...
http://www.louisville.edu/~mrhick01
Great minds talk about ideas,
Average minds talk about events,
Small minds talk about people...
Of which mind are you?
yeah, and she was 12. 19 and 12 is 10 million times different than 18
and 25. Michael
I don't care if he was 18-19 years old. TWELVE IS TWELVE. When I was
a freshman in high school, there was a saying: If there's grass on the
field, I'll mow it. That was when I was 15. No way in hell I'd have gone
for a 12 year old. Of course, I'd go as young as 21 today which is five
years difference, opposed to three back then. There is absolutely no
excuse for anyone having sex with a 12 year old.
And according to Sportzone, Jordan has a paternity suit coming up. Of
course the national media has shied away and the Chicago media hasn't
even contacted the woman's lawyers to check facts. No need to check
facts if the story won't be written.
: He still could be hit for statuatory, though. Where was the
: (then) child's mother when Karl was "dating" this girl (now
: woman)? This isn't all just about "evil ol'" Karl...
Statute of limitations has probably expired.
> I don't care if he was 18-19 years old. TWELVE IS TWELVE.
good point. He was a sophmore in college. She would be in something
like the 6th grade. A story like this really should have gotten more
national attention. This is obviously different from what the thread
implies. We are not talking about your basic nba lifestyle. We are not
even talking about a guy like mason who may be off by only a few years
or so. At least 16 or something like that is close to 18. 14 would
have still been pathetic, but 12 is beyond pathetic. But, what can you
expect from malone? Michael
http://www.sportserver.com/newsroom/ap/bkb/1998/nba/uta/feat/archive/072098/uta61850.html
sez:
--begin --
According to court documents, Demetrius is the result of a two-month
relationship with Malone in 1983. Her family could have asked
the district attorney to file criminal charges because under Louisiana law
a person cannot consent to sex until the age of 17.
The crime carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, but Bell said
her parents didn't pursue charges since Malone was a
neighborhood kid.
--end --
--
When I use an editor, I don't want eight extra KILOBYTES of worthless
help screens and cursor positioning code! I just want an EDitor!!
Not a "viitor". Not a "emacsitor". Those aren't even WORDS!!!! ED!
ED! ED IS THE STANDARD!!! -Patrick J. Lopresti
I am just getting the facts about this story and have yet to form a
judgement. However, if Karl Malone really slept with a 12 year old when
he himself was a college sophomore, this is really horrible. I guess
Barry Mandel can fill us in on the "statue" of limitations and whether
Karl can still be prosecuted for rape. I think the answer is definitely
no, but we need a lawyer to confirm this.
>I am just getting the facts about this story and have yet to form a
>judgement. However, if Karl Malone really slept with a 12 year old when
>he himself was a college sophomore, this is really horrible. I guess
>Barry Mandel can fill us in on the "statue" of limitations
Gary Scott Simon or any of the other attorneys in the group probably
know as much or more than I do. My experience with criminal law is
confined to mandatory pro bono work in New Jersey.
>and whether
>Karl can still be prosecuted for rape. I think the answer is definitely
>no, but we need a lawyer to confirm this.
Statutes of limitations vary by jurisdiction. I don't know very much
about the details of this story -- where and when did the alleged
incident take place? Did it happen in Lousiana, Malone's birthplace?
Even though I haven't been there in seven years, I suspect I've got a
copy of the Louisiana criminal code lying around my office somewhere.
My hunch is that it's probably too late to prosecute at this point,
based on statements I've read that Malone was only about 17 or 18 at
the time of the incident. (By the way, Malone himself being underage
at the time would not be a defense, particularly if he was more than
four years older than the girl at the time.)
-- BSM
"First, let's kill all the lawyers...." -- W. Shakespeare
"The bigger they are, the worse they smell." -- G. Carlin
[To reply, please remove "spamoff" from E-mail address.]
>Euroboy3b wrote:
>> His mother, Gloria Bell, was 13 when she gave birth to the child during
>> Malone's sophomore season at Louisiana Tech. She said she doesn't receive any
>> support from Malone.
>I have said it before and I will say it again- Karl Malone is trash. 13
>years old(hell, probably younger) and he is a college basketball
>player. What the hell is wrong with him? One of the 20 greatest
>players ever, but still total trash as a person. Michael
On the other hand, you are not one of the 20 greatest players ever, and are
utter and complete trash as a person. Why do you put 100% stock in the
story, except for the age of the woman? This is a very intriguing story,
but then again, it would be damned boring if it was: Malone has no
illegitimate children.
Trube
If the ap reports that tests were done and they produced a 99+% chance
that malone is the father, I tend to believe the reports. especially
when they are printed in utah's newspapers and malone has yet to
respond.
This is a very intriguing story,
> but then again, it would be damned boring if it was: Malone has no
> illegitimate children.
Well, the illegitimate children part is not what is the shocking part.
I really don't care how many illegitimate children he has. The 12 year
old thing while he was 20 is the story. Michael
>
> Trube
> Michael R. Hicks (afr...@iglou.com) wrote:
> : In article <199807211056...@ladder03.news.aol.com>, x...@aol.com
> : (Xb7) wrote:
[...]
> : This is not to condone Malone's actions, but he was just 18-
> : 19 years of age.
> :
>
> I don't care if he was 18-19 years old. TWELVE IS TWELVE. When I was
> a freshman in high school, there was a saying: If there's grass on the
> field, I'll mow it. That was when I was 15. No way in hell I'd have gone
> for a 12 year old. Of course, I'd go as young as 21 today which is five
> years difference, opposed to three back then. There is absolutely no
> excuse for anyone having sex with a 12 year old.
Understand, some children are more physically mature than others...
my guess is that at the age of 12, this was a young girl with the
body of a woman (and since this woman is Black, I'll make an
educated guess that quite likely, she was more physically "advanced")...
Again, this isn't to condone Karl's actions (I'm not exactly a
Malone fan, although I liked when he put the Diamond Cutter on
the referee), but to make some sense out of what's going on...
But you're correct in your point, 12 is 12.
> And according to Sportzone, Jordan has a paternity suit coming up. Of
> course the national media has shied away and the Chicago media hasn't
> even contacted the woman's lawyers to check facts. No need to check
> facts if the story won't be written.
>
> : He still could be hit for statuatory, though. Where was the
> : (then) child's mother when Karl was "dating" this girl (now
> : woman)? This isn't all just about "evil ol'" Karl...
>
> Statute of limitations has probably expired.
True. But again, I say, where was this girl's mother...or father?
WHAT!!! What does being black have to do with anything??? Educated
guess? There is not a single educated thought behind your racist,
bigotted babbling. Your name truly describes you.
B
Black people tend to reach puberty sooner than whites. Asians are usually
the last to reach puberty while hispanics are somewhere in b/w.
--
Eric Bin, eb...@sfu.ca
President of the Unofficial Luc Longley Internet Fan Club
Member of the 1996-97 All-Trube team (MIP)
Member, Legion of Bo.
what??? There was nothing racist about his comments. I don't have the
exact averages, but I know black people tend to reach puberty sooner
than whites/asians. Michael
> Michael R. Hicks wrote:
>
> > Understand, some children are more physically mature than others...
> > my guess is that at the age of 12, this was a young girl with the
> > body of a woman (and since this woman is Black, I'll make an
> > educated guess that quite likely, she was more physically "advanced")...
>
> WHAT!!! What does being black have to do with anything??? Educated
> guess? There is not a single educated thought behind your racist,
> bigotted babbling. Your name truly describes you.
Obviously, generalities are not true for *every* individual,
regardless of ethnicity.
I understand your interest in wishing to have equality for
all people, frankly, I want that also. We are all human, but
that does not mean everything happens for everybody in the
same form or fashion. We have equality in our human-ness, but
people do things at different rates, and *occasionally* one
may be able to see tendencies across ethnicity, like perhaps
in developmental maturity...
But on the other hand, the child may have had a sticklike,
Olive Oyl body.
12 is 12. Regardless of the child's physical appearance, she
was still a child. Legally speaking, Karl did commit statuatory.
I still ask where was this child's parents where their 12
year old was "dating" a 18-19 year old boy?
> B
> 12 is 12. Regardless of the child's physical appearance, she
> was still a child. Legally speaking, Karl did commit statuatory.
Legally speaking, she probably could have been 16 or so(unfamilar with
louisiana laws?) and commit statuatory. But we are not really talking
about this because of the technical aspects of the crime. It is simply
unacceptable from any standpoint(legal, social, moral). Michael
Point me to the scientific study that backs such a claim.
I can assure you that such a "claim" does exist and it is stated in many
medical texts and books on development....GJS
Whew! An "assurance" from xb7 - everyone can rest easy.
Another great xb7-ism, from his critique of Bob Bellotti's Points
Created formula (2/26/98): "The formula does not discriminate between
REAL assists, and the 50% or so that are phony assists." Real vs.
phony assists? Or, from the same post: "Scorers get credit for making
shots, and penalized for missing shots!" Well, D'OH!!!
Josh
Visit http://www.allsports.com/nba/stats for NBA stats and much, much more
Perhaps. But your analysis below is exactly on point.
>But xb7 is still wrong...
No surprise value there.
>because it really does not matter that the formula
>doesn't discriminate between the two, as long as it
>applies equally to everyone.
Exactly.
>And it would be too subjective
>for someone to review each game himself and try to divide
>real assists and phony assists- how would that really
>be done? It is not practicle. Michael
Ask xb7 how it would be done - maybe he's got a methodology.
* * *
What's your favorite xb7-ism? Here's another one of mine, from 7/11/98:
"...look at any film of those silly little white guys dribbling the ball
with the flat palms of their hands and taking those 2 handed set shots at a
31% fg % clip,..." What makes it great? It smacks of racism. By the early
60s, several black future HOFers were already in the league (Chamberlain,
Russell, Balyor, Robertson, Bellamy). Virtually no one in that era shot at
a 31% clip.
> Another great xb7-ism, from his critique of Bob Bellotti's Points
> Created formula (2/26/98): "The formula does not discriminate between
> REAL assists, and the 50% or so that are phony assists." Real vs.
> phony assists?
yeah, there are a lot of phony assists being given out. But xb7 is still
wrong because it really does not matter that the formula doesn't
discriminate between the two, as long as it applies equally to everyone.