Ohio State vs. Michigan past games
.JPG)
Bengals fall to Steelers
Most Wanted (11/20/08)
Shaw may find out today if he's eligible to run
Star's father testifies family was living in Trotwood; investigator says trailer was vacant and electric bills low.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
DAYTON — Michael Shaw, the Trotwood-Madison High School football and track star, could find out today whether he can participate in the season's remaining track meets.
A Montgomery County Common Pleas Magistrate Judge heard more than seven hours of testimony regarding Shaw on Wednesday, May 21.
Extras
The district finals are Friday.
At issue is whether Shaw, 18, was a legitimate Trotwood resident. During the hearing before Magistrate Bob Cowdrey, details of the Ohio High School Athletic Association investigation came forward. On May 9, the OHSAA declared Shaw ineligible. Shaw and his attorney, Aaron Durden, are fighting for an injunction that would stop the OHSAA from doing so.
Shaw did run two events Tuesday and had the best qualifying times in the 100- and 200-meter races. A judge issued a temporary restraining order Friday, allowing him to participate in track events until Wednesday's hearing.
The OSHAA hired a law firm last summer to investigate claims that Trotwood athletes were being improperly recruited and were not meeting basic residency requirements.
According to testimony and court filings, Shaw transferred from Archbishop Alter High School to Trotwood-Madison in January 2007. On Jan. 28, 2007, Shaw's father, Michael Shaw Sr., signed a lease agreement for a trailer lot at 455 E. Main St. in Trotwood. Shaw Sr. testified that he, his son and his daughter all lived there, while his wife stayed at the family home in Dayton, until Shaw Sr. was evicted in January 2008.
Jim Thompson, a private investigator who investigated Shaw, testified that he spoke to Shaw's landlord, who told him that the trailer was vacant during the year, that no electricity was used there from February 2007 to September 2007, and that only enough electricity to burn a light bulb was used from September to November.
The electric bill for December was 52 cents, Shaw Sr. acknowledged, but testified they didn't use much electricity because he was working up to 16 hours a day and his kids were in school or at athletic activities. They generally ate carryout meals from restaurants and used portable propane heaters to heat part of the trailer.
Thompson also said he interviewed Shaw Sr. on Feb. 5. Shaw told him that he and his son were still living in the trailer, Thompson said.
But Shaw had been evicted by then. Instead, Shaw testified Wednesday that he and his son moved in with an uncle, Donald Stephens, at 6749 Sandy Drive in Trotwood.
According to the OSHAA, school records listed the Main Street address as late as May 3. After the Shaws' residency became an issue, someone faxed a new "lease agreement" May 2 that listed the uncle as the landlord, but required no payments or security deposit. It was not notorized or time-stamped. It also was signed by Stephens and Shaw and dated Jan. 29, or a week before Thompson interviewed Shaw.
Shaw attorney Aaron Durden pointed to pieces of evidence that he said showed Shaw Sr. used the trailer throughout the fall, including cellular phone invoices sent there.
He also pointed to two letters from a social-service agency that said Shaw Sr. had been visited at the trailer on Jan. 11, 2008, and the uncle's residence on Feb. 11. The reasons for the visits were confidential, according to the letters.
